American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer denied bail after being charged with killing Canadian couple
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
Australia on Friday garnered enough international support to defer for two years an attempt by the United Nations' cultural organization to downgrade the Great Barrier Reef's World Heritage status because of damage caused by climate change.
UNESCO had recommended that its World Heritage Committee add the world's largest coral reef ecosystem off the northeast Australian coast to the World Heritage in Danger list, mainly due to rising ocean temperatures.
But Australian-proposed amendments to the draft decision at a committee meeting in China on Friday deferred the "in danger" question until 2023.
In the meantime, a monitoring mission will visit the reef to determine how the impact of climate change can be managed.
Representatives of 16 of the 21 committee nations apart from Australia spoke in favour of the amendments before the committee accepted the position without a vote. Only Norway argued for the reef to be listed "in danger." The committee usually makes consensus decisions.
Australian Environment Minister Sussan Ley told the virtual meeting that downgrading the reef's status before the committee had finalized its own climate change policy made no sense.
"Delegates, we ask only two things: time for experts to see first hand our commitment to the reef, its present condition and our management, and for the final climate policy to provide a consistent framework for addressing the impacts of climate change on all World Heritage properties," she said from Australia, where she in in quarantine after lobbying delegates in Europe and the Middle East on the decision.
In 2014, Australia was warned that an "in danger" listing was being considered rather than being proposed for immediate action.
Australia had time to respond by developing a long-term plan to improve the reef's health called the Reef 2050 Plan.
Since then, the reef has suffered significantly from coral bleaching caused by unusually warm ocean temperatures in 2016, 2017 and last year. The bleaching damaged two thirds of the coral.
Australia reacted angrily last month when the draft decision was published to remove the network of 2,500 reefs covering 348,000 square kilometres (134,000 square miles) from the World Heritage list it joined 40 years ago for its "outstanding universal value." The "in danger" listing is one step away from losing all World Heritage standing.
"This decision was flawed. Clearly there were politics behind it," Ley said at the time.
Many in Australia's conservative government saw the move as an attempt to pressure it into committing to reducing the nation's greenhouse gas emissions to zero by 2050 and to stop allowing coal mines to be expanded.
In arguing for the reef's downgrade, UNESCO World Heritage Center's marine program coordinator, Fanny Douvere, referred to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's conclusion that global emissions needed to fall to zero by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).
"Accelerated action on climate change on all possible levels, in accordance with the 1.5 degree target under the Paris Agreement for Climate Change, and the recovery of the property from poor water quality are both vital and are urgent to secure the outstanding universal value of the Great Barrier Reef for present and for future generations," Douvere said.
Greenpeace said in a statement that the committee had missed an opportunity to shine a light on Australia's neglect of a natural wonder.
The Chinese host of the committee meeting in the city of Fuzhou this week defended the proposed "in danger" listing against Australian government suspicion that China influenced the finding for political reasons.
"Australia, as a member state of the World Heritage Committee, should ... attach importance to the opinions of the advisory bodies and earnestly fulfill the duty of World Heritage protection instead of making groundless accusations against other states," said Tian Xuejun, the Chinese vice minister of education and the president of this year's session.
China's representative said during the debate that his nation "supports the emerging consensus" to defer the "in danger" question.
Before the committee's ruling, Jodie Rummer, a research fellow at the Australian Research Council Center of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, said the "in danger" designation was needed to get Australia to act on climate change.
"I think that's the wake-up call that we need here in Australia, very much so," Rummer said. "It's the wake-up call that we need to cut our emissions and commit to net zero. It's the wake-up call that we need to really put that spotlight on the Great Barrier Reef."
The deferral sidelines Australia's management of the reef as an issue at elections due by May next year at which the government will seek a fourth three-year term.
American millionaire Jonathan Lehrer, one of two men charged in the killings of a Canadian couple in Dominica, has been denied bail.
The judge presiding over the trial of a man accused of fatally running over a Toronto police officer is telling jurors the possible verdicts they may reach based on the evidence in the case.
Nearly half of China's major cities are suffering 'moderate to severe' levels of subsidence, putting millions at risk of flooding especially as sea levels rise.
Cabinet minister Dominic LeBlanc says he plans to run in the next election as a candidate under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's leadership, amid questions about his rumoured interest in succeeding his longtime friend for the top job.
A male columnist has apologized for a cringeworthy moment during former University of Iowa superstar and college basketball's highest scorer Caitlin Clark's first news conference as an Indiana Fever player.
Health Canada will change its longstanding policy restricting gay and bisexual men from donating to sperm banks in Canada, CTV News has learned. The federal health agency has adopted a revised directive removing the ban on gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men, effective May 8.
Prince Harry, the son of King Charles III and fifth in line to the British throne, has formally confirmed he is now a U.S. resident.
The United States has vetoed a widely backed UN resolution that would have paved the way for full United Nations membership for the state of Palestine.
Sophie Kinsella, the best-selling author behind the 'Shopaholic' book series, has revealed that she is receiving treatment for brain cancer.
Kevin the cat has been reunited with his family after enduring a harrowing three-day ordeal while lost at Toronto Pearson International Airport earlier this week.
Molly Knight, a grade four student in Nova Scotia, noticed her school library did not have many books on female athletes, so she started her own book drive in hopes of changing that.
Almost 7,000 bars of pure gold were stolen from Pearson International Airport exactly one year ago during an elaborate heist, but so far only a tiny fraction of that stolen loot has been found.
When Les Robertson was walking home from the gym in North Vancouver's Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood three weeks ago, he did a double take. Standing near a burrow it had dug in a vacant lot near East 1st Street and St. Georges Avenue was a yellow-bellied marmot.
A moulting seal who was relocated after drawing daily crowds of onlookers in Greater Victoria has made a surprise return, after what officials described as an 'astonishing' six-day journey.
Just steps from Parliament Hill is a barber shop that for the last 100 years has catered to everyone from prime ministers to tourists.
A high score on a Foo Fighters pinball machine has Edmonton player Dave Formenti on a high.
A compound used to treat sour gas that's been linked to fertility issues in cattle has been found throughout groundwater in the Prairies, according to a new study.
While many people choose to keep their medical appointments private, four longtime friends decided to undergo vasectomies as a group in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.