Severe thunderstorms, 15 cm of snow: Canadian weather forecast highlights
Well into spring, some parts of Canada could experience a wintry comeback, while other areas are bracing for severe thunderstorms, according to local forecasts.
Europe's highest human rights court ruled Tuesday that its member nations have an obligation to protect their citizens from the ill effects of climate change, but still threw out a high-profile case brought by six Portuguese youngsters aimed at forcing countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The European Court of Human Rights sided with more than 2,000 Swiss members of Senior Women for Climate Protection, who also sought such measures in a mixed session of judgements in which a French mayor similarly seeking stronger government efforts to combat climate change was also defeated.
Lawyers for all three had hoped the Strasbourg court would find that national governments have a legal duty to make sure global warming is held to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, in line with the goals of the Paris climate agreement.
“I really hoped that we would win against all the countries, so obviously I'm disappointed that this didn't happen,” said 19-year-old Sofia Oliveira, one of the Portuguese plaintiffs. “But the most important thing is that the Court has said in the Swiss women's case that governments must cut their emissions more to protect human rights. So, their win is a win for us, too, and a win for everyone!”
In a reference to its fundamental Convention of Human Rights, “the court found that Art. 8 of the Convention encompasses a right for individuals to effective protection by the state authorities from the serious adverse effects of climate change on their lives, health, well-being and quality of life.”
Judgments from the European Court of Human Rights set a legal precedent against which future lawsuits would be judged in the Council of Europe's 46 member states.
Although activists have had successes with lawsuits in domestic proceedings, this was the first time an international court ruled on climate change.
“This is a turning point,” said Corina Heri, an expert in climate change litigation at the University of Zurich. She said Tuesday's decision confirms for the first time that countries have an obligation to protect people from the effects of climate change and will open the door to more legal challenges.
Ahead of the ruling, a large crowd gathered in front of the court building to cheer and wave flags, including climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was coming off of multiple arrests during a demonstration in The Hague over the weekend.
The decisions have “the potential to be a watershed moment in the global fight for a liveable future. A victory for any of the three cases would be one of the most significant developments on climate change since the signing of the Paris Agreement” said Gerry Liston, a lawyer with the Global Legal Action Network, which is supporting the Portuguese students.
The European Union, which doesn't include Switzerland, currently has a target to be climate-neutral by 2050. Many governments have said that meeting a 2030 goal would be economically unattainable.
The groups were confident that the 17 judges would rule in their favour, but the mixed decision could undermine a previous ruling in the Netherlands. In 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court ordered the government to cut emissions by at least 25% by the end of 2020 from benchmark 1990 levels.
The Urgenda decision, referring to the climate group that brought the case, relied on the European Convention of Human Rights. It could be overturned if Tuesday's decision concludes there is no legal obligation for countries to combat climate change.
“A court ruling is binding on all countries,” said Dennis van Berkel, who represented Urgenda in the Netherlands.
Together with five more young people, 16-year-old Andre dos Santos Oliveira took Portugal and 32 other nations to court, arguing the failure to stop emissions violated their fundamental rights. Their case was thrown out.
“The extreme heat waves, the rainfalls, followed by heat waves, it is just choking us with greenhouse effects. And what worries me is the frequency in which they started happening more and more. That's what really scared me. And, I thought to myself, well, what can I do?” she said.
But judges ruled in favour of a group of Swiss retirees also demanding their government do more. Senior Women for Climate Protection, whose average age is 74, say older women's rights are especially infringed on because they are most affected by the extreme heat that will become more frequent due to global warming.
Earth shattered global annual heat records in 2023, flirted with the world's agreed-upon warming threshold, and showed more signs of a feverish planet, Copernicus, a European climate agency, said in January.
In all three cases, lawyers argued that the political and civil protections guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights are meaningless if the planet is uninhabitable.
Switzerland is not alone in being affected by global warming, said Alain Chablais, representative of the country at last year's hearings. “This problem cannot be solved by Switzerland alone.”
Acknowledging the urgency of the climate crisis, the court fast-tracked all three cases, including a rare move allowing the Portuguese case to bypass domestic legal proceedings.
Well into spring, some parts of Canada could experience a wintry comeback, while other areas are bracing for severe thunderstorms, according to local forecasts.
Pope Francis apologized Tuesday after he was quoted using a vulgar term about gay men to reaffirm the Catholic Church's ban on gay priests.
Peak tick season is only just beginning but reports of bites – and tick-borne illnesses – are already higher than normal in Ontario.
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service and Public Safety Canada lacked a system for tracking who received and read specific intelligence on foreign interference, creating 'unacceptable gaps in accountability,' the national spy watchdog has found.
Emergency services in the town of Rigaud, Que. are investigating after a tornado touched down shortly after 5:30 p.m.
A man who assaulted U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in 2022 will have another day in court on Tuesday after the federal judge overseeing the case failed to allow him to speak during his sentencing hearing earlier this month.
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The actor Richard Dreyfuss showed up in a dress at a 'Jaws'-themed event in Massachusetts, where the blockbuster 1975 movie he starred in was shot, and then proceeded to make demeaning remarks about women, LGBTQ2S+ people and diversity.
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The proprietors of Regina's sole discount theatre are aware they're carrying on a significant legacy.