More than 115 cases of eye damage reported in Ontario after solar eclipse
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
The United Nations chief urged the first world conference on water in over 45 years on Wednesday to address the "21st century emergency" that is wasting the world's most important resource and has left billions of people without clean water and basic sanitation.
Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the opening session that water is "humanity's lifeblood" and a human right, but the world is draining it "through vampiric overconsumption and unsustainable use and evaporating it through global heating."
In a challenge to all nations and the broader international community, he said the three-day conference must represent "a quantum leap" in recognition of the vital importance of water and the need for action to ensure its sustainable use.
Guterres called for "game-changing commitments" toward UN goals, including ensuring that all people have access to drinking water and sanitation by 2030.
The UN World Water Development Report, issued on the eve of the conference, says 26% of the world's population -- 2 billion people -- don't have access to safe drinking water and 46% -- 3.6 billion people -- lack access to basic sanitation. UN research also shows that almost half the world's people will suffer severe water stress by 2030.
The UN secretary-general called for major investments in water and sanitation systems and efforts to address climate change, stressing that "climate action and a sustainable water future are two sides of the same coin."
According to conference organizers, such commitments will be the key outcome of the conference. Already, more than 500 commitments have been registered from governments, UN agencies, business leaders and civil society, they say.
Just before the conference opened, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield announced a new commitment from the Biden administration, of $49 billion to be put toward "equitable, climate-resilient water and sanitation investments at home and around the world."
She said the new U.S. funding "will help create jobs, prevent conflicts, safeguard public health, reduce the risk of famine and hunger, and enable us to respond to climate change and natural disasters."
But the U.S. envoy stressed the need for global cooperation and urged the UN Security Council to take up the issue of water scarcity, which exacerbates conflicts and disrupts peace and security.
The UN Water Conference is co-hosted by King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Tajikistan's President Emomali Rahmon. There are 171 countries, including over 100 ministers, on the speakers list.
Rahmon said Tajikistan has abundant drinking water, although 1,000 of its 14,000 glaciers have completely melted in the last few decades. Noting that the last UN water conference was held in 1977 in Argentina, he proposed holding the next one in Tajikistan in 2028 to monitor implementation of the commitments being made during the current meeting.
Willem-Alexander stressed that over the next three days "we went to get the water wheel spinning" and ensure that the alarming state of the world's water resources is given a high place on global agendas.
"Water security is one of the defining concerns of our time and it will determine our collective sustainable future," the Dutch king said.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says it's investigating an interaction between a uniformed officer and anti-Trudeau government protestors after a video circulated on social media.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
A loud explosion was heard across Hamilton on Friday after a propane tank was accidentally destroyed and detonated at a local scrap metal yard, police say.
As if a 4-0 Edmonton Oilers lead in Game 1 of their playoff series with the Los Angeles Kings wasn't good enough, what was announced at Rogers Place during the next TV timeout nearly blew the roof off the downtown arena.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”