Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
The United Nations' cultural agency decided Wednesday to add the historic center of Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Odessa to its list of endangered World Heritage sites, recognizing "the outstanding universal value of the site and the duty of all humanity to protect it."
The decision was made at an extraordinary session of UNESCO's World Heritage Committee in Paris.
UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay praised the move, saying the "legendary port that has left its mark in cinema, literature and the arts" was "thus placed under the reinforced protection of the international community."
"While the war is going on, this inscription embodies our collective determination to ensure that this city ... is preserved from further destruction," Azoulay added in a statement.
Russian forces have launched multiple artillery attacks and airstrikes on Odessa since invading Ukraine 11 months ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on UNESCO in October to put Odessa on its World Heritage List, which recognizes places of "outstanding universal value." The World Heritage Committee agreed Wednesday while also adding the city's historic center to its list of endangered sites.
Changes to the text proposed by Russia delayed the 21-member committee's vote. In the end, six delegates voted in favor, one voted no and 14 abstained.
Russian delegate Tatiana Dovgalenko lambasted the decision, asserting that local citizens had destroyed some Odessa monuments that were cited to justify the endangered designation.
"Today, we witnessed the funeral of the World Heritage Convention," she said, adding that pressure prevailed and scientific objectivity "was shamefully violated."
Ukrainian Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko welcomed the vote's outcome, saying it would protect Odessa's multicultural history.
"It's a great historic day," he told reporters. "Definitively, Odessa is under danger due to Russia's full- scale invasion. ... I have very much hope that the umbrella of UNESCO can protect at least Odessa skies and Odesa itself from this barbaric attack of Russians."
Ukraine is not a member of the UNESCO committee.
Under the 1972 UNESCO convention, ratified by both Ukraine and Russia, signatories undertake to "assist in the protection of the listed sites" and are "obliged to refrain from taking any deliberate measures" which might damage World Heritage sites.
Inclusion on the List of World Heritage in Danger is meant to "open access to emergency international assistance mechanisms, both technical and financial, to strengthen the protection of the property and help its rehabilitation," according to UNESCO.
Before Wednesday's vote, Ukraine was home to seven World Heritage sites, including the St. Sophia Cathedral and related monastic buildings in the capital, Kyiv. To date, none were damaged by the war, although UNESCO noted damage to more than 230 cultural buildings in Ukraine.
Azoulay told reporters that Odessa's status was examined under an "emergency procedure" amid the ongoing fighting. She said "precise satellite surveillance" was being used for the first time to monitor Ukraine's World Heritage sites.
On its website, UNESCO describes Odessa as the only city in Ukraine that has entirely preserved the urban structure of a multinational southern port town typical of the late 18th and-19th centuries.
Two other sites were Wednesday to the List of World Heritage in Danger: the Ancient Yemenite Kingdom of Saba and the Rachid Karami International Fair in Tripoli, Lebanon.
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.
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.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.
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 4 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.