European nations must protect citizens from climate change impacts, EU human rights court rules
CBSN
Strasbourg, France — 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 it 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 the Senior Women for Climate Protection group, who sought similar measures to the Portuguese youths, in a mixed session of judgements handed down on Tuesday. In a third, 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 that those governments signed onto.
Kyiv, Ukraine — Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators have foiled a Russian plot to assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top military and political figures, Ukraine's state security service said Tuesday. Two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were detained on suspicion of enacting the plan drawn up by Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, a statement said.
Paris — Ukrainian double European champion weightlifter Oleksandr Pielieshenko was killed in the war against Russia, the Ukrainian weightlifting federation announced Monday. Pielieshenko, 30, won European gold in 2016 and 2017, and narrowly missed out on a medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics where he came fourth in the 85kg category.
New Delhi —Afghanistan's top diplomat in India resigned days after she was reportedly caught by airport authorities smuggling nearly $2 million worth of gold into the country. Zakia Wardak, the Afghan Consul-General in India's financial capital Mumbai, posted a statement on social media announcing her resignation.
Israel's military ordered Palestinians in the eastern part of the Gaza Strip city of Rafah to evacuate Monday ahead of a ground offensive long promised by the Jewish state's leaders. The message was delivered with fliers, phone calls, messages and media broadcasts in Arabic after a weekend that saw hope for a new cease-fire in the seven-month Israel-Hamas war dashed yet again.