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WORLD NEWS Saturday 21 december 2019
Climate activists win final victory in Dutch court ruling

By MIKE CORDER soon as possible to meet
Associated Press the Paris goal of keeping
THE HAGUE, Netherlands global warming by the end
(AP) — Climate activists of the century well bellow
won a final victory Friday 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahr-
in their long-running battle enheit), and ideally 1.5 de-
through Dutch courts to grees Celsius (2.7 F).
force the government to Earlier this year, the Dutch
cut greenhouse gas emis- government it announced
sions. what it called a climate
The country's highest court agreement -- a raft of mea-
upheld two earlier rulings sures intended to cut emis-
ordering the government sions by 49% by 2030. But it
to cut emissions by at least appears unlikely the action
25% by the end of 2020 from already underway will be
benchmark 1990 levels. enough to meet the goal
Activists in the packed set by the courts in the Ur-
courtroom clapped and genda case.
cheered as Presiding Recently, the government
Judge Kees Streefkerk said has stepped up action to
the court had rejected the limit pollution -- including
government's appeal. reducing the maximum
Urgenda, the Dutch cli- speed limit on highways
mate and sustainability Climate activists gather outside the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, The Hague, on Friday Dec. from 130 kph (80 mph) to
organization that filed the 20, 2019, ahead of a ruling in a landmark case in which the government was ordered to slash 100 kph (62 mph) from ear-
greenhouse gas emissions by 25% by 2020.
original case hailed the rul- Associated Press ly next year.
ing as "a groundbreaking Friday's ruling came a day
decision that confirms that world. The government ap- life and well-being of resi- erlands is approaching the after Swiss authorities an-
individual governments pealed that verdict, say- dents of the Netherlands." target. nounced that environmen-
must do their fair share to ing that courts shouldn't be Damian Rau, one of the A report by the country's tal activists in the Alpine
reduce greenhouse gas able to order the govern- plaintiffs that filed the case Environmental Assess- country had collected
emissions." ment to take action. The with Urgenda, said the Su- ment Agency published enough signatures to force
Faiza Oulahsen, of Green- government lost the ap- preme Court decision "will last month estimated that a referendum on setting
peace in the Netherlands, peal in October 2018, but set the action we so ur- greenhouse gas emissions specific goals for combat-
called it "an immense vic- appealed again, this time gently need into motion in 2020 would be about ing climate change in the
tory for climate justice." to the Supreme Court. and will force governments 23% lower than 1990 levels. constitution.
It is now more than four Friday's ruling rejected that into taking their responsi- The agency said that the The original June 2015 ruling
years since a court in The appeal, saying the Dutch bility. The judgment is an reduction could be any- came in a case brought by
Hague first ordered the government must act "on example to the world that where from 19%-26%. the environmental group
emissions cut in a case account of the risk of dan- no one is powerless and ev- Scientists say global emis- Urgenda on behalf of 900
brought by Urgenda that gerous climate change erybody can make a differ- sions of carbon dioxide Dutch citizens concerned
spawned similar legal chal- that could also have a seri- ence." and other pollutants have about government inac-
lenges elsewhere in the ous impact on the rights to In the meantime, the Neth- to start falling rapidly as tion on climate change.q
Syrian troops make new push into rebel-held northwest Idlib

By AJ NADDAFF Numan, a town southeast lages they captured and
Associated Press of the rebel-held enclave which lies southeast of
BEIRUT (AP) — Govern- that has been heavily tar- Maaret al-Numan.
ment troops Friday cap- geted in the last few days, The Observatory said at
tured four villages in Syria's pleaded for help to evac- least 11 civilians were
northwest as part of a new uate the area. He asked killed in Maaret al-Numan
ground offensive to push for vehicles. "It has been and its suburbs and farther
into rebel-held Idlib prov- a hard and difficult night north since Thursday.
ince, Syria's military and for the people of Maaret Before this latest bout of vi-
opposition activists said. al-Numan," the unidenti- olence, the U.N. reported
The offensive has already fied man said. "Whoever that some 60,000 Idlib resi-
forced thousands of ci- can come and get us out dents had been displaced
vilians to abandon their please." Hundreds of dis- in recent weeks by the
homes and flee for their placed marched to the government offensive.
lives. border crossing with Tur- Syrian government forces
Overnight, government In this frame grab from video taken on Friday, Dec. 20, 2019, key, demanding access have been slowly chip-
forces and its Russian ally militants of the Al Qaida-linked Hayat Tahrir al-Sham try to to safety and calling for an ping away at the rebel-
launched hundreds of disperse people who have gathered at the Bab al-Hawa end to the violence. The held Idlib, despite a fragile
border gate to protest the ongoing bombing campaign in
air and ground strikes on Syria's rebel-controlled Idlib province by the government and militants who dominate Russian-brokered cease-
the southern and eastern its Russian ally. Idlib opened fire over their fire in September 2019. The
countryside of Idlib, ac- Associated Press heads to disperse them. overstretched Syrian army
cording to the Syrian Ob- way for the ground push. over the last few days. In Syrian state media posted has been waging a limited
servatory of Human Rights, Residents and activists re- a widely circulated video, pictures of troops in Um offensive against the prov-
apparently paving the ported incessant bombing a resident of Maaret al- Jalal, one of the four vil- ince. q