China replaces Germany in top 10 of UN's most innovative nations
China has entered the United Nations’ annual list of the world’s ten most innovative nations for the first time, displacing Germany, Europe’s la...
Stockholm, Sweden, February 19, 2025 – Sweden’s Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that a class action lawsuit, initiated by climate activist Greta Thunberg and 299 other plaintiffs, cannot proceed in its current form.
The lawsuit sought to compel the government to adopt stronger measures to combat climate change, arguing that Sweden’s actions fall short of protecting rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Filed in 2022 by the Aurora group, the case claimed that the state’s insufficient efforts to limit global warming violated individual human rights. After the district court referred the matter to the Supreme Court in 2023—following the state’s request for dismissal—the highest court clarified its position. “A court cannot decide that the parliament or the government must take any specific action. The political bodies decide independently on which specific climate measures Sweden should take,” the court stated.
The ruling noted that while a lawsuit formulated solely to assess whether individuals’ rights under the convention have been violated might be permissible, the current case’s objective of mandating particular state actions falls outside the judiciary’s remit. The plaintiffs had aimed to force Sweden to implement measures to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, a target recognized internationally.
This decision adds to a series of mixed outcomes in climate-related litigation across Europe. Last year, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the Swiss government had breached citizens’ rights by not doing enough to address climate change, while dismissing similar claims in other cases on procedural grounds.
AnewZ has learned that India has once again blocked Azerbaijan’s application for full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, while Pakistan’s recent decision to consider diplomatic relations with Armenia has been coordinated with Baku as part of Azerbaijan’s peace agenda.
A day of mourning has been declared in Portugal to pay respect to victims who lost their lives in the Lisbon Funicular crash which happened on Wednesday evening.
A Polish Air Force pilot was killed on Thursday when an F-16 fighter jet crashed during a training flight ahead of the 2025 Radom International Air Show.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
Australia will suffer more frequent and extreme climate events, often happening simultaneously, which will strain industry, services and infrastructure, a government report said on Monday, ahead of the announcement of a new emissions target.
Scientists have detected DNA from an invasive barnacle species in Canada's Arctic, raising alarm over the loss of the region's natural defence against ecological threats.
A decision on the European Union’s proposed 2040 climate emissions target has been delayed, with ministers now set to discuss it at an October summit instead of next week, EU officials said.
A high-level EU summit on Friday reaffirmed Europe’s commitment to electric cars, with the Commission holding firm on CO2 targets through 2035 despite industry calls for flexibility.
A vaccine to protect Australia's koalas against chlamydia has been approved for the first time, a development that scientists believe could stop the spread of the deadly disease that has ravaged populations of the beloved endangered animal.
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