World Monday, July 19, 2021 05 UNESCO pursues plan to classify Great Barrier Reef as ‘endangered’ dpa The director and the To prevent it from be- and its impact on World Her- World Heritage sites world- Beijing president of the 44th session, ing red-listed, the Australian itage are an important topic wide. China’s Vice Minister of Edu- government had invited more at the meeting in Fuzhou. The Currently, 53 World Herit- Despite opposition in Aus- cation Tian Xuejun, dismissed than a dozen ambassadors on director of the World Herit- age sites are classified as en- tralia, the UNESCO World speculation that the move was a snorkelling trip to the reef age Committee stressed that dangered. Heritage Committee is push- related to political tensions ahead of the meeting. the idea of the List of Endan- For the first time in the ing ahead with plans to classify between China and Australia. Nine of the 15 diplomats gered Sites is “a call to action” history of the World Heritage the Great Barrier Reef, threat- were from countries that in which the entire world com- Convention, two sites could ened by climate change, as an The Great Barrier Reef off would have voting rights at munity should cooperate. lose their title at the session. endangered natural site, the the committee’s meeting, Ernesto Ottone, the UN The Liverpool waterfront, committee’s director Mechtild the east coast of Australia Australian news agency AAP agency’s department head in for example, is to be discussed Roessler said on Sunday. stretches over more than reported. charge, also said, “That’s not on Sunday because it is threat- The draft decision by the 344,000 sq kilometres, The Great Barrier Reef about punishment, it’s how we ened by urban development committee is a proposal to making it larger than Italy off the east coast of Austral- preserve our heritage for fu- and infrastructure projects place the site on the list of ia stretches over more than ture generation.” The meeting called “Liverpool Waters” and endangered world heritage, “The recommendation is 344,000 square kilometres, was postponed a year ago be- a planned football stadium. It Rossler said during the 44th based on the reports and data making it larger than Italy. It cause of the coronavirus pan- has already lost its character session of the United Nations provided to us by Australia,” can be seen with the naked eye demic and is now being held that led to its World Heritage Educational, Scientific and said Tian Xuejun, who object- from space. An aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of the Whitsun- via a mixture of online and in- designation, a UNESCO docu- Cultural Organization (UN- ed to “baseless allegations.” As In the UNESCO draft, the day Islands, along the central coast of Queensland. (File photo) (AFP) person participation. ment says. ESCO) in the Chinese city of a result of climate change, the World Heritage Committee Decisions on applications The Selous Game Reserve Fuzhou. world’s largest reef is threat- urges Australia to take action water around the reef, which outlook for the natural won- for classification as new World in Tanzania, where a dam is to The proposal would be on ened by warm water and coral against climate change. It also has been a World Heritage der has gone from “poor” to Heritage sites are to be made be built, is also due to be dis- the agenda on Friday, she said. bleaching. addresses the quality of the Site since 1981. The long-term “very poor.” Climate change next weekend. There are 1,121 cussed on Monday.

NATURE’S FURY Britain’s easing could Merkel pledges to rebuild be chaotic due to staff shortages, say unions

dpa ability of free testing for ‘devastated’ flood-hit areas London employees.” The Rail, Mari- time and Transport union The British government said Saturday’s closure of The storm disaster in the Rhineland-Palatinate district of Ahrweiler has so far claimed 110 lives is coming under pressure London Underground’s from businesses and unions Metropolitan Line due to dpa phalia, bringing the toll across to tackle the growing work- key staff being pinged by Adenau, Germany the country to over 150. er self-isolation crisis amid track and trace showed how The wider region has be- warnings that Monday’s transport services were “on German Chancellor Angela gun a huge clean-up opera- so-called Freedom Day will a knife edge.” General sec- Merkel said the government tion to remove mud and de- turn into “Chaos Day”. retary Mick Lynch told the will work hand in hand with bris strewn over the streets of There are fears of trans- PA news agency: “Many the regions of western Germa- once-picturesque towns and port problems on Monday rail, bus and Tube services ny hit by the floods to rebuild villages, and rebuild homes morning because of the are already seriously under- devastated communities. and infrastructure. number of workers being staffed which leaves them “We stand by your side, The Ahr tributary in Ah- pinged by the NHS Test and dangerously exposed. federal and state,” she said on rweiler turned into a torrent Trace app, as well as warn- Sunday. after heavy rains, inundating ings of shortages of goods She praised the rescue ef- whole communities. in supermarkets and cuts in The CBI called on the forts and the solidarity she The number of fatalities production at factories. government to immedi- had seen during her visit, but could rise further, police said. The CBI called on the ately allow double- cautioned that the problems In many of the surround- government to immediately jabbed individuals not to in the area would not be fixed ing areas power and phone allow double-jabbed indi- self-isolate for 10 days quickly. lines were still not operational. viduals not to self-isolate rather than wait until Merkel said she had come Hundreds of kilometres for 10 days rather than wait to get a real picture of the sur- away in Germany’s Upper Ba- until August 16. August 16 real, “ghostly situation” on the varia, the district of Berchtes- CBI president Lord ground. “The German lan- gadener Land on Saturday Karan Bilimoria said: “With “The government’s guage hardly knows any words night declared a disaster situ- restrictions being lifted and botched handling of this lat- for the devastation that has ation due to flooding. cases rapidly increasing, we est phase of the pandemic, been wrought here,” she said. Two people died, District urgently need a surefooted and the rank hypocrisy of Merkel promised more ef- Administrator Bernhard Kern approach from government, the Prime Minister and his forts to protect against the ef- explained at a press conference creating confidence to se- Chancellor who don’t think fects of climate change. “We in Bad Reichenhall on Sunday cure the recovery. the isolation rules apply see with what force nature can morning, but one victim had “This starts by imme- to them, means that their act,” she said. died of natural causes, which diately ending the self- Freedom Day could very “We will stand up to this could also be related to the isolation period of 10 days easily collapse into Chaos force of nature - in the short storm, Kern said. for people who are double- Day.” TUC general secretary term, but also in the medi- German Chancellor Angela Merkel (centre-left) in Schuld near Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler, Rhineland-Palati- Torrential rains had caused jabbed and providing a Frances O’Grady said: “The um and long term.” What is nate state, western Germany, on Sunday. (AFP) the river Ache in the district to route out of isolation for government cannot watch needed are policies “that take burst its banks and pour down those not yet fully vaccinat- from the sidelines as Covid nature and the climate into ac- slopes on Saturday evening. ed through daily lateral flow runs riot. count more than we have done The fire brigade and other tests. Against the backdrop “Ministers must urgent- in recent years.” Death toll from Belgian floods reaches 31 relief workers were working of crippling staff shortages, ly make wearing a mask a The chancellor had previ- non-stop on Sunday, with 890 speed is of the essence. legal requirement on pub- ously seen for herself the ar- Brussels The confirmed death toll in Belgium following flooding and extreme weather earlier this relief workers deployed in the “Mask wearing in en- lic transport and in shops, eas particularly affected by the week rose to 31 so far, the National Crisis Centre said on Sunday. particularly affected villages. closed spaces, especially and they must toughen their floods. Around noon (1000 At present, 163 citizens are presumed to be missing, the government body said in online The towns of Berchtes- transport, will help create vague and inadequate back- GMT), accompanied by Rhine- statement. Rescue operations are now finished, though search efforts continue in some areas, gaden, Bischofswiesen, Sch- confidence for both staff to-work guidance so work- land-Palatinate Premier Malu the statement continued. oenau am Koenigssee, Mark- and customers, as will clar- ers have confidence their Dreyer, among others, she “The considerable clean-up efforts and an estimation of material damage is now the centre of tschellenberg and Ramsau in ity around the future avail- workplaces are safe. visited the Eifel community of our attention,” the centre said. Prime Minister Alexander De Croo already announced a national the far south-east of Bavaria Schuld, which had been devas- day of mourning on Tuesday, one day before Belgium’s national day. (dpa) were particularly affected. The tated by the floods. fire brigade and other emer- Dreyer assumes that it will gency services had to respond be a “feat of strength for a long, recognize my homeland,” she people who are missing are Rhineland-Palatinate district to up to 500 incidents - also to long time” until the reconstruc- said. found,” she promised. of Ahrweiler has so far claimed save lives. News tion in the areas affected by the The priority now, she said, Merkel also said that the 110 lives and injured 670 peo- Around 135 people had to flood disaster is completed. was the search for those still rescue work had “absolute pri- ple. In addition, 46 fatalities be brought out of their homes in brief “It will take a long time missing. ority.” have been registered in neigh- to safety because of the floods before people can say again: I “We will not rest until the The storm disaster in the bouring North Rhine West- in Berchtesgadener Land. Authorities warn of toxic smoke amid severe forest fires in Russia Moscow The forest fires raging in Russia are increasingly be- coming a danger to people as the authorities of the particularly Turkey slams EU court’s affected Siberian region of Yakutia in the east of the country Britain’s Johnson escapes need to warned on Sunday of toxic smoke in more than 50 villages. decision on headscarf The wind was also driving the smoke from the fires into quarantine after colleague infected the city of Yakutsk. Residents of the affected areas should dpa a key element of their faith. therefore wear protective masks outdoors and seal doors and dpa be relief in Downing Street that Istanbul The Turkish Foreign Min- windows with damp cloths to prevent smoke from entering London Johnson will not be confined istry called the decision a clear their homes. to home on so-called “freedom The Turkish government has violation of religious freedom Over the weekend, the situation worsened even more after British Prime Minister Boris day” on Monday when most condemned a decision by the in a statement released on Sun- the fire brigade had previously announced successes in extin- Johnson has been contacted by statutory lockdown restrictions European Union’s top court day. guishing the fire.(dpa) NHS Test and Trace as a con- end in England. that leaves the door open for The decision is dangerous tact of someone who has tested However, the disclosure employers in the bloc to en- as it will fuel Islamophobia, the positive for Covid-19 but will that the Prime Minister and force headscarf bans on their ministry said. Investigation in France into fake not be self-isolating, Downing Chancellor have avoided the re- workforce. On Thursday, the ECJ con- vaccination certificates Street has said. quirement to quarantine is like- The European Court of Jus- firmed that such a ban was Instead, he will be taking ly to anger thousands of people tice (ECJ) left the door open for permissible under EU law pro- Paris An investigation has been launched in France into falsi- part in a daily contact testing being forced to miss work af- EU employers to enforce head- vided that it was applied in a fied Covid-19 vaccination certificates. pilot which allows him to con- ter being “pinged” by the NHS scarf bans on their workforce uniform way to all religious be- Investigations are under way into six people, the French tinue to work from Downing Covid app. in a ruling on Thursday, but liefs. For example, a Christian broadcaster France Info reported on Saturday citing judicial Street. Businesses have been press- said it must be justified by a could also be asked to remove circles. Two people are currently in custody. The announcement follows Britain’s Prime Minister Boris ing for the app to be overhauled genuine need and should take a cross necklace. According to the newspaper Le Monde, four of the suspects the disclosure on Saturday that Johnson in London recently. (afp) and made less sensitive amid account of the specific national However, employers wish- are said to have procured the fake certificates. The other two Health Secretary Sajid Javid concerns that staff shortages context. ing to enforce such rules on are suspected of having bought a fake vaccination certificate. had been confirmed as testing also been contacted by Test and mean they cannot operate ef- The ruling concerns the their staff must have a genuine At the beginning of the week, France’s President Emmanuel positive for the virus. Trace and will also be taking fectively. London Underground case of two Muslim women in “need to present a neutral im- Macron had announced stricter rules in view of the flare-up of The Prime Minister is re- part in the contact testing pilot. became the latest to succumb Germany who took their re- age towards customers or to the coronavirus pandemic in the country. ported to have had a lengthy A No 10 spokesman said: on Saturday when the Metro- spective employers to court af- prevent social disputes,” the Among other things, the obligation to prove a negative test, meeting with Javid at No 10 on “They will be conducting only politan Line was forced to close ter being told not to wear their court stated. Turkey is a Mus- vaccination or recovery from the disease is to be significantly Friday. essential government business because of a lack of control headscarves, which many ob- lim-majority country with a expanded. (dpa) Chancellor Rishi Sunak has during this period.” There will room staff. servant Muslim women see as secular constitution.