Tuesday, March 8, 2005

Peruvians living near the site of a release of mercury are preparing to sue a U.S. mining company, announcing last Saturday that they will bring their case before a Denver judge.

On June 2, 2000, a serious accident in the province of Cajamarca, in Peru, poisoned many residents with mercury, a highly toxic heavy metal. A truck from Newmont Mining Company dumped two metal canisters of mercury along an Andean highway, in the communities of San Juan, Choropampa, and Magdalena. Curious townspeople (mostly children) picked up the silvery droplets, and some even drank some of it. Many residents became sick from severe mercury poisoning. Some of those who came in contact with the mercury suffered blindness, and one even had a purplish rash on her body.

Over 300 people directly suffered the effects of mercury poisoning.

As the owners of the Yanacocha mine which produced the mercury, Newmont Mining offered up to US$6 thousand to more than 700 local residents, but over 1,100 others are still engaged in a legal battle with Newmont over the case.

In today’s global economy, many international businesses have looked overseas to maintain their profits, but environmental law professor James Otto is asking about the cost to the environment and public health. “Any company that wants to mine internationally now must not only have the legal right to mine but also a ‘social license’ to operate,” he said. “Peru has been a wake-up call.”

As the Peruvian residents gear up for their lawsuit against Denver-based Newmont Mining, the world’s largest gold mining firm, some of these important questions may finally be answered. After the breakdown of mediation talks with Newmont on January 20, the residents and their lawyer decided to stop negotiating behind closed doors and take their case to the public. Last Saturday, March 5, 2005, they announced that they are bringing their suit before Denver District Judge Robert Hyatt. “If successful,” states Ken Krowder who represents the plaintiffs, “[this] would mark the first time an American firm is held accountable for environmental damages overseas.”

This is not the first time Newmont Mining has had trouble with an emerging Third World environmental movement. Recently, in August 2004, a US$543 million lawsuit was filed against Newmont Mining by the Indonesian Environmental Ministry and local villagers. They claim that pollution caused by the company’s mining activities has caused serious illnesses and other health problems, including skin disease, tumors, birth defects, and a decline in fish stocks, a staple food. One particular mining practice used frequently by Newmont Mining in Indonesia is submarine tailings disposal, a waste disposal method for mercury and arsenic that is outlawed in the United States.

At least six Newmont Mining managers, including an American and an Australian, face up to 15 years in a Jakarta prison for environmental and corporate crime in that case.

The local Peruvian residents are continuing their fight for safer mining practices and compensation for existing damage and injuries. Thousands of local townspeople protested against the Yanacocha mine last fall, demanding protection for the local water supply.

Newmont Mining officials have blamed the June 2000 mercury spill on a contractor, and have lost the battle to keep the case out of the American court system.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Harry McNevin, explained in a recent interview that he quit the Board of Regents at Oral Roberts University in disgust in 1987 after 16 years of service when he learned that Richard Roberts, Oral Roberts and other Roberts family dipped into the school’s endowment fund for personal expenses.

McNevin noted that he resigned after the board practically “rubber-stamped” the “use of millions in endowment money to buy a Beverly Hills property so that Oral Roberts could have a West Coast office and house.” In addition he said a country club membership was purchased for the home. The home was reported purchased for US$3 million and another $3.5 million was spent remodeling it.

The Associated Press also cited Patti Roberts, Richard’s first wife, who wrote in her 1983 memoir, “Ashes to Gold,” about expensive gifts including a blue Mercedes as a Christmas gift for Richard, a Jaguar for her, Italian suits and Palm Beach vacations. Suzanne Culpepper, the Roberts’ former nanny, said Lindsay (Richard’ second wife) and Richard spent money wildly. This included 275 pairs of shoes for Lindsay, 120 pairs of shoes (including 18 pairs of golf shoes) for Richard, 165 suits for Richard and other large amounts of clothing in their walk-in closest.

Previously the Roberts were accused of illegal political and financial wrongdoing, which forced the president to step down from his position.

A United States Senate committee is currently investigating six major ministries over their finances. Three of these ministries are headed by members of ORU’s Board of Regents.

Recently Tulsa World wrote that Oral Roberts University raised $8.8 million starting in 2001 for a new student center, but construction has begun and officials said “the school has used some of the money for scholarships and operations.” Tulsa World requested documents about the ORU student center, but the “university released details but not records about money raised for the center.”

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Journalist, counselor, painter, and US 2012 Presidential candidate Joe Schriner of Cleveland, Ohio took some time to discuss his campaign with Wikinews in an interview.

Schriner previously ran for president in 2000, 2004, and 2008, but failed to gain much traction in the races. He announced his candidacy for the 2012 race immediately following the 2008 election. Schriner refers to himself as the “Average Joe” candidate, and advocates a pro-life and pro-environmentalist platform. He has been the subject of numerous newspaper articles, and has published public policy papers exploring solutions to American issues.

Wikinews reporter William Saturn? talks with Schriner and discusses his campaign.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel gave yesterday’s opening address to the 42nd meeting of the World Economic Forum (WEF), which is facing a distinctly different geo-political landscape from twelve months ago. Outside the WEF security cordon, in the sub-zero temperatures of Davos’ train station car park, the local incarnation of the Occupy movement are setting up ‘Camp Igloo’; but, with little hope of the archetypes of the 1%, ‘Davos Man’, arriving by public transport and seeing their sub-zero protest.

David Roth, heading the Swiss centre-left’s youth wing — and an organiser of ‘Camp Igloo’, echoes much of the sentiment from ‘Occupy’ protests around the world; “[a]t meetings the rest of society is excluded from, this powerful ‘1 percent’ negotiates and decides about the fate of the other 99 percent of this world, […] economic and financial concentration of power in a small, privileged minority leads to a dictatorship over the rest of us. The motto ‘one person, one vote’ is no longer valid, but ‘one dollar, one vote’.”

Roth’s characterisation of ‘Davos Man’, a term coined by the Professor Samuel Huntington of Harvard University, is more emotive than that of the late professor who saw ‘Davos man’ as “[having…] little need for national loyalty, view[ing] national boundaries as obstacles that thankfully are vanishing, and see[ing] national governments as residues from the past whose only useful function is to facilitate the elite’s global operations”.

As Reuters highlights, many attendees will opt to make their way from Zurich to Davos by private jet, or helicopter, and the WEF itself provides handouts indicating the cost of such is 5,100 Swiss francs (approx. 5,500 USD, 3,500 GBP, 4,200 EUR). In contrast: travelling by rail, even when opting for first class — without an advance booking, is 145 Swiss francs (approx. 155 USD, 100 GBP).

Shifting fortunes see several past attendees missing this year’s exclusive get-together in the alpine resort; for a second year running — and now caught up in the UK phone hacking scandal being scrutinised by Lord Leveson’s inquiry — media mogul Rupert Murdoch will not be attending. Nor will the former head of financial services company UBS Oswald Gruebel, who resigned in the wake of US$2.3 billion losses incurred through unauthorised trading; likewise, Philipp Hildebrand, the ex-head of the Swiss National Bank, is absent following scandal associated with his wife’s currency trading activities; and, although the sexual assault charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn were dropped, having stepped down as managing director of the International Monetary Fund Strauss-Kahn will also be absent.

As the #OccupyWEF protesters were building igloos last weekend, an anti-WEF protest in the Swiss capital Berne was broken up by police, who stated their intent to prosecute participants in the illegal protest. Allegations of calls for violent protest action led to a high number of officers being involved. In the aftermath, charges of breach of the peace are to be brought against 153 people, with some targeted for more serious offences. At least one group involved in the protest described the police response as “disproportionate”.

At ‘Camp Igloo’ Roth says he is seeking discussions with the WEF’s expected 2,000 attendees; but his voice, and that of others in the worldwide ‘Occupy’ movement, is unlikely to be given a platform in the opening debate, “Is 20th-century capitalism failing 21st-century society?” He, and others taking part in this Swiss incarnation of the ‘Occupy’ movement, are still considering an invite to a side-session issued by the World Economic Forum’s founder, Klaus Schwab; commenting on the invite Roth told the Associated Press they would prefer a debate at a more neutral venue.

As has been the case for several years now, the annual Forum meeting in Davos was preceded with the release of a special report by the World Economic Forum into risks seen as likely to have an impact the in the coming decade. The 2012 Global Risks Report is a hefty document; the 64-page report is backed with a variety of visualisation tools designed to allow the interrelations between risks to be viewed, how risks interact modelled, and their potential impacts considered — as assessed by the WEF’s panel of nearly 500 experts.

As one would expect, economic risks top both the 2012 impact and likelihood charts. Climate change is pushed somewhat further down the list of concerns likely to drive discussions in Davos. “Major systemic financial failure” — the collapse of a globally important financial institution, or world currency, is selected as the risk which carries the most potential impact.

However, “Chronic fiscal imbalances” — failing to address excessive government debt, and “Severe income disparity” — a widening of the the gulf between rich and poor, top the list of most likely risks.

At the other end of the tables, disagreeing respectively with the weight last year’s Wikinews report gave to orbital debris, and the Motion Picture Association of America’s (MPAA) fight with the Internet over copyright legislation, the 2012 Global Risks Report places “Proliferation of Orbital Debris” and “Failure of intellectual property regime” bottom of the league in terms of potential impact.

In 2011, with the current global economic crisis well under-way, “Fiscal crises” topped the WEF risks with the largest potential impact in the next ten years. However, perceived as most likely a year ago, “Storms and cyclones”, “Flooding”, and “Biodiversity loss” — all climate-change related points — were placed ahead of “Economic disparity” and “Fiscal crises”.

More mundane risks overtake the spectre of terrorism when contrasting this year’s report with the 2011 one; volatility in the prices of commodities, consumer goods, and energy, and the security of water supplies are all now ranked as more likely risks than terrorism — though the 2011 report did rank some of these concerns as having a higher potential impact. A significant shift in perception sees the 2012 report highlight food shortages almost as likely a risk the world will face over the next decade; and, one with a far more significant impact.

Attending the World Economic Forum at Davos is more than just an opportunity to discuss the current state of the global economy, and review the risks which face countries around the world. With such a high number of political and business leaders in attendance, it is an ideal opportunity to pursue new trade deals.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is, in addition to being a keynote speaker, expected to pursue improved relations with European and Asian trade partners at private meetings on the Forum sidelines. The Toronto Star reports Harper is likely to push forward an under-negotiation Canadian-European free-trade agreement, and hold closed-door discussions prior to next month’s planned trip to China.

Similarly, Canadian trade minister Ed Fast is expected to meet South Korean counterparts to discuss an equivalent deal to the preferential ones between the Asian nation and the US and Europe. Fast’s deal does, however, face opposition at home; the Canadian Auto Workers union asserts that such a deal would put 33,0000 jobs at-risk.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and chancellor George Osborne are expected to discuss a possible increase of UK funding to the International Monetary Fund (IMF); however, with the UK responsible for 4.5% of the US$400 billion in the IMF’s lending fund, backbench MPs have warned that committing any additional funds could provoke a Conservative revolt in parliament. Tuesday’s IMF cut of predicted global growth from 4% to 3.3%, warnings of a likely Eurozone recession in 2012, and ongoing problems with Greek financial restructuring, are likely discussion topics at Davos — as well as amongst UK backbench MPs who see adding to the IMF war-chest as bailing out failed European economies.

South Africa, less centre-stage during the 2011 Forum, will be looking to improve relationships and take advantage of their higher profile. President Jacob Zuma and several cabinet members are attending sessions and discussions; whilst former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown is to moderate a session, “Africa — From Transition to Transformation“, with Nigeria, Guinea, and South Sudan’s presidents on the panel. Wal-mart’s CEO Doug McMillon is to lead a dinner session, “Shared Opportunities for Africa’s Future” — highlighting larger multinationals looking towards the continent for new opportunities.

Davos may also serve as a place to progress disputes out of the public eye; a high-profile dispute between Chile’s state-owned copper mining business, Codelco, and Anglo American plc over the 5.39 billion USD sale of a near-quarter stake in their Chilean operations to Japan’s Mitsubishi, prompted the Financial Times to speculate that, as the respective company chiefs — Diego Hernández and Cynthia Carroll — are expected to attend, they could privately discuss the spat during the Forum.