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At the site of one of British Columbia’s worst environmental disasters, the Cariboo Regional District has declared a state of local emergency. In order to access additional capacity needed to protect property and infrastructure from the Mount Polley tailings pond breach, the district made the declaration Wednesday, expanding governmental provisions from the complete water ban that was issued Monday.

“The potential long-term impact to waterways, the watershed and roads is huge,” said Chairman of the Cariboo Regional District Al Richmond.

The Mount Polley Mine tailings pond collapsed Monday near Williams Lake, central British Columbia. Millions of cubic meters of waste water and debris flooded into the Cariboo river system.

Read more: Water Ban Announced Near Williams Lake, Canada: Tailings Pond Breached

A complete water ban was announced Monday morning, and included all consumption and recreational use. The ban extended to the entire Quesnel and Cariboo river systems.

The waste spilled into Quesnel Lake, one of BCs largest clean lakes, and Polley Lake. Approximately 10 million cubic meters of water and 4.5 million cubic meters of debris were lost. Water continued to spill out of the pond Wednesday, although the pond was nearly empty.

Responders have been working around the clock to close the dam and secure debris areas, but due to the region’s locality and sparse population, quickly addressing a large environmental disaster such as the spill has proven a challenge.

The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) declared a state of local emergency Wednesday. The district, working with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Emergency Management BC, Central Cariboo Search and Rescue, Mount Polley, Interior Health and other associated agencies, is formulating a plan to deal with the disaster.

“The local state of emergency was declared to ensure the CRD has the power to take any remedial actions that may become necessary,” the CRD stated.

Immediate actions include bringing in barges to break up the debris before it hits the shore. There is concern that if the wind picks up, islands of debris dislodged by the massive water flow could be blown against the shore, damaging structures. There is also concern that the Quesnel Bridge–a wooden structure and the towns main access route–could be damaged by the debris.

There is also concern that the salmon run, which will begin soon, will be harmed. There have been reports and photos published of fish floating and being washed up on shore.

A chief concern is the quality of the water that left the tailings pond. The exact composition of the water is not currently known, although Polley Mine’s head official, Brian Kynoch, stated that the water was “very close to drinking water.” BC’s Environment Ministry is currently conducting an analysis. The results of the water tests will be known late Wednesday or Thursday.

Among the elements and chemicals expected to be found in large quantities are nickel, lead, copper and arsenic. Around 400,000 kilograms of arsenic were dumped into the pond in 2013, but Kynoch said that arsenic levels were one-fifth drinking water quality. There have also been reports that a large amount of phosphorous was in the water–the element found in fertilizers blamed for massive algae blooms making news in Ohio and other areas.

“I apologize for what happened,” stated Kynoch at a community meeting Tuesday. “If you had asked me two weeks ago if that could happen, I would have said it couldn’t happen, so I know that for our company it’s going to take a long time to earn the community’s trust back.”

A view of a creek affected by the breach

By Day Blakely Donaldson

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The Hindu nationalist party, Shiv Sena, has published claims that rape accusations are being used as political weapons to destroy careers overnight. The comments came in response to recent rape allegations filed against an Indian police officer who is currently under police protection due to death threats.

“After he has served for so many years in the police force, one model now charges DIG [deputy inspector general] Sunil Paraskar with rape and in one night he becomes a villain,” the party stated. “Such accusations have become good weapons to seek personal revenge.

“Cases of charging [prominent] men with molestation and rape in to create hype is on a rise now. It has almost become a fashion,” continued the statement.

Paraskar was accused of rape and molestation during a three-month period by a model.

In the wake of a gang rape that lead to the death of a Delhi student two years ago, India toughened its rape and sexual assault laws, which, Shiv Sena claimed, were being abused. The party stated that rape accusations had now become “fashionable.”

Suspicions that the new, tougher laws were being abused have existed for a while, but recently statistical evidence has been found to support the claim.

Since the December 16, 2012, gang rape, the acquittal rate for rape cases has shot up from 46 in the first part of 2013 to 75 percent, and is currently around 70 percent.

“It’s sad but true,” said one of the prosecutors on the Nirbhaya trial, A T Ansari. “Registration of false cases is rampant and hence, the alarming acquittal rate. The new law is being misused because of the widened definition of rape.

“This is an unfortunate trend. In many cases, women come up with the plea that they had registered the case out of anger and due to misunderstanding.”

Another senior prosecutor commented on the matter, “In around 90% of acquittal cases, the victim turns hostile. Mostly, it turns out to be a case of a relationship gone bad. The sex is consensual but the victim claims that the consent was given on account of promise of marriage.”

Other cases involve extortion, property disputes, extra-marital affairs, and recovery of dues.

Senior Advocate Aman Lekhi offered a possible explanation for the trend. “The courts generally don’t use this discretion because they don’t want genuine victims to be wary of approaching courts for justice.”

By James Haleavy

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In an attempt to stem the current land grabbing spree taking place in Sierra Leone, citizens of the capital city, Freetown, have issued the Freetown Declaration. The Declaration stated that despite the benefit of increased investment in the country, there was an urgent need to protect the land rights of rural residents, who were being hurt by the land grab.

The Declaration recognized the “mass influx of various Foreign Direct Investors” who have invested in Sierra Leone over the past 10 years. The investors have acquired large tracts of forest, mining and arable land.

The problem, as addressed in the Declaration, is that the rising demand for land to undertake foreign investment has been accompanied by “a disproportionate dividend” for rural residents, “most of whom have been dispossessed of land which has had very negative implications for their livelihood and invariably leading to an infringement of fundamental rights…”

While recognizing the benefits Sierra Leone received from foreign investment, the citizens resolved that there was an urgent need “to recognise and respect all legitimate tenure right holders and their rights owing to the very little community involvement in land acquisition.” Food security and livelihood were at issue, the Declaration noted.

The citizens called an acknowledgement of the environmental degradation that was taking place in communities where mining and agri-business were located. They also called for legal changes, including the insertion of humane and non-discriminatory clauses in relevant laws.

The landgrabbing problem in Sierra Leone was recently commented on publicly by the Director of Criminal Services in Sierra Leone Police, Assistant Inspector General Morie Lengor, who said that much violence was attached to the issue, making it a serious security threat and concern.

The Freetown Declaration was issued at the Atlantic Hall in Freetown late last month.

By Day Blakely Donaldson

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The largest of its kind ever mobilized in Australia, the force was launched by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Sunday with the words, “The Green Army is on the march from today.”

“The Green Army is a hands-on, practical, grassroots environmental action programme that supports local environment and heritage conservation projects across Australia,” according to the organization itself.

“It’s the largest environmental workforce Australia has ever mobilized for land care,” said Abbott.

The Army seeks to recruit 15,000 members. It is targeting Australians aged 17-24, and offers to provide training and experience in environmental and heritage conservation fields and conservation management. At the same time, the Army aims to benefit the environment by staffing real projects. Army workers will receive a wage similar to a traineeship–around US$9.30-14.90 per hour.

Green Army teams will be deployed on 20-26-week projects across Australia. In the next year, 250 projects have been planned. Five hundred are planned for 2015-16, 750 for 22016-17 and 1,150 for 2017-18.

Among these tasks are tree planting, restoring koala habitats, cleaning up creeks and rivers, conserving heritage sites and monitoring endangered species.

The program has been provided with $525 million tax money for four years.

“It’s about projects around Australia, which will help improve river banks, revegetate, encourage threatened species’ recovery, shore up sand dunes, be engaged in the health and rehabilitation of both urban and rural landscapes,” said Abbott. “Secondly, it’s about ensuring that young people have training and work skills and opportunity.”

Australians interested in joining the Green Army are advised to contact a Service Provider in their state or territory.

By Sid Douglas

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The imam of Xinjiang’s largest mosque, located in Kashgar, was killed Wednesday, and shortly afterwards police shot dead two suspects in the murder, who, according to the police, “resisted arrest with knives and axes.”

The suspects had been located shortly after the murder, according to police, who said the men had been “influenced by religious extremism.”

The suspects, according to Chinese state media agency Xinhua, had planned to “do something big” to boost their influence in the region.

The imam, Jume Tahir, was appointed to the position of imam of the mosque by China’s ruling Communist Party.

There have been reports that the imam was unpopular for praising Chinese policies while preaching.

Xinjiang is composed of 43.3 percent Uyghur, 41 percent Han Chinese, 8.3 percent Kazakh, 5 percent Hui and small numbers of other ethnic groups. Han have been migrating to Xinjiang on a large scale in recent years, and tensions have been rising between the local Uyghurs and their Chinese rulers.

By Day Blakely Donaldson

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Today, Thailand’s military government, the Thai National Council for Peace and Order, approved two massive railway projects to link Bangkok and the southern coast with southern China and Laos.

A 737-kilometer line will extend from northeastern Nong Khai to coastal Map Ta Phut in Rayong province. Another line will run from northern Chiang Khong in Chiang Rai province to Ayutthaya province.

The lines will run trains capable of 160 kilometers per hour.

The two rails will cost more than $23bn total, and construction is expected to begin next year, with a projected completion in 2021.

The rail lines will eventually be tied into a greater system of high-speed rails that are planned to connect all of Southeast Asia. Much of the push for this network has come from China.

China’s line to connect its southwestern Yunnan Province with Singapore is expected to transform rural Laos, where the majority of the 6.5 million Laotians have never ridden a train. China aims to sell goods in Southeast Asia while receiving natural resources in return.

However, the Chinese plan is not going as smoothly in Burma, where a plan to link Arakan State with China was recently abandoned over potential cost and environmental concerns. The line was to cost $20bn and would have been operated by China for 50 years before being handed over to the Burmese government.

China also has plans to connect to Tibet, India, Nepal and Bhutan by 2020.

By Sid Douglas

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Russia has planned a census to be taken in Crimea in October. The census will include 33 questions, which will be answered by declaration and without documented proof, will be accounted by “foreigners temporarily residing in Crimea,” and will have special focus placed on foreigners working and studying in Crimea. The plans were announced this week by Krymstat, the statistical body of Russia’s Crimean occupation authority. Russian authorities have commented that they expect the census will provide a needed picture of the actual populace of Crimea, which they believe may have been misrepresented in past censuses.

Among the 33 questions will be queries about date and place of birth, ethnic origin, migration activeness, citizenship, income sources, education, marital status, fertility and residence.

A separate section will be devoted to housing conditions questions.

The census will be based on declarations–not documents. Krymstat has stated that census takers will not require documentary validification for any census declarations.

Krymstat also has said it they will include foreign residents in Crimea, and will place a focus on foreign nationals who have come to Crimea to work or study, although details as to how Krymstat would count or group foreigners have not been not given.

Soldiers of the Black Sea Fleet will also be included in the census.

A decree to organize the census was signed by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev earlier this month. The census will cost approximately 387 million rubles, according to RIA Novosti.

Accounting of the census will be conducted by “foreigners temporarily residing in Crimea,” reportedly. Specialists will examine in detail the working and student migrants category.

Russian news sources have reported that the census is important as a recognition of the actual populace of Crimea, and also because Russian experts suspect Crimean Tatar organizations overestimate the strength of their people.

By Day Blakely Donaldson