- Osimhen strike books Nigeria place at Africa Cup of Nations
- England ignore star absences to sink Greece
- Tonali shoots Italy past Belgium and into Nations League quarter-finals
- Trump names vaccine skeptic RFK to head health dept
- Lebanon economic losses top $5 billion in year of clashes: World Bank
- Sinner cruises past Medvedev to complete perfect ATP Finals group stage
- Nicaragua's Ortega banishes leading Catholic bishop
- Rugby needs Wallaby 'superstar' Suaalii says Wales coach Gatland
- Unbeaten Chiefs visit Buffalo in NFL rivalry showdown
- Biden administration touts record drop in overdose deaths
- 'Proud' new World Rugby chief Robinson vows to unify the sport
- Fed Chair calls US the best-performing major economy in the world
- England boss fears new directive risks rugby turning into Aussie rules
- Brother of late Harrods owner also accused of sexual violence: BBC
- England captain Kane axed for Greece clash after blast at absentee stars
- French Senate rejects bill to ban under-16s from attending bullfights
- Borthwick adamant England focus still sharp as Springboks await
- Martin calls on rival Bagnaia for advice ahead of MotoGP title showdown
- Philadelphia completes lineup for Johnson's Grand Slam meets
- 'Harness the now': British singer Imogen Heap embraces AI
- UN committee says Israel warfare in Gaza 'consistent with genocide'
- Italy wing Capuozzo to miss Georgia game with concussion
- Japan into BJK Cup quarter-finals for first time in 11 years
- MLB Rays to play 2025 season at Yankees facility in Tampa
- China's Xi arrives in Peru for APEC summit, Biden meeting
- British author says space inspired Booker Prize-winning novel
- Spain's Vanguardia daily to stop posting on 'disinformation network' X
- European watchdog partially approves new Alzheimer's drug
- Monitor says militants among 20 killed in Israel strikes on Syria
- New York to revive driver congestion charge plan
- Brazil probes Supreme Court bomb blasts as 'terrorist act'
- Sotheby's to pay $6.25 mln in tax fraud case
- McIlroy shares Dubai lead with Ballesteros mark in sight
- Lebanon army redeployment in south crucial to war solution: UN peacekeeping chief
- Trump fills out cabinet as divisive picks shock Washington
- Son hits 50th South Korea goal in win, Australia-Saudi stalemate
- BHP, Vale cleared by Brazil court over 2015 dam disaster
- Satirical US outlet The Onion buys conspiracy site Infowars
- Scotland must emulate Croatia's 'conveyor belt of talent': Clarke
- Legal migration to OECD reaches new record in 2023
- India's capital shuts all primary schools due to smog
- Central bank independence 'fundamental' for good policy: Fed official
- Fritz beats De Minaur to eye ATP Finals last four, Sinner through
- Doris expecting a 'proper test' against Argentina
- Russia's exiled opposition hopes for rebirth with Berlin rally
- EU fines Meta $840 million for 'abusive' Facebook ad practices
- Springboks boss Erasmus expects England to 'play for Borthwick'
- Before Leicester, Ranieri's brush with glory with his beloved Roma
- Australian Robinson edges Benazzi to head World Rugby
- US director Haynes to lead Berlinale 2025 jury
RBGPF | -1.59% | 59.25 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.24% | 24.55 | $ | |
RYCEF | -4.71% | 6.79 | $ | |
BCC | -1.57% | 140.35 | $ | |
NGG | 0.4% | 62.37 | $ | |
AZN | -0.38% | 65.04 | $ | |
GSK | -2.09% | 34.39 | $ | |
RELX | -0.37% | 45.95 | $ | |
VOD | -0.81% | 8.68 | $ | |
RIO | -0.31% | 60.43 | $ | |
SCS | -0.75% | 13.27 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.02% | 24.725 | $ | |
BCE | -1.38% | 26.84 | $ | |
JRI | -0.23% | 13.21 | $ | |
BTI | 0.2% | 35.49 | $ | |
BP | 1.65% | 29.05 | $ |
BHP, Vale cleared by Brazil court over 2015 dam disaster
A Brazilian court on Thursday cleared mining giants BHP and Vale, and their Brazilian joint venture Samarco, of responsibility over a 2015 dam collapse that caused the country's worst ever environmental disaster.
The dam's rupture on November 5, 2015 near the town of Mariana unleashed a giant torrent of toxic mud that swamped villages, rivers and rainforest, killing 19 people on its way to the sea.
Scientists say the sludge caused "permanent" pollution on the river Doce and its coastal plain.
Brazil's government filed a criminal complaint against the mining companies and several of their executives over the spill.
But a court in Belo Horizonte, capital of southeastern Minas Gerais state, where the disaster occurred, ruled that state prosecutors had failed to prove that "individual behavior contributed directly and decisively to the collapse of the dam.
"And, in the context of the criminal trial, the doubt... can only be resolved in favor of the accused," the judge wrote.
Pamela Rayane Fernandes, mother of Emanuele Vitoria, a five-year-old girl who died in the tragedy, reacted with disappointment to the companies' acquittal.
"Although I expected this response from the Brazilian justice system, it was still a shock to know that in the place where we live, where we come from, they (the state) cannot give us protection," she told AFP.
- $30 bn in damages -
The ruling comes nearly three weeks after Australia's BHP and Brazil's Vale reached a deal with Brazil's government to pay nearly $30 billion in damages over the collapse of the tailings dam at mine operated by Samarco.
The payout is the biggest of its kind for an environmental disaster, according to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The companies agreed to pay 100 billion reais (17.5 billion dollars) to local authorities over twenty years and 32 billion reais ($5.6 billion) towards compensating and resettling the victims, as well as repairing the harm caused to the environment.
Thursday's court decision also comes a month into a mega-trial in London over BHP's role in the mudslide.
More than 620,000 complainants, including 46 Brazilian municipalities and several Indigenous communities, are seeking an estimated £36 billion ($47 million) in damages from the company, which denies liability.
The dam's failure released a torrent of over 40 million cubic meters of sludge, the equivalent of 12,000 Olympic swimming pools, which flowed through the Doce river channel all the way to the Atlantic Ocean, over 600 kilometers (373 miles) away.
It killed thousands of animals and left over 600 people homeless.
Scientists say the mouth of the Doce River and parts of the southeast Atlantic coastline are still contaminated with metals from the spill, affecting the area's population of fish, birds, turtles, porpoises and whales.
BHP and Vale had already agreed in 2016 to pay 20 billion reais (about $3.5 billion at today's rate) in damages, but the negotiations were reopened in 2021 due to what the government called their "non-compliance".
L.Torres--PC