BHOPAL, INDIA // Disabled children suffering the effects of the 1984 Bhopal disaster in India are to take part in a "Special Olympics" on Thursday to protest against London 2012 sponsor Dow Chemical.
The event is aimed at raising awareness of the legacy of birth defects and pollution following the accident at a factory owned by US chemical company Union Carbide, which was bought by Dow in 1999, organisers said.
The plant leaked poisonous gas into neighbouring slums in Bhopal, killing thousands instantly and tens of thousands more in subsequent years, in the world's worst industrial accident.
The "Bhopal Special Olympics" will see physically and mentally disabled children compete on a sports field in the shadow of the defunct factory, which still contains toxic waste left untreated by authorities.
The events in Bhopal -- the day before the London Games officially open -- will include football, an "assisted walk" and a "crab walk", in which participants unable to stand on two feet race on their hands.
"We are doing this mostly due to Dow's attempt to greenwash its crimes," Rachna Dhingra, a spokeswoman for the five survivors' groups behind the initiative, told AFP.
"We all find it ironic that a corporation that has disabled people in Bhopal is sponsoring the Olympic Games."
The decision by London 2012 organisers to stick by Dow Chemical has caused anger in Bhopal and led to complaints from the Indian government, which asked for the company to be dropped as a sponsor.
Dow bought Union Carbide more than a decade-and-a-half after the disaster and insists all liabilities were settled in a 1989 compensation deal that saw Union Carbide pay the Indian government $470 million.
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Brunch has been around, is some form or another, for more than a century. The word was first mentioned in print in an 1895 edition of Hunter’s Weekly, after making the rounds among university students in Britain. The article, entitled Brunch: A Plea, argued the case for a later, more sociable weekend meal. “By eliminating the need to get up early on Sunday, brunch would make life brighter for Saturday night carousers. It would promote human happiness in other ways as well,” the piece read. “It is talk-compelling. It puts you in a good temper, it makes you satisfied with yourself and your fellow beings, it sweeps away the worries and cobwebs of the week.” More than 100 years later, author Guy Beringer’s words still ring true, especially in the UAE, where brunches are often used to mark special, sociable occasions.
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4pm: Mahab Al Shimaal Group 3 | US$350,000 | (Dirt) | 1,200m
4.35pm: Al Bastakiya Listed | $300,000 | (D) | 1,900m
5.10pm: Nad Al Sheba Turf Group 3 | $350,000 | (Turf) | 1,200m
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013