Protests leave permanent imprint on Hong Kong's streets

AFP / Anthony WALLACE

Signs of the unrest can still be seen throughout Hong Kong

Torn up paving stones filled-in with concrete, cages erected over bridges and security guards on campus entrances -- protests have left a permanent imprint on Hong Kong's streets after a year of tumult.

One year ago, on June 9, a record-breaking crowd of some one million marched through the international finance hub demanding the withdrawal of an unpopular bill allowing extraditions to the authoritarian mainland.

As city leaders dug in, the movement snowballed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule with huge rallies and clashes with police raging for seven straight months.

AFP / Anthony WALLACE

As Hong Kong's leaders dug in, the movement snowballed into a popular revolt against Beijing's rule
Mass arrests and a coronavirus ban on public gatherings have enforced calm for much of this year and Beijing is now planning to impose a new law for the finance hub targeting subversion, secession, terrorism and foreign interference.

But signs of the unrest can still be seen throughout the metropolis.

Hong Kong Polytechnic University was the scene of the most sustained clashes between protesters and police back in November.

Now the imposing red brick campus is ringed by yellow water-filled security barriers and guards who check the identities of those entering.

FP / Anthony WALLACE

ThroughAout the city concrete remains daubed with anti-government slogans before it had time to dry

Similar barriers have been thrown up around Hong Kong's legislature, neighbourhood police stations, government ministries and Beijing's offices in the city.

Police now rarely patrol in less than groups of four, some swapping their blue uniforms for green riot overalls and helmets.

Many Chinese owned companies and businesses deemed sympathetic to Beijing have kept the wooden protective hoarding over their storefronts after dozens of shops were trashed by protesters.

- 'Ideas are indestructible' -

AFP / Anthony WALLACE

Barriers have been thrown up around Hong Kong's legislature, police stations, government ministries and Beijing's offices in the city
All across the city, paving that was dug up to throw at police or delay their advances have been filled in with concrete, some of it daubed with anti-government slogans before it had time to dry.

And many pedestrian bridges over busy roads are clad in metal cages after protesters disrupted highways by throwing objects from above.

"Throughout the 2019 protests, protesters 'deconstructed' the city's fabric, subverting the urban infrastructure to put it in service of their protest," Antony Dapiran, a Hong Kong lawyer who has written books about the city's protest movements, told AFP.

AFP / Anthony WALLACE

One of Hong Kong's remaining 'Lennon Walls' which show notes in support of the pro-democracy protests

"The Hong Kong government, when it became familiar with the protesters' tactics, begun to take countermeasures, stripping the city of the urban hardware that the protesters so readily recontextualised for the purposes of their barricade resistance," he added.

Some of that hardware has begun returning.

For months, streets were largely stripped of metal security barriers separating the busy roads from the pavements.]

AFP / Anthony WALLACE

Pedestrian bridges over busy roads are clad in metal cages after protesters disrupted highways by throwing objects from above

Protesters became expert at using wrenches and drills to dismantle the structures in seconds to add to their barricades.

But in recent weeks, new barriers have sprung up, their shiny metal frames yet to be weathered by the sub-tropical heat.

So-called "Lennon Walls" -- filled with pro-democracy posters and colourful notes -- remain standing in some neighbourhoods where anti-government sentiment runs high.

Others have been scrubbed down and painted over, often by municipal workers playing whack-a-mole with the graffiti, others by gangs of pro-government supporters.

AFP / Anthony WALLACE

Hong Kong's municipal workers play whack-a-mole with the pro-democracy graffiti that still appears in parts of the city

But Dapiran said scrubbing people's memories will be much harder.

"The Lennon Wall was transformed from a site to an idea, an instrument and expression of protest, and became as a result significantly more powerful and enduring -- and, ultimately, indestructible," he said.

Huge fire breaks out at India gas well blowout


AFP / Partha Sarathi DASThe explosion sent bright orange flames and huge, black plumes of smoke high into the sky in India's Assam state

A huge fire broke out at an oil field near popular ecotourism spots in northeastern India on Tuesday, after gas that had spewed for two weeks from a blown-out well ignited, officials said.

The gas well at an oil field managed by state-owned Oil India started leaking in late May in Tinsukia district of Assam state, and the firm said late last week gas was still flowing "uncontrollably".

Tuesday's explosion sent bright orange flames and huge, black plumes of smoke high into the sky, visible 10 kilometres (six miles) from the oil field, locals told AFP.

"While the clearing operations were on at the well site, the well caught fire," Oil India said in a statement, adding that a firefighter suffered "minor injuries".

Around 200 engineers and workers -- including a team of experts who arrived from Singapore on Monday -- are trying to stem the leak within four weeks, the company added.

Villagers fled in fear, and said five of their homes had caught fire.

"The situation is very bad. It is spreading. I knew it was going to happen," local environmentalist Niranta Gohain told AFP over the phone from the site.

The company called for help from the army after locals allegedly attacked its vehicles after Tuesday's explosion, spokesman Tridiv Hazarika said.

Water was being pumped to the well over the past two weeks to prevent the gas catching fire.




AFP / Partha Sarathi DAS

Indian policemen ask people to move to a safer location following the explosion at a facility operated by the state-owned Oil India Limited (OIL) in Tinsukia district in Assam state

Assam's Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said firefighters, police and the army were being sent to the site, which is 500 kilometres east of Guwahati, the state's biggest city.

Environmentalists were increasingly worried about the impact of the gas leak.

The well was producing 100,000 standard cubic metres per day (SCMD) of gas from a depth of 3,870 metres (4,234 yards) before the blowout in May, according to Oil India.

Just one kilometre from the field is Maguri-Motapung wetlands, an ecotourism site. State-owned sanctuary Dibru Saikhowa National Park -- renowned for migratory birds -- is about 2.5 kilometres away.

Authorities had established an exclusion zone of 1.5 kilometres and about 2,500 people had been evacuated from their homes.

Officials Monday ordered a probe into the deaths of five people from the areas surrounding the field, although the district administration said a preliminary investigation suggested they died of natural causes.

'Gone with the Wind' removed from HBO Max after racism protests
 

AFP/File / GABRIEL BOUYSMultiple Oscar-winning US Civil War epic 'Gone with the Wind,' based on the novel by Margaret Mitchell, remains the highest-grossing movie of all time adjusted for inflation

"Gone with the Wind" was removed from the HBO Max streaming platform Tuesday, as mass protests against racism and police brutality prompt television networks to reassess their offerings.

The multiple Oscar-winning US Civil War epic released in 1939 remains the highest-grossing movie of all time adjusted for inflation, but its depiction of contented slaves and heroic slaveholders has garnered criticism.

"'Gone With The Wind' is a product of its time and depicts some of the ethnic and racial prejudices that have, unfortunately, been commonplace in American society," an HBO Max spokesperson said in a statement to AFP.

"These racist depictions were wrong then and are wrong today, and we felt that to keep this title up without an explanation and a denouncement of those depictions would be irresponsible."

Demonstrations have swept the United States since the May 25 killing of African American George Floyd while in police custody, with calls growing for police reform and the broader removal of symbols of a racist legacy, including monuments to the slave-holding Confederacy.

Floyd died last month as a white Minneapolis officer pressed a knee into his neck for almost nine minutes. The officer has been charged with second-degree murder.

"12 Years A Slave" writer John Ridley said in a Los Angeles Times op-ed Monday that "Gone with the Wind" must be removed as it "doesn't just 'fall short' with regard to representation" but ignores the horrors of slavery and perpetuates "some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color."

The film will return to the recently launched streaming platform at a later date, along with a discussion of its historical context, the company said.

No edits will be made, "because to do otherwise would be the same as claiming these prejudices never existed."

"If we are to create a more just, equitable and inclusive future, we must first acknowledge and understand our history."

- 'Normalized injustice' -

Meanwhile Tuesday, long-running reality series "Cops" was canceled by Paramount Network.

The show followed real-life US officers on duty for over three decades, but had been accused of glamorizing aspects of policing and distorting issues such as race.

AFP/File / Olivier DOULIERY

The long-running law enforcement reality TV series 'Cops' has been cancelled in the wake of mass protests against police brutality

"'Cops' is not on the Paramount Network and we don't have any current or future plans for it to return," a network spokesperson told US media Tuesday.

Police shows -- both reality and scripted -- are among the most-watched on US television but have come under scrutiny.

Civil rights group Color of Change, which campaigned against the show for its depiction of suspects and alleged masking of racism in police forces, welcomed the news Tuesday.

"For 30 years, #COPS has normalized injustice and misrepresented crime, policing and race," tweeted president Rashad Robinson.

"But it's far from the only crime TV show to do so."

Dan Taberski, whose podcast "Running from Cops" claimed the show allowed police to remove unflattering material during editing, said he was "hopeful its cancellation 31 years later is a sign of positive change to come."

Popular reality cop show "Live PD" has also been removed from schedules, while Jessica Alba-starring scripted procedural "LA's Finest" saw its season premiere delayed Monday.

And in the UK, the BBC said it had pulled sketch show "Little Britain" -- which features scenes where white actors wear makeup to portray characters from other ethnic backgrounds -- from its iPlayer streaming service.

"Times have changed since Little Britain first aired so it is not currently available on BBC iPlayer," a spokesperson for the national broadcaster said Tuesday.

Philippine journalist Ressa scared but strong ahead of verdict

AFP / Ted ALJIBEMaria Ressa outside court in 2018

High-profile Philippine journalist Maria Ressa says the libel charge that could see her jailed next week is a government ploy to intimidate all critical voices, but she refuses to be silenced and still holds out hope of winning.

In an exclusive video interview with AFP ahead of Monday's verdict that could see her sentenced for up to 12 years, Ressa admitted being scared but also continued to speak defiantly.

"I've been the cautionary tale: be quiet or you're next... that's part of the reason why I have been targeted," said Ressa, 56, the co-founder of news site Rappler and a former CNN journalist.

"It's a chilling effect... not just to me and to Rappler, but to journalists and to anyone who asks critical questions."

Monday's verdict will decide a case that stems from a businessman's complaint in 2017 over a Rappler story five years earlier about his alleged ties to a then-judge on the nation's top court.

Government investigators initially dismissed the businessman's allegation.

But state prosecutors later revived the case using a controversial cyber crime statute aimed at online offences ranging from stalking to child pornography.

AFP / John SAEKIMaria Ressa

Authorities say they have not targeted Ressa for her work and are simply enforcing the law.

But press and media watchdogs say the case against Ressa is in retaliation for Rappler's independent reporting on President Rodrigo Duterte and his administration.

The website's journalists have cast a harsh light on Duterte's anti-drugs crackdown, which has killed thousands and drawn international censure despite being backed by many Filipinos.

Another one of the most prominent critics of Duterte's narco war, Senator Leila de Lima, has been in jail for three years over drug allegations that she says are trumped up.

Ressa's libel case is among a string of criminal charges that have hit her and Rappler since last year, many of which stem from allegations over how the site raised investment money.

- 'Embracing my fear' -

The multiple moves against Rappler have drawn international concern and made Ressa a cause celebre globally for people standing up against authoritarian governments.

Time magazine named Ressa a Person of the Year in 2018.

Rights watchdogs say the Duterte government has in recent weeks stepped up its campaign to silence dissent in other ways, with the nation's top broadcaster -- ABS-CBN -- shutdown.

Lawmkers also this month passed the Anti-Terrorism Act of 2020, which allows warrantless arrests, weeks of detention without charge and other measures that critics fear could be used to crack down on peaceful government opponents.

Ressa said Duterte had cemented himself as the most powerful Filipino leader since dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose two decades in power ended in a famous "people power" uprising in 1986.

"We could even say more powerful than Marcos because he (Duterte) was able to declare martial law without even declaring martial law," Ressa said, referring to the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Ressa, who served as CNN's bureau chief in Manila and Jakarta during a nearly 35-year career, said waiting for Monday's verdict was proving an emotional challenge.

AFP / Ted ALJIBERessa (C) speaks during a 2018 protest on press freedom along with fellow journalists in Manila

"I am going to embrace my fear. I have to be ready and that starts in my head. That starts with my ability to be okay with the worst-case scenario," she said from her Manila home.

"I don't want to be surprised."

The independence of the judicial system in the Philippines, which has long had a reputation for corruption, has been further eroded during Duterte's four years in power, according to rights groups.

But Ressa said individual people who make up the court system and their desire "to be guided by the spirit of the law" still give her reason for optimism.

Regardless of the pressure from the highest levels of power to convict, it is up to the judge to make the final decision.

"I'm hoping. All I can do is hope," Ressa said.

Honda cyberattack halts plants in India, Brazil

AFP / Philip FONGHonda said the cyberattack was still affecting at least four plants globally

Honda plants in Brazil and India have halted operations as the Japanese carmaker battles to recover from a cyberattack that affected several factories worldwide.

The cyberattack at the beginning of the week targeted Honda's internal servers and spread a virus through the company's systems, a spokeswoman told AFP on Wednesday.

Motorcycle plants in India and Brazil were still out of action following the attack, while a four-wheel vehicle plant in Turkey resumed operations on Wednesday, the spokeswoman said.

The firm was "still investigating details", she said.

In total, the cyberattack affected 11 Honda plants -- including five in the US, according to local media reports.

All US plants have resumed operations, the spokeswoman said, declining to elaborate further.

She said the suspension would have only a limited impact on Honda's business globally.

Global automakers including Honda have already been hit hard by a slump in sales because of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last month, Honda reported a 25.3-percent fall in net profit from the previous year as sales dropped six percent to 14.9 trillion yen ($138 billion) in the fiscal year ending in March.

US dictionary Merriam-Webster to change its definition of racism

AFP / Karen BLEIERKennedy Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, contacted Merriam-Webster, which has published its dictionaries since 1847, to propose updating the term

The American reference dictionary Merriam-Webster will change its definition of the word racism at the suggestion of a young black woman, who wanted it to better reflect the oppression of people of color.

Kennedy Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, contacted Merriam-Webster, which has published its dictionaries since 1847, to propose updating the term.

"I basically told them that they need to include that there's a systematic oppression upon a group of people," she told the local CBS affiliate KMOV. "It's not just, 'Oh, I don't like someone.'"

Merriam-Webster's editorial manager Peter Sokolowski confirmed to AFP that the definition would be modified after Mitchum's request.

The dictionary currently offers three definitions of racism, and Sokolowski said that the second definition touches on Mitchum's point -- but that "we will make that even more clear in our next release".

In the current version of the second definition, racism is "a doctrine or political program based on the assumption of racism and designed to execute its principles," and "a political or social system founded on racism."

"This is the kind of continuous revision that is part of the work of keeping the dictionary up to date, based on rigorous criteria and research we employ in order to describe the language as it is actually used," Sokolowski said.

One of the dictionary's editors told Mitchum that the definitions of other words "related to racism or have racial connotations" would also be updated, without specifying which ones.

"We apologize for the harm and offense we have caused in failing to address this issue sooner," the editor wrote, according to a message published by Drake University and retweeted by Mitchum.

The Merriam-Webster site, where the definitions are available for free, had nearly 50 million unique visitors in May, according to the SimilarWeb site.

Merriam-Webster's Twitter account has also become a viral hit in recent years, with Buzzfeed calling it "the sassiest dictionary on Twitter".

Wayward whale that swam 400 km upriver to Montreal found dead

AFP / Eric THOMASLocal media, citing experts, speculated that the whale may have been struck by a cargo ship or ran aground in shallow waters

A young humpback whale that swam up one of Canada's major rivers, delighting Montrealers who packed the shores for a glimpse of the first of the species in local waters, has died.

The pilot of a passing commercial ship spotted a "whale carcass" near Varennes in Quebec province, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) east of Montreal, Marie-Eve Muller of the Quebec Emergency Network for Marine Mammals (RQUMM) told AFP on Tuesday.

The body was towed by the Canadian fisheries department to Sorel, 80 kilometers east of Montreal, where it was lifted onto shore with the help of a giant crane.

"It is very likely that it is the same whale observed near Montreal a few days ago," Muller said.

The giant creature had been seen last week swimming in the Saint Lawrence river, diving against the backdrop of the Montreal skyline.

AFP / John SAEKIThe humpback whale


The two- to three-year-old cetacean had appeared healthy from a distance, and scientists hoped it would head back to the estuary and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, more than 400 kilometers away.

The pilot of the boat, who discovered the carcass, told Radio Canada he had not "seen any blood or deformation", which would indicate the possibility of a collision with a ship.

A team comprised of RQUMM, federal fisheries and University of Montreal veterinary medicine officials was headed to the site "to learn more."

A necropsy has been planned to determine the cause of death.

Reseau Quebecois d'Urgences Mammiferes Marins/AFP/File / Handout

The giant creature had been seen last week swimming in the Saint Lawrence river, against the backdrop of the Montreal skyline


Local media, citing experts, speculated that the whale may have been struck by a cargo ship or ran aground in shallow waters.

Humpback whales live near both the Arctic and Antarctic, with adults growing up to 17 meters and weighing up to 40 tonnes.

Each pod spends the summer near the poles and travels to tropical areas in their respective hemispheres during the winter to breed.

The Montreal visitor was likely led astray while chasing prey, or made a navigation error, Muller said on Sunday.

It was the first humpback whale to be observed in these parts.

"There have previously been reports of minke whales or beluga whales, but never for this species," said RQUMM.

Sweden names chief suspect in PM murder, closes probe

TT News Agency/AFP/File / Bertil ERICSONPalme was killed on February 28, 1986, after leaving a Stockholm cinema with his wife Lisbet to walk home

Swedish prosecutors on Wednesday named their main suspect in the 1986 killing of prime minister Olof Palme, closing the murder case that has gripped the Scandinavian country for more than three decades.

The suspect was named as Stig Engstrom, a former advertising consultant known for his staunch opposition to Palme's leftwing policies and who is now dead.

Palme was gunned down on the evening of February 28, 1986, after leaving a Stockholm cinema with his wife, having dismissed his bodyguards for the evening.

He was shot in the back by his assailant, who fled the scene and left the 59-year-old to die in a pool of blood on the sidewalk.

The gruesome murder shocked Swedes, and the country is said to have "lost its innocence" that day.

More than 10,000 people have been questioned over the years, and 134 people have confessed to the crime though none has been credibly tied to it.

Chief prosecutor Krister Petersson said they had zeroed in on Engstrom as the main suspect.

"Because he is dead, I can't press charges against him, and have therefore decided to close the investigation," he said.

Petersson acknowledged to AFP that while "only a court can determine guilt... I am convinced there is evidence of reasonable suspicion."

- The right call -

Engstrom, who was 52 at the time of the murder, was questioned as a witness early on, but police deemed him unreliable after he changed his story several times.

Media have suggested over the years that he was trying to cover up his role as the gunman. He died in 2000 aged 66.

Palme's son Marten told Swedish Radio he believed prosecutors made the right call.

"I think Engstrom is guilty. Given the current situation, I think it is reasonable to close the investigation," he said.

TT News Agency/AFP/File / Fredrik SANDBERGPalme had attended this cinema with his wife before he was killed, having dismissed his bodyguards for the evening

Another man was convicted of the crime in July 1989 after Palme's widow identified him in a widely criticised line-up.

But Christer Pettersson -- a petty criminal and drug addict who is no relation to the current chief prosecutor -- was freed months later by an appeals court which dismissed the widow's testimony on a technicality.

Pettersson died in 2004, while Palme's widow passed away in 2018.

- Probably acted alone -

After Wednesday's announcement Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said it had been "a day full of emotions" and stressed that it was "not the government's place to judge prosecutors' conclusions."

"For a country's prime minister to be murdered is a national trauma. It is my hope that this wound can now heal."

AFP/File / JONATHAN NACKSTRANDA plaque marks the spot where Olof Palme was gunned down in Stockholm on February 28, 1986

Petersson said investigators believe Engstrom acted alone, but could not "completely dismiss (the idea) that he could have been part of a conspiracy."

He said Engstrom told investigators early on that he had arrived at the scene moments after the shots were fired, and left before police arrived.

Engstrom said he had turned Palme on his side, but police were never able to confirm that assertion.

"What was strange when we went through the material was that none of the other witnesses have identified him as being present at the crime scene," Petersson said.

Yet, "he told investigators quite a bit about how he acted at the crime scene".

- 'Adverse opinion' -

Petersson stressed Engstrom's political views as a possible reason for wanting Palme dead.

A Social Democrat known as a great orator, Palme was a controversial figure who infuriated Washington with his vocal opposition to the US war in Vietnam.

He also backed communist governments in Cuba and Nicaragua.

At home, he was at odds with the country's business leaders and military, and spoke out against nuclear power.

Engstrom "had an adverse opinion of Palme and his politics," Petersson said.

"We know that he was struggling with financial problems... He also had alcohol problems," the chief prosecutor added.

He also noted that Engstrom had access to weapons through acquaintances and had weapons training.

The gun used in Palme's murder has never been recovered.

"We have no clear information that can place a weapon in the hands of Stig Engstrom," Petersson stressed.

"But considering what happened, he must have had a weapon in his hand that night," he said.

However, Petersson acknowledged that he would not have indicted Engstrom based on the material presented Wednesday.

"This alone would not have been enough to press charges," he told daily Dagens Nyheter.

Some Swedish legal experts meanwhile expressed concerns about naming a dead man a suspect as he cannot defend himself.

Swedish police botched the investigation early on.

Crucially, they failed to cordon off the murder scene properly, allowing onlookers to walk around and destroy potential forensic evidence, a blunder that still haunts investigators today.

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Russia says 'years' needed to clean up Arctic spill

AFP / IRINA YarinskayaFloating dams have been deployed to try to limit the spread of the fuel

Russian investigators on Wednesday detained three staff of a power plant over a huge fuel spill in the Arctic, as response teams warned a full clean-up would take years.

The spill of over 21,000 tonnes of fuel took place after a fuel reservoir collapsed last month at a power plant operated by a subsidiary of metals giant Norilsk Nickel in the city of Norilsk.

It is the largest ever to have hit the Arctic, say environmentalists.

Those working at the site have already seen the first effects of the spill on the local ecosystem, said Viktor Bronnikov, general director of Transneft Siberia oil and gas transportation company involved in the clean-up.

They included dead muskrats and ducks, he said.

The Investigative Committee looking into the accident said it had detained the director of the power station, Pavel Smirnov, and two engineers on suspicion of breaching environmental protection rules.

If convicted, they would risk up to five years in prison.

"The company considers this measure to be unjustifiably harsh," Norilsk Nickel said in a statement to AFP, citing vice-president Nikolai Utkin.

All three "are cooperating with law enforcement authorities and now they would be much more useful at the scene of the clean-up operation", he added.

- 'Years' to clean up -

At the scene at a remote area in the Norilsk industrial district, Bronnikov of Transneft Siberia said that the situation was stabilising, but that the clean-up team had seen animals and birds apparently killed by the spill.

"Today I myself saw dead muskrats," he told AFP, adding that workers had seen ducks killed by the fuel.

"If a bird lands on the diesel fuel or a muskrat swims through it, it is condemned to death," he said.

AFP / Irina YARINSKAYAWorkers in waterproofs were using booms to contain the reddish-brown diesel on the surface of a river and pump it into tanks on the bank

He added however that he had not seen "a huge number" of any animals dying there.

Workers in waterproofs were using booms to contain the reddish-brown diesel on the surface of a river and pump it into tanks on the bank.

"We will be removing diesel fuel from the Ambarnaya River for at least eight to 10 days," Bronnikov said.

"We will need years to completely clean up," he added.

The teams have set up tents on the river bank and are using helicopters to bring in equipment and survey the vast flat area of grass and sparse trees.

After this "mechanical" stage, other methods will have to be used to absorb the rest of the diesel or cause it to break down, Bronnikov said.

- Kara Sea threatened -

Norilsk Nickel head Vladimir Potanin said the company would pay for clean-up efforts estimated at $146 million after President Vladimir Putin backed a state of emergency in the Arctic city.

The Investigative Committee said the power plant's fuel tank had required major repairs from 2018 but the suspects "continued to use it in breach of safety rules."

"As a result, the accident occurred," the investigators' statement said.

Norilsk Nickel said that the fuel reservoir was built in 1985 and underwent repairs in 2017 and 2018 after which it went through a safety audit.

AFP / Irina YARINSKAYAThe massive spill has already Ambarnaya river and according to some reports a nearby freshwater lake

Regional officials have said that despite efforts to contain the fuel leak using booms on the river surface, it has now reached a freshwater lake that is a major source of water for the region.

The pollution could now flow into the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia, which Greenpeace Russia expert Vladimir Chuprov told AFP would be a "disaster."

But in a conference call on Wednesday, Norilsk Nickel's first vice president Sergei Dyachenko denied the spill had reached the lake, saying the company had not found contamination there.

The metals giant has said the accident could have been caused by global warming thawing the permafrost under the fuel reservoir.

It has acknowledged it did not specifically monitor the condition of permafrost at its sites in the past and said it would do a full audit shortly.

The massive clean-up involves nearly 700 people, according to the emergencies ministry.

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Secret Societies Of America's Elite From The Knights Templar To Skull And Bones
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