Australian Black Saturday bushfire victims win $225m settlement

AusNet, An Australian energy company, announced a 225-million US dollar settlement with hundreds of survivors of the infamous Black Saturday bushfires on Friday...
The agreement with victims of the inferno that killed 40 people and destroyed the town of Marysville, north of Melbourne, came on the eve of the sixth anniversary of the fires that killed 173 across the Victoria state.

The fire started around 2:45 p.m. on Feb. 7, 2009, near a disused sawmill in Murrindindi, rapidly became an out-of-control inferno that raced through the Toolangi State Forest. An abrupt wind change then sent the bushfire straight into Marysville.

The settlement was announced an hour before a class action run on behalf of the Marysville victims was to begin in the Victorian Supreme Court.

The class action had alleged the fire was sparked by a break in an electrical conductor on a power pole near the Murrindindi Saw Mill.

The company denied its power poles were to blame.

The no-fault settlement, still to be approved in court, announced that AusNet, which the State Grid Corporation of China has bought a stake in since the 2009 disaster, will pay 195 million US dollars while its maintenance contractor will pay 7.5 million US dollars. The state government will pay 21.75 million US dollars.

"Perhaps not at the moment but in time, the benefits to the Victorian community - particularly those affected by the fires - of a settlement rather than judgments of this court with winners and losers following long trials will be very clear," said Justice John Dixon in court.

The Marysville settlement follows a 370.5-million US dollar agreement in December also led by AusNet for victims of the Kilmore blaze on Black Saturday that killed 119 people and destroyed more than 1,000 homes.
    Source: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
6/2/15
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Related 2015:

• Thousands Flee Homes As Wildfires Rage Across South Australia (global warming is making the wildfires worse and more frequent)

370 die of drug clinical trials in India in 2 years

At least 370 deaths have been reported during drug clinical trials in India since February 2013, while compensation has been paid in only 21 cases, said local media Monday.

The Times of India quoted government data as saying of the 370 deaths, 222 or 60 percent cases have been examined so far by a regulatory panel on clinical trials, but only 21 were eligible for compensation as the drug under trial was found to have caused the deaths, said the report.

Pharmaceutical companies are targeting poor rural population for their drug trials, but there is a lack of government regulation to hold them responsible once the trial causes death, said experts.
 [Xinhua - globaltimes.cn]
15/12/14
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US to pay for damaged reef (Philippine official)

The 87 million pesos (about $1.94 million) that the Philippines has been asking from the United States as payment for the damage caused by its Navy ship on a marine sanctuary is now on the "documentation stage," a senior government official said Saturday.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said the 87 million pesos were the amount of compensation that the Philippine government sought from the US after USS Guardian, a minesweeper ship of America, ran aground on the south atoll of the Tubbataha Reefs off western Philippine province of Palawan in January 2013.

"According to Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, the coordination of the two countries regarding the compensation for the damage caused to Tubbataha Reefs has been on documentation stage," he said.

Coloma said the Philippine government would just await for the documentation to be completed and for the finalization of the compensation.

USS Guardian damaged 2,345 square meters of coral in Tubbataha Reefs, which was declared a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization in 1993.
Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
26/10/14
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Related:

• Philippines to pursue compensation from US on reef damage

Philippines to pursue compensation from US on reef damage

The Philippine government vowed Wednesday to continue seeking compensation from the United States for the damage caused by its navy ship to parts of a protected marine reserve.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) issued a statement a day after the Supreme Court junked a petition by environmental groups for a writ of kalikasan (nature) against the minesweeper USS Guardian that ran aground in the Tubbataha Reef in January 2013.

"We will continue our ongoing discussions with the US government on the matter of securing full compensation for the damage caused to the Tubbataha Reef, and will be guided by the Supreme Court decision and the advice of the Office of the Solicitor General," the DFA said.

The department said it will also continue to work with other government agencies to enhance navigational safety in the protected marine sanctuary and preserve the reef and its marine environment.

The SC ruled that it has no jurisdiction over the petition filed by several groups calling on the court for the issuance of a writ of kalikasan for possible criminal, civil and administrative prosecution of American Navy officials responsible for the grounding incident.

The high court instead deferred to the executive branch the matter of seeking compensation and rehabilitation of the damaged area of Tubbataha Reef from the US.
Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
17/9/14
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