Authorities say incinerating poison is environmentally safe as activists raise alarm over potential water contamination.

Indian authorities say they have moved hundreds of tonnes of hazardous waste remaining more than 40 years after the world’s deadliest industrial disaster struck the city of Bhopal.

The waste from the site of the 1984 disaster, which killed more than 25,000 people and left at least half a million people with severe health issues, was sent to a disposal facility where it will take three to nine months to incinerate, officials said on Thursday.

In the early hours of December 3, 1984, methyl isocyanate gas leaked from a pesticide factory owned by American Union Carbide Corporation, poisoning more than half a million people in Bhopal, the capital of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

More than 40 years later, on Thursday morning, a convoy of trucks transported 337 metric tonnes of that poison to a waste disposal plant in Madhya Pradesh’s industrial town of Pithampur, 230km (142 miles) from Bhopal.

Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Department, told Reuters news agency the waste would be disposed of in an environmentally safe manner that would not harm the local ecosystem.

The federal pollution control agency had carried out a trial run for the waste disposal process in 2015 with 10 metric tonnes of poison, finding that levels of resulting emissions were in line with national standards, the state government said in a statement.

However, activists claim the solid waste would be buried in landfills after incineration, contaminating the water and creating an environmental problem.

“Why is the polluter Union Carbide and Dow Chemical not being compelled to clean up its toxic waste in Bhopal?” asked Rachna Dhingra, a Bhopal-based activist who has worked with survivors of the tragedy.

Groundwater contamination

Built in 1969, the Union Carbide plant, which is now owned by Dow Chemical, was seen as a symbol of industrialisation in India, generating thousands of jobs for the poor and manufacturing cheap pesticides for millions of farmers.

Disaster struck the factory in 1984 when one of the tanks storing the deadly chemical methyl isocyanate shattered its concrete casing, releasing 27 tonnes of the toxic gas into the air.

About 3,500 people were killed instantly, with up to 25,000 estimated to have died overall. Hundreds of thousands were poisoned, condemned to a future of cancer, stillbirths, miscarriages, lung and heart disease.

Testing of groundwater near the site in the past revealed that levels of chemicals causing cancer and birth defects were 50 times higher than what is accepted as safe by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

Communities blame a range of health problems – including cerebral palsy, hearing and speech impairments and other disabilities – on the accident and the contamination of the groundwater.

The order to clear the waste was made in December, following the 40th anniversary of the disaster, by the high court in Madhya Pradesh state, which set a one-month deadline.

“Are you waiting for another tragedy?” said Chief Justice Suresh Kumar Kait, according to a report in The Times of India.

Authorities in India have removed hundreds of tonnes of toxic waste from an Indian chemical factory that witnessed one of the world’s deadliest gas leaks 40 years ago.

A court in December had set a four-week deadline for the waste to be disposed.

On Wednesday, the toxic waste – around 337 tonnes – was taken from the Union Carbide factory in the central Indian city of Bhopal to an incinerator facility around 230km (143 miles) away.

It will take between three and nine months to treat and destroy the waste.

Thousands of people died in December 1984 after breathing a poisonous gas leaked from the factory.

Since then, the toxic material had been lying in the mothballed factory, polluting groundwater in the surrounding areas.

The toxic waste cleared from the factory this week included five types of hazardous materials – including pesticide residue and “forever chemicals” left from its manufacturing process. These chemicals get the name because they retain their toxic properties indefinitely.

Over decades, these chemicals at the abandoned factory site had been slowly seeping into the surrounding environment, creating a persistent health hazard for people who live in nearby areas.

A 2018 study by the Indian Institute of Toxicology Research revealed that high concentrations of metals and chemicals have contaminated groundwater across 42 residential areas near the factory.

After decades of inaction, the Madhya Pradesh state High Court on 3 December set a four-week deadline for authorities to dispose the toxic waste material from the site.

The court said that authorities were “still in a state of inertia despite 40 years”.

The process of moving the waste began on Sunday when officials started packing it in leak-proof bags. These bags were then loaded onto 12 sealed trucks on Wednesday.

Officials said the waste was transported under tight security.

There were police escorts, ambulances, fire brigades and a quick response team with the convoy of trucks carrying the waste, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

Swatantra Kumar Singh, the head of Bhopal gas tragedy relief and rehabilitation department, told the PTI news agency that initially, some of the waste would be burnt at the disposal unit in Pithampur and its residue examined for toxic remains.

He said that special arrangements have been made to ensure that fumes from the incinerator or the ash left after do not pollute the air and water.

However, activists and people living near the disposal site have been protesting against the move.

They said that a small amount of waste from the Carbide factory was destroyed at the plant on a trial basis in 2015, the Hindustan Times newspaper reported.

It ended up polluting the soil, underground water as well as fresh water bodies in the nearby villages, they said.

But Mr Singh has denied these claims.

He said that incineration of toxic waste would not have “any adverse impact” on nearby villages.

Over the years, officials have made several attempts to dispose the waste from the Bhopal factory but dropped their plans after facing resistance from activists.

In 2015, India’s pollution control board said that the toxic waste would be incinerated in Gujarat but the plan was dropped after protests.

The board later identified sites in Hyderabad and Maharashtra states as well, but faced similar resistance.

The Bhopal gas tragedy is the one of the world’s largest industrial disasters.

According to government estimates, around 3,500 people died within days of the gas leak and more than 15,000 in the years since.

But activists say that the death toll is much higher. Victims continue to suffer from the side-effects of being poisoned even today.

In 2010, an Indian court convicted seven former managers at the plant, handing down minor fines and brief prison sentences. But many victims and campaigners say that justice has still not been served, given the magnitude of the tragedy.

Union Carbide was a US company which Dow Chemicals bought in 1999.

Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo – From the Port of Lobito in Angola, along Africa’s Atlantic coast, runs a 1,300km (800-mile) stretch of railway that passes through neighbouring Zambia and resource-rich Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

In DRC, the Lobito Corridor links the mining provinces of Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba and Haut-Katanga – home to some of the world’s largest deposits of critical minerals like cobalt and copper, earning it a fair share of international attention in recent years.

In early December, on the sidelines of a visit to Angola, United States President Joe Biden held talks with some of his African counterparts on the Lobito infrastructure project – a multi-country agreement that aims to develop connectivity between the Atlantic and Indian oceans and provide speedier access to Africa’s minerals for the US and European markets.

But in Congolese towns and cities along the regions to be connected to the railway project, there are mixed feelings and simmering fears.

The DRC has the world’s largest cobalt reserves and its seventh-largest copper reserves.

While some Congolese believe the Lobito project will be a beneficial trade hub between African countries, others fear it is merely a gateway to facilitate the further plundering of the region’s natural resources.

Claude Banza lives in the city of Kolwezi in Lualaba, one of the key points along the Corridor’s route, which hosts vast mines that rights groups have called out for human rights abuses.

“We lead a life of misery, we have no jobs,” Banza told Al Jazeera.

“This Lobito project is a lifesaver for us,” he said, hoping the infrastructure developments can help bring more opportunities and hope for local communities.

“As the president has said that many jobs will be created, we hope to have the means to face the challenges of life,” he said.

The project will see the creation of about 30,000 direct and indirect jobs and help reduce poverty in DRC, Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi said in Angola last month.

He was speaking in the city of Benguela near the Lobito port, alongside Biden, President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia, Angolan President Joao Lourenco and Tanzanian Vice President Philip Mpango. A proposed eastward expansion of the Corridor from Zambia to Dar-es-Salaam would allow the project to run all the way to the Indian Ocean.

The development of the Corridor is a “project that is full of hope for our countries and our region”, Tshisekedi said at the time, calling it “a unique opportunity for regional integration, economic transformation, and to improve the living conditions of our fellow citizens”.

However, many in the DRC disagree.

‘It is neo-colonialist’

The project is “pharaonic”, Dady Saleh, a Congolese economic analyst, told Al Jazeera.

Though he recognises its overall economic potential, he said he regrets that the countries where this infrastructure project will take place will only benefit from “crumbs” – pointing to potential dangers ahead specifically for the DRC.

“This project is an organised sell-off of the region’s natural resources in a capitalist system,” Saleh said. “And especially in the case of the DRC, the Congolese will be like commission agents. We’ve opened up our economic market to modern plunderers.”

Many others on the front lines of the mining economy feel similarly.

Souverain Kabika lives in Haut-Katanga province, another Congolese region connected through the railway line to Lobito. He works as a copper handler on the trucks that transport ore to the port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania and towards the Indian Ocean.

But now, with the growing project, he fears that the little work he used to have will dry up as truck traffic along nearby stretches of roads will deplete significantly in favour of the railway.

“This project is likely to threaten even the small activities we used to carry out. At one point, I was loading trucks to take goods to Matadi. This Corridor could leave me workless,” he fears.

Analyst Saleh said the DRC is the country with the most on the table in this giant project and feels the government should open its eyes before signing the dotted line with countries that will benefit more from the arrangement.

“The DRC should not sign this contract and [should] renegotiate it because it is neo-colonialist,” Saleh said, arguing that the actions of certain African leaders risk returning their countries to “the old days, when railroads were made to facilitate the transport of our raw materials by the colonialists”.

He encourages the Congolese government to make efforts to develop a “complete industrial system”, also castigating the fact that the US invests much more in Angola than in the DRC.

Civil society groups in Lualaba province, considered the cobalt capital of the world, are also opposed to the project.

Lambert Menda, the provincial coordinator of the New Civil Society of Congo, a network of organisations, deplores the fact that for several decades DRC’s natural resources have benefitted foreigners more than Congolese.

He demands that this time, local communities must be at the heart of this project that aims to export the country’s minerals via the Corridor.

“We want to see wealth in our communities. We don’t want to export minerals any more, because the importer will earn more than we do,” Menda said. “We want to see hospitals, schools and roads to make life easier for the locals.”

‘Game changer’

Raw materials from the various southern provinces of the DRC already transit from Kolwezi to the ports of Durban in South Africa or Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to reach the metals market based in London.

It takes a long time, and many logistical resources are involved, say analysts.

Serges Isuzu, an economic analyst based in Kolwezi, believes that the Lobito Corridor will only reduce transport costs.

“With the Lobito Corridor, raw materials transporters will be able to cover more or less 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) from Kolwezi in the DRC to Lobito in the Republic of Angola. And all this will be done in eight days, which is good,” he said.

Speaking in Angola last month, Biden remarked on the gains already being made, saying a shipment of copper from Africa to the US that would have previously taken more than a month now arrives in days. “It’s a game changer,” the US president said.

The DRC will be linked to the Corridor via provinces that are renowned for their raw materials, making them important in the global energy transition.

These provinces – Tanganyika, Haut-Lomami, Lualaba and Haut-Katanga – owe much of their income to the flourishing mining activities that take place there. Yet the gains are not visible in the daily lives of local populations.

Even if some progress is reported in terms of local development, much must be done for people’s lives to be “significantly impacted”, analysts familiar with these areas said.

According to recent World Bank estimates, some 73 percent of Congolese live on less than $2.15 a day, making the DRC one of the poorest countries in the world.

Despite the country’s enormous deposits of key metals and minerals, the inhabitants of the DRC’s mining provinces are far from prosperous. Most struggle to make ends meet, living desperately and precariously as the vast wealth around them gets stripped away, rights groups have noted.

An October 2024 United Nations policy document (PDF) on the regional effect of the Lobito Corridor also listed potential future challenges, including the environmental effect, land and community conflicts, as well as health, gender and human rights-related risks.

It also urged the three governments and other stakeholders to put processes in place to “address adverse human rights impacts and abuses, including any cross-border business-related human rights harms resulting from the Lobito Corridor”.

A ‘wrong path’?

Despite the challenges and hesitations among many locals, Congolese President Tshisekedi remains optimistic about the future of the Lobito project.

“For the DRC, the Corridor represents a strategic opportunity to enhance the value of our natural resources, in particular copper and cobalt, which account for 70 percent of global demand as part of the energy transition,” he said alongside Biden and other leaders in Angola.

Fadhel Kaboub, an associate professor of economics at Denison University in the US, told Al Jazeera he believes certain countries rich in strategic mineral resources, such as the DRC, will be major beneficiaries of the energy transition if the right policies are defined.

According to the specialist in climate financing, these countries will be able to negotiate with foreign powers for their minerals, which will be in great demand on the market by 2035 as part of the energy transition.

However, Congolese analyst Saleh believes that by the US and its partners banging out “leonine” contracts in Africa – where he says the costs are all borne by one party while the other receives all the benefits – they are “mortgaging” a hope that many Congolese fantasise about.

“We are in the process of burying this hope with the Lobito project,” he said. “We boast about strategic minerals that have already been sold off by the Chinese, Canadians and others. For example, we are told that this Corridor will create 30,000 jobs, which is very few. A project like this should create more than one million decent jobs.”

Saleh encourages governments like the DRC’s to adopt a “neo-mercantile” system, so that Africans can enjoy their natural resources to the full.

“Countries like the USA, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have taken advantage of their natural wealth today. We, on the other hand, are not even in a position to transform them at home, and that’s deplorable,” he lamented.

Menda, from the New Civil Society, stressed that the Lobito project is inappropriate for the Congolese nation. “We want local processing of our ores here in Lualaba, because transporting our ores to the intermediate state via the railway to Lobito will benefit Angola, the country through which our ores will transit, and the importing countries – not us, the local Congolese communities,” he said.

Beyond the local economic losses, Saleh also fears the security risks posed by the Lobito project.

According to his analysis, the DRC has taken a “wrong path” and through the Lobito project, the security of the southern region of the country will be “controlled” by Angola and the US, making links to the volatile security situation in eastern DRC, where Congolese authorities are struggling to restore peace following mineral looting and an armed rebellion.

“The Lobito project has harmful security effects on our country,” he said. “The Americans haven’t given us any gifts; they can do anything to control our minerals, while the DRC runs the risk of not being secure.”

Police are investigating after a Tesla Cybertruck filled with fuel canisters and firework mortars exploded outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The driver was killed and seven people were injured, police said without naming any of the individuals involved. Officials said all injuries were minor.

The truck was rented in Colorado and arrived in the city Wednesday morning, less than two hours before the detonation, police said. Parked in front of the hotel near a glass entrance, the vehicle started to smoke, then exploded.

In an evening address, President Joe Biden said the White House was tracking the incident and law enforcement was investigating “whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans”, which left 15 dead early on New Year’s Day.

In an afternoon press conference, Sheriff Kevin McMahill showed dramatic footage of the explosion and photos of the aftermath, including several fuel canisters along with large fireworks in the truck bed.

Footage showed the truck parked directly in front of the entrance of the hotel. The truck sits idle for several seconds before exploding – bursts of multi-coloured fireworks shooting in multiple directions.

Another video showed investigators using a black fire-retardant tarp to put out the blaze and the charred remains of the truck bed. An array of gas and fuel canisters were left behind along with the remnants of more than a dozen firework mortars.

The fire occurred around 08:40 PT (15:40 GMT), just hours after a man drove a truck with an Islamic State (IS) group flag into the crowd in New Orleans. At least 15 people died and dozens were injured.

Mr McMahill of the Las Vegas Police Department said the authorities were examining whether the incident could be connected to the one in New Orleans, where improvised explosive devices were found near the scene.

He said they were also investigating whether it might be linked to President-Elect Donald Trump, who owns the hotel, or Elon Musk, who owns Tesla.

“Obviously, a Cybertruck, the Trump Hotel, there’s lots of questions that we have to answer as we move forward,” he said.

The FBI also said the agency was looking into whether the incident might be an act of terrorism, but the authorities said they currently had not confirmed the identity of the driver, who died in the vehicle. Authorities also said thus far, they had found no evidence that this incident was related to IS.

“I know everybody’s interested in that word, and trying to see if we can say, ‘Hey, this is a terrorist attack.’ That is our goal, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” FBI special agent in charge Jeremy Schwartz told reporters at a news conference.

The sheriff noted that both vehicles appeared to be rented from Turo, an app-based car rental company.

A Turo spokesperson said in a statement that the company was working with authorities in Las Vegas and New Orleans to help with the investigation. The spokesperson noted both renters appeared to not have a criminal background that would have “identified them as a security threat”.

“We are heartbroken by the violence perpetrated in New Orleans and Las Vegas, and our prayers are with the victims and families,” the statement reads.

The authorities say they do have the name of the person who rented the vehicle but have not officially confirmed it was the person driving the vehicle.

“As you can imagine, with an explosion here on an iconic Las Vegas Boulevard, we are taking all of the precautions that we need to take to keep our community safe,” he said during a news conference.

Mr McMahill said there was no longer a threat to the Las Vegas community.

Biden was briefed on both the attack in New Orleans and the Las Vegas explosion.

“We’re tracking the explosion of a Cybertruck outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas,” said the president in an evening address.

“Law enforcement and the intelligence community are investigating this as well, including whether there’s any possible connection with the attack in New Orleans.”

Fire department officials said emergency responders had quickly worked to extinguish the vehicle fire.

They added that the public should stay away from the area. The hotel was evacuated, with most of the guests moving to a different location.

It is owned in part by President-elect Donald Trump’s company. In a post on X, Trump’s son, Eric Trump, said a “reported electric vehicle fire occurred in the porte cochère of Trump Las Vegas”.

“The safety and well-being of our guests and staff remain our top priority. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Las Vegas Fire Department and local law enforcement for their swift response and professionalism,” he said.

Stephen Ferlando told the Washington Post that he had witnessed the incident from his hotel room on the 53rd floor of the Trump Tower. He told the outlet there was “definitely an explosion” and that the windows had begun to shake.

The Trump Hotel spans 64 floors with around 1,300 suites, according to its website.

Trump recently named Musk to co-lead a presidential advisory commission, the Department of Government Efficiency, after the two became close during Trump’s campaign.

Women, children among dead as Israel’s military again attacks civilians sheltering in so-called humanitarian safe zone.

At least 11 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed in an Israeli air strike on makeshift tents housing displaced people in a designated humanitarian safe zone in southern Gaza, local medics and news organisations report.

The predawn attack on Thursday in the al-Mawasi area – which Israel’s military declared a “safe zone” early on in its war on Gaza – is reported to have resulted in the killing of three children and two women among the 11 who died.

A video clip from the aftermath of the attack showed people searching for survivors among burning tents, scattered debris, and washing lines where residents of the camp for displaced people had hung clothes to dry.

The Reuters news agency reports that 15 people were also wounded in the attack, though there were no details on their condition.

Israel’s military did not comment on its latest attack on the humanitarian area, which has been targeted relentlessly by Israeli warplanes, drones and artillery, including the most recent attack on December 22, which killed eight people, including two children.

Days earlier, Israeli tanks advanced on al-Mawasi from the southern city of Rafah, forcing dozens of families to flee northward fearing imminent attack.

At least 20 people were killed and others wounded in an Israeli missile strike on tents in al-Mawasi on December 3, in what Israel’s military said was the targeting of a Hamas official.

On New Year’s Day, Israeli attacks across Gaza killed at least 26 people with four children and a woman reported to be among those slain. Ten people were also missing among the rubble of buildings destroyed in the attack.

Fifteen people, all reported to be civilians, were killed in one strike on a home where displaced people had taken shelter in Jabalia in northern Gaza, a spokesman for the Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said.

Israeli forces gave no warning for the attack on al-Mawasi early on Thursday morning but had earlier issued orders for all residents in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp to flee three areas that it said were designated for an attack.

The warning for residents to flee from Jabalia to Gaza City was described as a “pre- anaesthesia before the attack” by the Israeli military’s Arabic language spokesman, Avichay Adraee.

“Once again, terrorist organisations are launching rockets from your area, which has been warned many times in the past,” he said in a post on social media.

< p>Despite large parts of northern Gaza, including Jabalia, suffering almost three months of siege by Israeli forces, two United States-based defence think tanks said this week that Palestinian fighters had launched a coordinated, “multi-wave attack” on Israeli forces in Jabalia – one that was larger than most other Palestinian military operations across Gaza in recent months.

The death toll from the first two days of 2025 adds to the 45,553 Palestinians, at least, who have been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since launching a punishing war on the territory in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

Chinese car maker BYD saw sales jump at the end of last year, leaving it closer to claiming the title of the world’s best-selling electric vehicle (EV) maker of 2024.

The company says it sold 207,734 EVs in December, taking its annual total to 1.76 million, as subsidies and discounts helped attract customers.

It comes as Tesla is scheduled to announce its own quarterly sales figures later on Thursday.

The US electric car maker maintained a slim lead in EV sales over BYD in the previous quarter but the Shenzhen-based firm has been narrowing the gap.

BYD’s total vehicle sales jumped more than 41% in 2024, year-on-year. The surge was powered mainly by sales of its hybrid cars.

The company has benefited from a rise in car sales in its home market, as intense competition drove down prices and government subsidies encouraged consumers to replace their old cars with EVs or other more fuel efficient options.

BYD sells 90% of its cars in China, where its been extending its lead over foreign brands like Volkswagen and Toyota.

The rise of BYD and other Chinese EV makers contrasts with the challenges faced by some legacy car makers, which have been struggling in major Western markets.

Last month, Honda and Nissan confirmed that they were holding merger talks, as the two Japanese firms seek to fight back against competition from the Chinese car industry.

Also in December, Volkswagen announced it had reached a deal with the IG Metall trade union which will avert plant closures in Germany and avoid immediate compulsory redundancies.

The German motor industry giant had previously warned it might have to shutter plants in the country for the first time in a bid to cut costs.

Earlier in the month, the boss of car making giant Stellantis, Carlos Tavares, quit with immediate effect following a boardroom clash.

His abrupt exit from the company – which owns brands including Vauxhall, Jeep, Fiat, Peugeot and Chrysler – came two months after Stellantis issued a profit warning.

In the third quarter of 2024, BYD saw its revenues soar, beating Tesla’s for the first time.

It posted more than 200bn yuan ($28.2bn, £21.8bn) in revenues between July and September – a 24% jump from the same period last year, and more than Elon Musk’s company whose quarterly revenue was $25.2bn.

However, Tesla still sold more electric vehicle (EVs) than BYD.

Chinese car makers have been trying to boost sales of their EVs outside the country but have faced pushback in some major markets.

In October, European Union tariffs of up to 45.3% on imports of Chinese-made EVs came into force across the bloc.

The US has also imposed a 100% duty on EVs from China and President-elect Donald Trump is expected to impose further tariffs.

Meanwhile, BYD has been expanding its foothold in emerging economies.

Last month, it faced a setback in Brazil – its largest overseas market – with authorities halting the construction of a BYD factory, saying workers lived in conditions comparable to “slavery”.

BYD said it had cut ties with the construction firm involved and remained committed to a “full compliance with Brazilian legislation”.