(Global Pulse: July 9, 2010) If you must experience a devastating industrial accident, pray you live in a rich and powerful country. Americans are justifiably angry, but they have 24-hour tar ball removal, a hotline for oiled birds, and a 20 billion dollar compensation fund. In Bhopal, India, tens of thousands were killed 25 years ago when toxic gas escaped from a factory run by the U.S. company Union Carbide. The compensation was meager, the plant is still oozing toxic waste, and the first trials, which took place this year, found executives guilty and handed out 2-year sentences. The American CEO skipped bail and lives comfortably in the U.S. Is suffering, justice and executive accountability different in a rich country than a poor one?

SOURCES: BBC, U.K.; Al Jazeera English, Qatar; TV5 Monde, France; ABC, U.S.; Fox News, U.S.; TimesNow, India

(Global Pulse: July 9, 2010) If you must experience a devastating industrial accident, pray you live in a rich and powerful country. Americans are justifiably angry, but they have 24-hour tar ball removal, a hotline for oiled birds, and a 20 billion dollar compensation fund. In Bhopal, India, tens of thousands were killed 25 years ago when toxic gas escaped from a factory run by the U.S. company Union Carbide. The compensation was meager, the plant is still oozing toxic waste, and the first trials, which took place this year, found executives guilty and handed out 2-year sentences. The American CEO skipped bail and lives comfortably in the U.S. Is suffering, justice and executive accountability different in a rich country than a poor one?

SOURCES: BBC, U.K.; Al Jazeera English, Qatar; TV5 Monde, France; ABC, U.S.; Fox News, U.S.; TimesNow, India