Global Security Studies Practicum

16 November 2011 A fertilizer plant in northern Egypt is the location of a clash between the Egyptian army and protestors. Protestors were against the pollution caused by the plant. Causalities include one man dead and 11 people injured. Within the last six days, demonstrators used blockage of the port town of Damietta to use to protest the plant. The plant officials have announced the potential production of two more plants locally, which is causing the protesting. The fertilizer plant received news that they are no longer able to operate by Egypt’s ruling military council. These types of activism is becoming more frequent, now under the post Mubarak ruling. State-owned Misr Oil Processing Company and Canada’s Agrium currently jointly own the plant. The residents took to the streets on Tuesday demanding the relocation of the plant. An eyewitness claims protestors took over an ambulance carrying the corpse of a 21-year-old man killed by a gun shot on Sunda...

12 October 2011 Tauranga, NEW ZEALAND – Hundreds of tons of oil have already seeped out of the Rena cargo ship. The New Zealead coast is experiencing, “… the country’s biggest environmental disaster,” said Nick Smith, New Zealand’s Environmental Minister. The ship’s cargo included oil, diesel, and hazardous material, of the 70 containers that have fallen off the ship’s deck, none have contained hazardous material. A vertical crack on the ship’s deck to its waterline is visible. The New Zealand government is demanding to know why the ship wrecked on well-charted, Astrolabe Reef, in calm weather. The government has not received any explanation from the vessel’s owners; Greece based company, Coastmare Inc. The captain’s name is yet to be released but has already faced criminal charges in New Zealand’s courts. Efforts are underway to reduce further seepage of oil and falling containers. Steve Jones, Maritimes New Zealand, advised that salvage crews are idle pending brutal weather conditio...