India’s Supreme Court has rejected a plea seeking harsher sentences for seven former officials of Union Carbide’s Indian subsidiary in connection with the 1984 toxic gas leak in Bhopal.

Seven former senior employees of Union Carbide’s Indian subsidiary were convicted today of “death by negligence” for their roles in the Bhopal gas tragedy which killed an estimated 15,000 people more than a quarter of a century ago.

The BBC apologised today after being hoaxed into carrying a report on its World television service that a compensation fund had been set of for survivors of the Bhopal disaster 20 years ago today.

Thousands of civil rights activists, survivors and other protesters gathered in Bhopal today to mark the 20th anniversary of the world’s worst industrial accident and demand justice for hundreds of thousands of people still suffering in the aftermath.