Japan's Minamata victims still awaiting compensation after 70 years

Today’s headlines: the family of Iranian Nobel laureate Narges Mohammadi: “She has lost 20 kilos in prison and her life is at risk”; Eswatini excluded from China’s zero-tariff policy in Africa due to its relations with Taiwan; A new gambling zone has been established in Russia on the border with China.

JAPAN

The city of Minamata in south-western Japan today marked the 70th anniversary of the official recognition of the disease of the same name, caused by mercury poisoning, in one of the country’s worst industrial disasters. Many victims, now elderly, have still not received full compensation and are calling for a review of the patient recognition system. Minamata disease was officially recognised on 1 May 1956, after a local health authority received a report from a doctor regarding the emergence of an unknown illness. The Japanese government recognised it as a disease caused by pollution in 1968. The neurological disease was caused by mercury-contaminated water discharged into the sea from a chemical plant operated by Chisso Corp. People who ate contaminated seafood suffered from symptoms including paralysis of the hands and feet and visual field defects. The disease also causes congenital malformations.

IRAN

The family of Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, who remains imprisoned in Iran, has called for her release on medical grounds, warning that her life is in “imminent danger”. According to her family, Mohammadi, 54, suffers from dangerously high blood pressure, has lost nearly 20 kg in weight and was found unconscious in her cell at Zanjan prison last month following a suspected heart attack. Her daughter, Kiana Rahmani, stated that medical negligence has brought her mother “to the brink of death”.

CHINA-TAIWAN-ESWATINI

In the announced extension of the zero-tariff policy to all African countries, which China is bringing into force today, there is a single exception: the small state of Eswatini in East Africa, which is the only country on the continent to have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. It had already made headlines in recent weeks because Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te had been forced to cancel a visit to Eswatini after neighbouring countries, under pressure from Beijing, refused to grant his aircraft overflight permission.

PAKISTAN-CHINA

The Pakistani Navy has taken delivery of the first of its Hangor-class attack submarines built in China, whilst Beijing and Islamabad are stepping up defence cooperation. The Islamabad military announced that the launch ceremony for the vessel – named PNS/M Hangor – took place yesterday in the Chinese city of Sanya, on Hainan Island, in the presence of President Asif Ali Zardari.

RUSSIA

The Russian Federation Council has approved the creation of a sixth Igornaja zona, a zone where gambling is permitted, in the Altai Republic on the border with China, as it “possesses great tourism potential, and the gambling zone will help boost tourism and foster its economic development”, joining the other five zones in Altai, Crimea and the regions of Krasnodar, Primorye and Kaliningrad.

KAZAKHSTAN-MONGOLIA

Following the recent meeting between the presidents of Kazakhstan and Mongolia, a motorway will be built to link the two countries via Russian territory, although the project currently has no completion date or funding approval, as announced by the Ministry of Transport in Astana. The route will run from Ust-Kamenogorsk to Ridder and Altai on the Russian border, continuing to Mongolia, the “fastest and most cost-effective route possible”.

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