Supreme Court denies further compensation to Bhopal victims

Other news of the day: the number of suicides in Japan is increasing. Raising the retirement age is being considered in China. With the drought, a Buddhist stupa emerged from the waters of the Mekong in Thailand. The Pakistani Taliban are using the weapons left by the Americans in Afghanistan. The opening of the Israeli embassy in Turkmenistan is expected.

INDIA

The Supreme Court of India refused to grant more compensationna the victims of the Bhopal disaster, which occurred in 1984, and stated that this issue “cannot be resolved thirty years after the agreement”. According to government data, at that time 3,500 people died immediately from a gas leak from an industrial plant and another 15,000 later, a figure that activists say would be at least 25,000. In 1989 Union Carbide, which owns the plant, agreed to pay $0 million when the government had asked for $300 million.

PAKISTAN – AFGHANISTAN

According to experts, the sophisticated weapons and equipment that left the United States and coalition forces in Afghanistan are in the hands of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), who are using them to carry out attacks against law enforcement in Pakistan. In 2022, they killed 118 police officers in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province alone. Before the Taliban recapture, the previous Afghan government owned $7.12 billion worth of military equipment.

THAILAND

With the Mekong drought a buddhist stupa has emerged from the waters (monument that preserves relics or commemorates episodes related to the Buddha) in the northeastern province of Nong Khai, Thailand. The monument is believed to have been built 700 years ago and fell into the river in 1847. Many tourists have come on small boats to see the stupa, which is damaged in places.

JAPAN

Last year 21,881 people took their lives in Japan and for the first time in 13 years male suicides increased. The number of women who committed suicide, on the other hand, increased for the third consecutive year, this time by 67 people, and reached 7,135. According to experts, the trend was aggravated by the pandemic. Among children and young people, the figures have gone from 499 suicides per year in 2020 to 514 in 2022.

CHINA

China plans to gradually raise the retirement age to cope with the rapidly aging population of the country. China’s retirement age is one of the lowest in the world: 60 for men, 55 for female employees and 50 for female factory workers. Li Qiang, the country’s new prime minister, said the government will carry out rigorous studies and analysis to implement the policy being discussed.

BELARUS

The Belarusian national association of journalists, founded in 1995 and made up of non-partisan citizen volunteers, was declared an “extremist group”. It has been officially recognized since 2006 and has always monitored data on freedom of expression and of the press, just as it did during the 2020 presidential election.

TURKMENISTAN – ISRAEL

The opening of the Israeli embassy in Ashgabat is expected, and on that occasion the visit of the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, is scheduled. In the last ten years there has only been a temporary representation in Turkmenistan. A collaboration agreement on health and cybersecurity will also be signed. Cohen stated that this is a “strategic” relationship for the entire region.