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Settlement reached

about 500 residents of Japan's Kawasaki town reached a settlement at the Tokyo High Court on four air pollution lawsuits against the government and a state-run expressway operator, thereby ending a 17-year-old dispute. The Kawasaki case is the second court-mediated settlement related to air pollution.

The first case was settled in July between residents of Nishiyodogawa Ward, Osaka, the government and the Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation. Under the terms of the settlement, the government and the expressway pledged to "make serious efforts' to meet official standards concerning maximum permissible levels of environmental pollution, while the plaintiffs have abandoned all their claims, including compensation, against the government and the expressway operator.

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