TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned with his Cabinet on Tuesday, paving the way for his likely successor Shigeru Ishiba to take office.
Kishida took office in 2021 but is leaving so his party can have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals. Ishiba plans to call a parliamentary election for Oct. 27 after he is formally chosen as prime minister later in the day.
“I believe it is important to have the new administration get the public’s judgment as soon as possible,” Ishiba said Monday in announcing his plan to call a snap election. Opposition parties criticized Ishiba for allowing only a short period of time for his policies to be examined and discussed in parliament before the vote.
Ishiba was chosen as the governing Liberal Democratic Party’s leader on Friday to replace Kishida, who announced in August he would resign at the end of his three-year term.
Ishiba is assured of becoming prime minister later Tuesday in a vote by parliament because it is dominated by his party’s ruling coalition.
Kishida and his ministers stepped down at a Cabinet meeting in the morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
Hayashi, who is Kishida’s top confidante, said the world has high expectations for Japan’s diplomatic role, noting a deepening global divide over Russia’s war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East. “We hope the next administration will pursue an active and powerful diplomacy while placing importance on (Japan’s) main pillars such as achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Hayashi said.
Ishiba earlier announced his party’s leaders ahead of naming his Cabinet, once he becomes prime minister. Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who came in third in the party leadership race, will head the party’s election task force. He is expected to name defense experts Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief.
The majority of his Cabinet ministers, like Ishiba, are expected to be unaffiliated with factions led and controlled by party heavyweights, and none are from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s powerful group linked to damaging scandals.
Ishiba’s lack of stable power base could also mean a fragility of his government, and “could quickly collapse” even though Ishiba hopes to build up party unity as it prepares for the upcoming election, the liberal-leaning Asahi newspaper said.
The move is also seen as a revenge by Ishiba, who was largely pushed to the side during most of Abe’s reign.
Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and more discussion among regional partners about the use of the US nuclear deterrence. He also suggested a more equal Japan-US security alliance, including joint management of US bases in Japan and having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States.
Ishiba outlined his views in an article to the Hudson Institute last week. “The absence of a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defense. Under these circumstances, the creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deter China by its Western allies,” he wrote.
Ishiba proposes combining of existing security and diplomatic groupings, such as the Quad and other bilateral and multilateral frameworks involving the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.
He also noted that the Asian version of NATO can also consider sharing of the control of US nuclear weapons in the region as a deterrence against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
Ishiba on Friday stressed Japan needs to reinforce its security, noting recent violations of Japanese airspace by Russian and Chinese warplanes and repeated missile launches by North Korea.
He pledged to continue Kishida’s economic policy aimed at pulling Japan out of deflation and achieving real salary increases, while tackling challenges such as Japan’s declining birthrate and population and resilience to natural disasters.
The LDP has had a nearly unbroken tenure governing Japan since World War II. The party members may have seen Ishiba’s more centrist views as crucial in pushing back challenges by the liberal-leaning opposition and winning voter support as the party reels from corruption scandals that drove down Kishida’s popularity.
Ishiba, first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary general under Abe.
Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida steps down to make way for likely successor Shigeru Ishiba
https://arab.news/6tuyt
Japan’s Prime Minister Kishida steps down to make way for likely successor Shigeru Ishiba
- Kishida took office in 2021 but is leaving so his party can have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals
- Ishiba plans to call a parliamentary election for Oct. 27 after he is formally chosen as prime minister later in the day
Landlord imprisoned for decades in hate-crime attack on Palestinian American family has died
- He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen
- The 73-year-old Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith
Three months ago, Joseph Czuba was sentenced to 53 years behind bars for the attack. He was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of 6-year-old Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of the boy’s mother, Hanan Shaheen.
The 73-year-old Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas, which started days earlier.
Czuba died Thursday in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, according to a statement from the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago office, said in a statement on Saturday that “this depraved killer has died, but the hate is still alive and well.”
Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.
The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.
Central to prosecutors’ case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba’s wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.
Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child’s body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee’s relatives.
The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee’s funeral drew large crowds, and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.
Philippine troops kill 7 communist rebels in latest flare up of decades-long insurgency
- Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said last week that less than 900 rebels remain, mostly in eastern rural regions, from the estimated 25,000 insurgent force at the peak of the 56 year insurgency
MANILA: Philippine troops killed seven communist guerrillas in an offensive Sunday in a central province and were pursuing several others in the latest flare-up of the decades-long insurgency that the military says is on the brink of collapse.
Army forces killed two New People’s Army guerrillas in a clash last week in Masbate province and then caught up with the fleeing insurgents early Sunday in the hinterlands of Uson town, where they killed seven of them in a 30-minute gunbattle, Maj. Frank Roldan of the army’s 9th Infantry Division said.
Seven assault rifles and two grenade launchers were recovered by troops at the scene of the battle. At least eight rebels managed to flee in different directions and were being pursued, Roldan said.
“We’re in the final push,” Roldan told The Associated Press by telephone, saying about 50 armed guerrillas remain in the island province, a poverty-stricken agricultural region of more than 900,000 people.
Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Gen. Romeo Brawner Jr. said last week that less than 900 rebels remain, mostly in eastern rural regions, from the estimated 25,000 insurgent force at the peak of the 56-year insurgency, one of Asia’s longest-running rebellions.
Saddled by battle defeats, surrenders and factionalism, the guerrilla forces “are on the brink of collapse,” said Brig. Gen. Medel Aguilar, deputy commander of the military’s Civil Relations Service.
Peace talks brokered by Norway collapsed under previous President Rodrigo Duterte after both sides accused the other of continuing deadly attacks despite the negotiations.
DR Congo accord with M23: fragile step toward peace
- Eastern DRC, rich in resources and bordering Rwanda, has been riven by conflict for more than 30 years
- The crisis intensified with the 2021 resurgence of the M23 group and came to a head in January and February as the group seized Goma and Bukavu
KINSHASA: A recent ceasefire agreed between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda-backed M23 rebels, set to take effect this week, ranks as a tentative step toward peace in the country’s conflict-wracked east.
Signed on July 19 in Doha, Qatar, the agreement saw the sides commit to a “permanent ceasefire” and “dialogue and negotiation” to facilitate the “voluntary” return of refugees and displaced persons.
But analysts cautioned the peace process in the mineral-rich region remains fragile and lacks sufficient international support.
Thousands of people have died in fighting over the key towns of Goma and Bukavu, with many thousands displaced and facing a serious humanitarian crisis.
Eastern DRC, rich in resources and bordering Rwanda, has been riven by conflict for more than 30 years.
The crisis intensified with the 2021 resurgence of the M23 group and came to a head in January and February as the group seized Goma and Bukavu, setting up parallel administrations in each.
Kinshasa had previously opposed direct dialogue with the M23. Diplomatic attempts to resolve the crisis, including mediation by Angola, failed.
However, the surprise intervention of Qatar succeeded in bringing together Presidents Felix Tshisekedi of the DRC and Paul Kagame of Rwanda in Doha in mid-March.
The pair committed to an immediate and unconditional ceasefire and “that’s when things really got moving,” said a Rwandan diplomatic source.
“This paved the way for negotiations at the technical level with a bilateral track between the DRC and Rwanda, and on the other side an internal track between the DRC and the M23,” the source said.
“Then the United States entered the fray and more or less took over the bilateral aspect.”
Seeking foreign support against M23’s rapid advances, Tshisekedi in early March discussed a mining agreement with the United States.
On June 28, the foreign ministers of the DRC and Rwanda signed a “peace agreement” in Washington.
On July 17, the DRC government signed an agreement with US group Kobold Metals, which committed to investing in the digitization of geological data and the development of a lithium mine in southeast DRC.
The Congolese president then resolved to hold direct talks with M23, having previously refused to do so, leading to the Doha agreement.
The Doha agreement calls for a roadmap for the “full restoration of authority” of the DRC government in the east of the country once a peace agreement is signed.
But a dispute soon arose, when DRC government spokesman Patrick Muyaya spoke of an “immediate withdrawal” of the M23, which has a political arm, the Congo River Alliance (AFC).
“Nowhere has it been mentioned that the AFC/M23 must leave liberated areas,” its spokesman, Lawrence Kanyuka, told AFP.
This verbal escalation “shows that there is the will on both sides to fight,” said Fred Bauma, executive director at the Congolese Ebuteli Institute.
Without outside pressure — particularly from the United States and Qatar, and to a lesser extent the European Union — it will be difficult to end the conflict solely through dialogue, said Bauma.
Reports by UN experts say Rwanda has sent troops to the DRC to support the M23 and has also provided the group with weapons and technology.
Kigali has always rejected those accusations, saying it is simply engaged in “defensive measures” against a Hutu armed group in eastern DRC, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) — an armed group founded by former Hutu leaders of the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi ethnic group.
The agreement has not yet put an end to the violence. Last Thursday saw at least 11 people killed in fighting between M23 and pro-Kinshasa groups, according to local sources. Both sides blamed the other.
Kinshasa and the M23 gave themselves until July 29 to implement the declaration with the deal setting an August 8 deadline for formal negotiations on a comprehensive peace accord, to be signed by August 17.
But analysts see these deadlines as short and it will be tough to meet them in the absence of “sufficiently strong American diplomatic pressure,” says Congolese political analyst Christian Moleka.
He says it could take “six to eight months, or even a year to see the M23 withdraw” completely from areas which it controls.
Six killed in stampede at temple in India’s Haridwar, ANI reports
- The injured have been taken to the local hospital
At least six people were killed in a stampede after a large crowd gathered at the Mansa Devi temple in the northern Indian city of Haridwar, ANI reported on Sunday, citing Garhwal Division Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey.
The chief minister of India’s northern state of Uttarakhand posted on X that local police and other rescue teams have reached the spot and are engaged in relief and rescue operations.
The injured have been taken to the local hospital, the ANI report added.
India has a history of crowd accidents. At least 30 people died at the Maha Kumbh Hindu festival in January as tens of millions gathered to dip in sacred waters. In June, at least 11 people died in crowd chaos outside an Indian cricket stadium.
Trump’s meeting with a key European official comes as his tariff deadline nears
- The US and EU seemed close to reaching a deal earlier this month, but Trump instead threatened a 30 percent tariff rate on the bloc of nations
EDINBURGH: Donald Trump is meeting Sunday with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, taking a break from golfing in Scotland to discuss trade as both sides seek an agreement on tariff rates now that the White House’s deadline to impose stiff tariff rates is looming.
Trump played golf Saturday at his course in Turnberry on the southwest coast of Scotland and is expected to hit the links again frequently during his five-day visit. On Tuesday, he’ll be in Aberdeen, in northeast Scotland, where his family has another golf course and is opening a third next month.
Trump and his son Eric are planning to help cut the ribbon on the new course, where public tee times starting Aug. 13 are already on offer.
The visit with von der Leyen is expected to be behind closed doors and few further details have been released.
Leaving the White House on Friday, Trump said “we have a 50-50 chance, maybe less than that, but a 50-50 chance of making a deal with the EU.” He said the deal would have to “buy down” the currently scheduled tariff rate of 30 percent on the bloc of 27 member states.
Later, von der Leyen posted on X that, “Following a good call” with Trump, the pair had ”agreed to meet in Scotland on Sunday to discuss transatlantic trade relations, and how we can keep them strong.”
The US and EU seemed close to reaching a deal earlier this month, but Trump instead threatened a 30 percent tariff rate on the bloc of nations. Still, Trump’s original deadline for beginning such tariffs has already passed, and is now delayed until at least Friday.
Flying to Scotland to enjoy his golf courses hasn’t stopped the president from talking trade.
After going to Turnberry to play nine holes, have lunch, then play nine more, Trump posted that he’d block any trade deals between the US and Cambodia and Thailand since the two southeast Asian countries remain locked in violent clashes in long-disputed border areas.
Trump wrote that he spoke with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Phumtham Wechayachai, the acting prime minister of Thailand, to call for a ceasefire.
“I am trying to simplify a complex situation!” he wrote on Truth Social after disclosing his conversation with the Cambodian leader. After speaking with Wechayachai, Trump said both countries want peace and added: “Ceasefire, Peace, and Prosperity seems to be a natural.”
The actual likelihood of a deal with the EU, meanwhile, remains to be seen.
Trump recently said he thought the odds of reaching a framework with Japan was 25 percent — but the US and Japan subsequently announced an agreement this past week.
The president also bragged earlier in his term that he would leverage constant threats of steep US tariffs around the globe to negotiate better rates and shrink trade deficits with some of Washington’s key allies. But, so far, that effort has fallen well short of expectations, meaning the onus may be on Trump to be able to announce an agreement with a bloc as key to global commerce as the EU.
Trump is also set to meet Monday in Scotland with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after the two announced a trade framework in May and a larger agreement last month during the G7 in Canada. Trump says that deal is concluded and that the pair will discuss other matters — though the White House has suggested it still needs some polishing.
Without an EU deal, the bloc said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.
If Trump follows through on his threat of tariffs against Europe, it could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US
