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YouTuber politician wanted by police in Japan remains in UAE: Tachibana

YouTuber politician wanted by police in Japan remains in UAE: Tachibana
File photo of Tachibana Takashi leader of the “Party to Protect Citizens from NHK” speaking at an election campaign rally last July. (ANJ/Pierre Boutier)
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Updated 10 January 2023
Arab News Japan

YouTuber politician wanted by police in Japan remains in UAE: Tachibana

YouTuber politician wanted by police in Japan remains in UAE: Tachibana
  • Tachibana said in an interview with Arab News Japan on January 10 that Higashitani has told him he plans to return
  • Recent reports said GaaSyy owns no real estate or financial assets
Updated 10 January 2023
Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Tachibana Takashi, leader of the “Party to Protect Citizens from NHK”, said he doesn’t know when absentee member of the House of Councilors Higashitani Yoshikazu will return to Japan.
Higashitani, a 50-year-old YouTuber known as GaaSyy, has not attended a single Diet session since he was first elected in July last year. He is famous for exposing celebrity scandals on his YouTube channel. Despite being elected to parliament, he has been staying overseas in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Tachibana said in an interview with Arab News Japan on January 10 that Higashitani has told him he plans to return, but added, “I don’t know if he’ll come back or not.”
Tachibana added that his party is not in a position to tell its members what to do.
“We are a political party with a sense of freedom, so he can come back if he wants to, and if he does not want to, no need to do so,” Tachibana said.
“If GaaSyy wants to come back, we will support him, and if he does not want to, we will deal with that.”
Tachibana said he believed that Higashitani chose the UAE as his refuge because he had friends there.
“I don’t think he had a plan,” Tachibana said. “He went there with just 110 yen (less than one dollar) in his hand. I heard he had been contacted by the police, so he grabbed only 110 yen, bought a plane ticket with a credit card and flew to Dubai.”
Recent reports said GaaSyy owns no real estate, financial assets, and is in a debt of loans for 70 million Japanese yen (about $530,000.)
The Metropolitan Police Department has requested Higashitani present himself for voluntary questioning on suspicion of threatening celebrities with YouTube videos. He previously indicated he would return to Japan and comply with this request.
Tachibana formed his party after working for the public broadcaster NHK for 20 years, saying he wanted to fight for citizens who are forced to pay for NHK and expose “bad things.”
His party believes in diplomacy based on strong defense. He also wants to maintain good relations with Arab countries.
“Arab countries have plenty of resources, so we want to communicate with them,” he said. “We want to build friendly relations with Saudi Arabia.”
 

Topics: Japan UAE YOUTUBER

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Far-right lawmakers walk out of Zelensky speech to Austrian parliament

Far-right lawmakers walk out of Zelensky speech to Austrian parliament
Updated 7 sec ago
Reuters

Far-right lawmakers walk out of Zelensky speech to Austrian parliament

Far-right lawmakers walk out of Zelensky speech to Austrian parliament
  • Ukrainian leader’s address at Austrian lower house of parliament violates country’s neutrality
  • Freedom Party had warned days before that it would hold some form of protest against Zelensky’s address
Updated 7 sec ago
Reuters
VIENNA: Lawmakers from the pro-Russia, far-right Freedom Party walked out of the lower house of Austria’s parliament on Thursday during a speech by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, protesting that it violated Austria’s neutrality.
Zelensky addressed the chamber via video link, thanking Austria for its humanitarian aid and help with projects such as clearing land mines. Austria says its neutrality prevents it from military involvement in the conflict and while it supports Ukraine politically it cannot send the country weapons in its fight against the Russian invasion.
The Freedom Party (FPO), however, had warned days before that it would hold some form of protest against Zelensky’s address. Its lawmakers attended the start of the speech and then left.
“It is sad that the FPO is the only party in parliament that takes our ever-lasting neutrality seriously, thereby also standing up for peace,” FPO leader Herbert Kickl said in a statement on Tuesday.
Lawmakers who walked out of the chamber left small placards on their desks featuring the party logo and either “space for neutrality” or “space for peace.”
Of the five parties in parliament, the FPO has the third-biggest number of seats in the lower house. It currently has a slight lead in opinion polls over the opposition Social Democrats and Chancellor Karl Nehammer’s conservatives, who govern in coalition with the left-wing Greens.
The current parliament runs until autumn of next year.

Turkiye’s parliament to vote on Finland’s NATO bid

Turkiye’s parliament to vote on Finland’s NATO bid
Updated 1 min 58 sec ago
AFP

Turkiye’s parliament to vote on Finland’s NATO bid

Turkiye’s parliament to vote on Finland’s NATO bid
  • Ratification is all but certain after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended months of negotiations
  • Erdogan controls parliament through an alliance with a right-wing party
Updated 1 min 58 sec ago
AFP

ANKARA: Turkiye was set Thursday to become the final NATO member to approve Finland’s membership in the US-led defense alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Turkiye’s parliament scheduled a vote on the Nordic country’s bid to become the 31st member of the Western defense alliance for 2:00 p.m. (1100 GMT).
Ratification is all but certain after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ended months of negotiations and blessed Finland’s candidacy earlier this month.
Erdogan controls parliament through an alliance with a right-wing party. Most opposition lawmakers also support the bid.
Turkiye’s ratification will leave Finland — a country with a 1,300-kilometer (800-mile) border with Russia — with only a few technical steps before formally joining the bloc.
Finland and its neighbor Sweden ended decades of military non-alignment and decided to join the alliance last May.
Their applications were accepted at a June 2022 NATO summit but the bids still needed to be ratified by all alliance member parliaments — a process that stalled once it reached Turkiye and Hungary.
Erdogan put up stiff resistance to Sweden’s candidacy because of a series of long-standing disputes.
A spokesman for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Wednesday called on Sweden to “clear the air” and address “an ample amount of grievances” for parliament to ratify its bid.
Sweden still hopes to join the alliance in time for a July summit in Vilnius.
Most analysts believe that Turkiye will only vote on its candidacy after the country’s May general election.

Topics: Turkey Finland NATO

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Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky

Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky
Updated 29 min 43 sec ago
Reuters

Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky

Several feared dead after two US army helicopters crash during training in Kentucky
  • Crew members were flying two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, operated by the 101st Airborne Division
  • The HH-60 is a variant of the Black Hawk helicopter designed to provide support for various military operations
Updated 29 min 43 sec ago
Reuters

The governor of Kentucky said on Thursday fatalities were expected after two US Army Black Hawk helicopters crashed during a routine training mission over the state late on Wednesday.
The status of the crew members was not immediately known, the US Army’s Fort Campbell said in a statement, without providing the number of people who were on board.
“We’ve got some tough news out of Fort Campbell, with early reports of a helicopter crash, and fatalities are expected,” governor Andy Beshear said in a post on Twitter, adding that local authorities and emergency services were responding to the accident.
Crew members were flying two HH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, operated by the 101st Airborne Division, which crashed at around 10:00 p.m. ET (0200 GMT Thursday) in Kentucky’s Trigg County, Fort Campbell’s public affairs office said.
“The command is currently focused on caring for the service members and their families,” the statement said, adding that the cause of the crash was under investigation.
The HH-60 is a variant of the Black Hawk helicopter designed to provide support for various military operations, including air assaults and medical evacuations, according to the Army.

Topics: US

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Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US

Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US
Updated 30 March 2023
AP

Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US

Freed ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Paul Rusesabagina arrives in US
  • Paul Rusesabagina’s arrival in San Antonio was announced by his daughter Carine Kanimba
  • Rusesabagina was credited with sheltering more than 1,000 ethnic Tutsis at the hotel he managed during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide
Updated 30 March 2023
AP

HOUSTON: The man who inspired the film “Hotel Rwanda” and was freed by Rwanda last week from a terrorism sentence returned Wednesday to the United States and joined his family after being held for more than two years.
Paul Rusesabagina’s arrival in San Antonio was announced by his daughter Carine Kanimba, who tweeted that “our family is finally reunited today.”
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan tweeted that “we’re glad to have him back on US soil.”
Rusesabagina’s plane first touched down in Houston and the 68-year-old would visit a military hospital in San Antonio, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal planning.
Rusesabagina, a US legal resident and Belgian citizen, was credited with sheltering more than 1,000 ethnic Tutsis at the hotel he managed during Rwanda’s 1994 genocide in which over 800,000 Tutsis and Hutus who tried to protect them were killed. He received the US Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts.
Rusesabagina disappeared in 2020 during a visit to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and appeared days later in Rwanda in handcuffs. His family alleged he was kidnapped and taken to Rwanda against his will to stand trial.
In 2021, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison after being convicted in Rwanda on eight charges including membership in a terrorist group, murder and abduction following the widely criticized trial.
Last week, Rwanda’s government commuted his sentence after diplomatic intervention on his behalf by the United States. On Monday, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that Rusesabagina was in Doha, Qatar, and would make his way back to the US.
Rusesabagina had been accused of supporting the armed wing of his opposition political platform, the Rwandan Movement for Democratic Change. The armed group claimed some responsibility for attacks in 2018 and 2019 in southern Rwanda in which nine Rwandans died.
Rusesabagina testified at trial that he helped to form the armed group to assist refugees but said he never supported violence – and sought to distance himself from its deadly attacks.
Rusesabagina has asserted that his arrest was in response to his criticism of longtime President Paul Kagame over alleged human rights abuses. Kagame’s government has repeatedly denied targeting dissenting voices with arrests and extrajudicial killings.
Rusesabagina became a public critic of Kagame and left Rwanda in 1996, first living in Belgium and then the US.
His arrest was a source of friction with the US and others at a time when Rwanda’s government has also been under pressure over tensions with neighboring Congo and Britain’s plan to deport asylum-seekers to the small east African nation.
Rights activists and others had been urging Rwandan authorities to free him, saying his health was failing.
In October, the ailing Rusesabagina signed a letter to Kagame that was posted on the justice ministry’s website, saying that if he was granted pardon and released to live in the US, he would hold no personal or political ambitions and “I will leave questions regarding Rwandan politics behind me.”
Last year, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Kagame in Rwanda and discussed the case.
Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, had said Sullivan personally engaged in the case, “really doing the final heavy lifting to get Paul released and to get him on his way home.”

Topics: Paul Rusesabagina Rwanda

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Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection
Updated 30 March 2023
Reuters

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection

Pope Francis to spend ‘few days’ in hospital due to respiratory infection
  • The 86-year-old Argentine pontiff has the infection but did not have COVID-19
  • Francis is sometimes short of breath and generally more exposed to respiratory problems
Updated 30 March 2023
Reuters

VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis has a respiratory infection and will need to spend “a few days” in hospital for treatment, the Vatican said in a statement on Wednesday, amid concern for the 86-year-old’s condition.
The 86-year-old pontiff was taken to Rome’s Gemelli hospital after complaining of breathing difficulties over the past few days, the statement said. Tests showed he had the infection but did not have COVID-19, it said.
“Pope Francis is touched by the many messages received and expresses his gratitude for the closeness and prayer,” the Vatican said.
Francis, who this month marked 10 years as pope, is sometimes short of breath and generally more exposed to respiratory problems. He had part of one lung removed in his early 20s when training to be a priest in his native Argentina.
His latest hospitalization comes ahead of a Palm Sunday service on April 2 that marks the start of a hectic week of ceremonies leading to Easter Sunday on April 9, throwing into doubt whether he would be able to lead them as customary.
Francis’ health has attracted increased scrutiny in the past two years, during which he has undergone colon surgery and begun using a wheelchair or a walking stick due to chronic pain in one knee.
The Vatican had initially said the pope had gone to hospital on Wednesday for a scheduled check-up. But Italian media reported he arrived in an ambulance after canceling a television interview at the last minute.
Francis had attended his weekly general audience in St. Peter’s Square in the morning, appearing in good health.
In Argentina, the faithful offered prayers for the recovery of the pope, who has not returned to his homeland since leaving for the Vatican a decade ago.
“If the Pope could listen to us, I would tell him that we need him because the reform that he faced is not finished,” said Marcela Mazzini, a professor at Inmaculada Concepcion Seminary in Buenos Aires, where the pope, then called Jorge Mario Bergoglio, studied.
The son of Italian immigrants, the future pope lived modestly when he was archbishop of Buenos Aires, traveling by public transport and keeping a low profile when he visited the poor in shanty towns, where many still remember him.
The leader of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics suffers from diverticulitis, a condition that can infect or inflame the colon, and was operated on at the Gemelli hospital in 2021 to remove part of his colon.
He said in January that the condition had returned and that it was causing him to put on weight, but that he was not overly concerned. He did not elaborate.
Francis said in an interview last year that he preferred not to have surgery on his troublesome knee because he did not want a repeat of long-term negative side effects from anesthesia that he suffered after the 2021 operation.
Last July, returning from a trip to Canada, Francis acknowledged that his advancing age and his difficulty walking might have ushered in a new, slower phase of his papacy.
But since then he has visited Kazakhstan and Bahrain and made a trip last month to Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan.
He has also committed to visiting Hungary in late April, Portugal in August and the French city of Marseille in September. He has said, if it can be arranged, he would want to then fly from Marseille to Mongolia.
After praising his late predecessor Benedict XVI’s historic decision to resign on health grounds in 2013, Francis has indicated he would follow the example only if he were gravely incapacitated.

Topics: Pope Francis

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