Japan to formally elect new prime minister on October 1

Japan to formally elect new prime minister on October 1
The conservative LDP — which has governed almost uninterrupted for decades — holds a majority in parliament. (File/AFP)
Short Url
Updated 18 September 2024
Follow

Japan to formally elect new prime minister on October 1

Japan to formally elect new prime minister on October 1
  • Polls indicate that three frontrunners are emerging among the nine candidates to succeed Fumio Kishida as head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)

TOKYO: Japan’s new prime minister will be formally elected by parliament on October 1 following next week’s leadership contest, a ruling party official said Wednesday.
Polls indicate that three frontrunners are emerging among the nine candidates to succeed Fumio Kishida as head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the September 27 internal vote.
They are conservative economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 63, former LDP secretary general Shigeru Ishiba, 67, and Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, son of former premier Junichiro Koizumi.
The conservative LDP — which has governed almost uninterrupted for decades — holds a majority in parliament, meaning the winner of the party election is essentially guaranteed to become premier.
Yasukazu Hamada, a LDP lawmaker in charge of parliament affairs, told his opposition counterpart that the party “plans to convene a parliament session on October 1” to elect the new prime minister, a LDP official told AFP.
The opposition party accepted the date, which will be formally announced by the government on Monday, media reports said.
Kishida, 67, whose three-year term was tarnished by scandals, voter anger over rising prices and sliding poll ratings, announced last month that he was stepping down.
In the leadership election, each of the LDP’s 367 parliament members cast a vote, and another 367 votes will be determined based on the preferences of rank-and-file party members and supporters.
Polls by different Japanese media have put Takaichi, Ishiba and Koizumi in the lead, although this is no guarantee any of them will emerge as the eventual winner.
Koizumi would be Japan’s youngest-ever premier while Takaichi, a vocal nationalist popular with the LDP’s conservative wing, would be the country’s first woman leader.
As a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan’s war dead, which includes convicted war criminals — her nomination would likely rile victims of Japan’s wartime aggression such as China and South and North Korea.


Joe Biden kicks off two-day Angola visit

Joe Biden kicks off two-day Angola visit
Updated 5 sec ago
Follow

Joe Biden kicks off two-day Angola visit

Joe Biden kicks off two-day Angola visit
  • US President arrived in the oil-rich Portuguese-speaking country centered on a multinational project to rehabilitate a railway line ferrying minerals
LUANDA: US President Joe Biden is in Angola on Tuesday for the first and only visit to sub-Saharan Africa of his presidency, which is focused on a major infrastructure project that is a counterpoint to China’s investments.
Biden arrived in the oil-rich Portuguese-speaking country late Monday for a two-day visit centered on a multinational project to rehabilitate a railway line ferrying minerals from inland countries to the Angolan port of Lobito for export.
In anticipation of his trip, the Angolan government declared December 3 and 4 public holidays and deployed heavy security across the capital Luanda, a city of around 9.5 million people.
Biden, who hands over to Donald Trump on January 20, starts his visit on Tuesday with talks with President Joao Lourenco in the capital Luanda and is due to later deliver remarks at the National Slavery Museum.
On Wednesday, he is to travel to Lobito, an Atlantic port city about 500 kilometers (310 miles) south of Luanda.
The port is at the heart of the Lobito Corridor project that has received loans from the United States, the European Union and others to rehabilitate a key railway connecting the mineral-rich inland countries of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia with Lobito, from where they can be exported.
It is “a real game changer for US engagement in Africa,” John Kirby, the White House national security communications adviser, told reporters Monday.
“It’s our fervent hope that as the new team comes in and takes a look at this, that they see the value too, that they see how it will help drive a more secure, more prosperous, more economically stable continent.”
The Lobito project is a piece in the geopolitical battle between the United States and its allies and China, which owns mines in the DRC and Zambia among an array of investments in the region.
A similar railway project involving Chinese investment is aimed at ferrying minerals out via a Tanzanian port on the Indian Ocean.
A senior US official told journalists ahead of Biden’s trip that African governments are seeking an alternative to Chinese investment, especially when it results in “living under crushing debt for generations to come.”
Angola, for instance, owes China $17 billion, about 40 percent of the nation’s total debt.
Lourenco, too, appears to want to diversify his country’s partnerships beyond China and Russia.
“We’re not asking countries to choose between US and Russia and China,” Kirby said. “We’re simply looking for reliable, sustainable, verifiable investment opportunities that the people of Angola and the people of the continent can rely on.”
Human rights organizations have urged Biden to raise Angola’s rights record.
Amnesty International said in a report last month that Angolan police had killed at least 17 protesters between November 2020 and June 2023 as part of a long-running crackdown on dissent.
It urged Biden, 82, to demand that Angola “immediately release five government critics arbitrarily detained for more than a year.”
Angola, a nation of 37 million people, was devastated by a 27-year civil war that started on independence from Portugal in 1975, when the UNITA rebel movement challenged the MPLA that is still in power.
During the Cold War years the United States funnelled covert aid to UNITA. It recognized the MPLA government only in 1993, becoming an importer of its oil.

Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after ‘alarming’ blood test: attorney

Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after ‘alarming’ blood test: attorney
Updated 56 min 54 sec ago
Follow

Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after ‘alarming’ blood test: attorney

Harvey Weinstein hospitalized after ‘alarming’ blood test: attorney
  • Lawyer: Harvey Weinstein will remain at the hospital ‘until his condition stabilizes’
  • Weinstein had previously been hospitalized in September for emergency heart surgery before being reincarcerated

NEW YORK: Former Hollywood movie producer and convicted sex offender Harvey Weinstein was hospitalized after an “alarming blood test result,” his lawyer said late Monday.
Weinstein’s attorney Imran Ansari said via email that the 72-year-old was taken to a New York hospital for “emergent treatment due to an alarming blood test result that requires immediate medical attention.”
He will remain at the hospital “until his condition stabilizes,” his lawyer added.
US media reported in October that Weinstein was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer.
The disgraced producer, who is currently serving a prison sentence at the notorious Rikers Island prison, “has been suffering from a lack of adequate medical care and enduring deplorable and inhumane conditions,” Ansari said.
In the same email, Weinstein’s spokesman Juda Engelmayer said his client “is suffering from a number of illnesses, including leukemia” and “has been deprived the medical attention that someone in his medical state deserves, prisoner or not.”
“In many ways, this mistreatment constitutes cruel and unusual punishment,” Engelmayer added.
Weinstein had previously been hospitalized in September for emergency heart surgery before being reincarcerated.
The co-founder of Miramax Films is due to be retried in New York in 2025, after an appeals court last year reversed the ruling of his 2020 sentence for raping an actress, Jessica Mann, and sexually assaulting a production assistant, Mimi Haleyi.
The trial was due to begin in November, but has since been delayed.
Weinstein has appeared in court several times due to the proceedings, most recently in October, during which he arrived in a wheelchair, pale and visibly diminished.
Prosecutors in New York, meanwhile, have since charged him in a separate sexual assault case from 2006, to which Weinstein pleaded not guilty and attorneys requested a separate trial.
The next hearing in the case is set for January 29, during which a new trial date will be set for all charges.
Although Weinstein’s conviction in New York was overturned, he remains incarcerated for a separate 16-year prison sentenced issued in 2023 by a court in Los Angeles for additional rape and sexual assault charges.
In 2017, the allegations against Weinstein helped launch the #MeToo movement, a watershed moment for women fighting sexual misconduct.
More than 80 women accused him of harassment, sexual assault or rape, including prominent actors Angelina Jolie, Gwyneth Paltrow and Ashley Judd.
Weinstein has claimed that any sexual relations in question were consensual.


Airlines suspend flights as Middle East tensions rise

Airlines suspend flights as Middle East tensions rise
Updated 03 December 2024
Follow

Airlines suspend flights as Middle East tensions rise

Airlines suspend flights as Middle East tensions rise
  • Concerns over a wider conflict in the Middle East are spreading
  • Dozens of airlines have canceled services to and from the region

Concerns over a wider conflict in the Middle East have prompted international airlines to suspend flights to the region or to avoid affected air space.
Below are some of the airlines that have canceled services to and from the region:
AEGEAN AIRLINES
The Greek airline has canceled flights to and from Beirut until March 29 and to and from Tel Aviv until Dec. 10. From Dec. 11, some flights to and from Tel Aviv will operate as normal.
AIR ALGERIE
The Algerian airline has suspended flights to and from Lebanon until further notice.
AIRBALTIC
Latvia’s airBaltic has canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv until Dec. 21.
AIR FRANCE-KLM
Air France has extended its suspension of Paris-Tel Aviv flights until Dec. 31 and Paris-Beirut flights until Jan. 5.
KLM has extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv until the end of the year at least.
The group’s low-cost unit Transavia has canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Amman and Beirut until end-March.
AIR INDIA
The Indian flag carrier has suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until further notice.
BULGARIA AIR
The Bulgarian carrier has canceled flights to and from Israel until Dec. 23.
CATHAY PACIFIC
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has canceled flights to Tel Aviv until Oct. 25, 2025.
CORENDON AIRLINES
The Turkish airline canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv until January.
DELTA AIR LINES
The US carrier has paused flights between New York and Tel Aviv through March 2025.
EASYJET
EasyJet will not rush to resume flights to Tel Aviv after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect, its incoming CEO said on Nov. 27. The UK budget airline had previously suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until March.
EGYPTAIR
The Egyptian carrier in September said it had suspended flights to Beirut until “the situation stabilizes.”
EMIRATES
UAE’s state-owned airline has canceled flights to Beirut until Dec. 31 and to Baghdad until Dec. 14.
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES
The Ethiopian carrier has suspended flights to Beirut until further notice, it said in a Facebook post on Oct. 4.
FLYDUBAI
Flights to Beirut are currently suspended, a flydubai spokesperson said on Nov. 28.
IAG
IAG-owned British Airways has suspended flights to Tel Aviv until the end of March 2025.
IAG’s low-cost airline Iberia Express has canceled flights to Tel Aviv until Nov. 30, while Vueling has canceled operations to Tel Aviv and to Amman until at least early 2025.
IRAN AIR
The Iranian airline has canceled Beirut flights until further notice.
IRAQI AIRWAYS
The Iraqi national carrier has suspended flights to Beirut until further notice.
 ITA AIRWAYS
The Italian carrier has extended the suspension of Tel Aviv flights through Jan. 12.
LOT
The Polish carrier has canceled flights to Tel Aviv until Dec. 9. Its first scheduled flight to Beirut is planned for April 1.
LUFTHANSA GROUP
The German airline group has extended the suspension of its flights to Tel Aviv until Jan. 31.
Flights for Tehran are canceled until Jan. 31, 2025, and to Beirut until Feb. 28.
SunExpress, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, has suspended flights to Beirut through Dec. 17.
PEGASUS
The Turkish airline has canceled flights to Beirut until Jan 1.
QATAR AIRWAYS
The Qatari airline has temporarily suspended flights to and from Lebanon.
RYANAIR
Europe’s biggest budget airline does not plan on resuming operations to Israel until March 31 at the earliest, while a decision to resume operations to and from Jordan from December is under discussion, a Ryanair spokesperson said on Nov. 27.
SUNDAIR
The German airline canceled flights to Beirut from Berlin until Feb. 28, from Bremen until March 26 and from Muenster/Osnabrueck until March 29.
TAROM
Romania’s flag carrier has suspended Beirut flights until Dec. 20.
UNITED AIRLINES
The Chicago-based airline has suspended flights to Tel Aviv for the foreseeable future.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
The UK carrier has suspended Tel Aviv flights until end-March.
WIZZ AIR
The Hungary-based airline has suspended Tel Aviv flights through Jan. 14.


Taiwan’s President Lai in Marshall Islands on first overseas state visit

Taiwan’s President Lai in Marshall Islands on first overseas state visit
Updated 03 December 2024
Follow

Taiwan’s President Lai in Marshall Islands on first overseas state visit

Taiwan’s President Lai in Marshall Islands on first overseas state visit
  • Taiwan president referred to Taiwan’s indigenous inhabitants as sharing a culture with the Pacific Islands’ first settlers
  • Lai Ching-te: ‘We are like family. We are also close partners who support each other’

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te arrived on an official visit to the Marshall Islands on Tuesday, which he said was the first country he had visited since taking office in May, as part of a Pacific tour of diplomatic allies.
China, which views Taiwan as its own territory and opposes any foreign interactions or visits by the island’s leaders, has been stepping up military pressure against Taiwan, including two rounds of war games this year.
Arriving in the Marshall Islands capital of Majuro, Lai referred to Taiwan’s indigenous inhabitants as sharing a culture with the Pacific Islands’ first settlers.
“Taiwan and the Marshall Islands share a traditional Austronesia culture as well as the values of freedom and democracy,” he said, in livestreamed remarks as he met President Hilda Heine.
“We are like family. We are also close partners who support each other,” he added.
Austronesian tribes farmed on Taiwan thousands of years before Han settlers from China arrived in the 17th century.
Heine said the Pacific Island nation, which has a defense and funding compact with the United States, and receives significant aid for climate change projects and infrastructure from Taiwan, would deepen ties.
“Your government and people are very close and dear to our hearts,” she said.
“Your state visit also signifies a bilateral relationship that is mature, one that has withstood the test of time and one that I am confident will continue to grow,” she added.
Later addressing parliament, Lai offered financial support for the national airline to upgrade its aging fleet.
“Taiwan will be happy to provide preferential loans to the Marshall Islands to purchase new aircraft for Air Marshall Islands to improve local air services,” he said.
Lai had a two-day US stopover in Hawaii which started on Saturday.
From the Marshall Islands he goes to Tuvalu for a brief trip, then a one-night stopover in the US territory of Guam before going to Palau.
Lai arrives back in Taipei late on Friday.


Vietnam court upholds death sentence for tycoon in $12 billion fraud case

Vietnam court upholds death sentence for tycoon in $12 billion fraud case
Updated 03 December 2024
Follow

Vietnam court upholds death sentence for tycoon in $12 billion fraud case

Vietnam court upholds death sentence for tycoon in $12 billion fraud case
  • Property developer Truong My Lan was convicted earlier this year of embezzling money and condemned to die for fraud totaling $27 billion

HANOI: A court in Vietnam on Tuesday upheld a death sentence for real estate tycoon Truong My Lan after rejecting her appeal against a conviction for embezzlement and bribery, state media reported.

Lan, the chairwoman of real estate developer Van Thinh Phat Holdings Group, was sentenced to death in April for her role in a financial fraud worth more than $12 billion, Vietnam’s biggest on record.

She was convicted earlier this year of embezzling money from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) — which prosecutors said she controlled — and condemned to die for fraud totaling $27 billion.

In her official handwritten appeal of more than five pages seen by AFP, Lan said the death sentence was “too severe and harsh,” asking the court to consider a more “lenient and humane approach.”

On Tuesday, Lan sat in the front row of the courtroom, waiting to hear if her life would be spared. Next to her was her husband, who is appealing a nine-year sentence for violating banking regulations.

The month-long appeal was attended by more 100 lawyers, according to state media.

Tens of thousands of people who invested their savings in SCB lost money, shocking the communist nation and prompting rare protests from the victims.

According to Vietnamese law, Lan could escape the death penalty if she proactively returns three-quarters of the embezzled assets and is judged to have cooperated sufficiently with authorities.

But prosecutors have argued she has not met the conditions, and emphasized her crime’s consequences were “huge and without precedent.”

Lan, who founded real estate development group Van Thinh Phat, told the court in Ho Chi Minh City “the quickest way” to repay the stolen funds would be “to liquidate SCB, and sell our assets to repay SBV (State Bank of Vietnam) and the people.”

“I feel pained due to the waste of national resources,” Lan said last week, adding she felt “very embarrassed to be charged with this crime.”

Lan owned just five percent of shares in SCB on paper, but at her trial, the court concluded that she effectively controlled more than 90 percent through family, friends and staff.

The State Bank said in April that it pumped funds into SCB to stabilize it, without revealing how much.

Among the assets that Lan and Van Thinh Phat own are a shopping mall, a harbor and luxurious housing complexes in business hub Ho Chi Minh City.

During her first trial in April, Lan was found guilty of embezzling $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the scam amounted to $27 billion — equivalent to around six percent of the country’s 2023 GDP.

Lan and dozens of defendants, including senior central bank officials were arrested as part of a national corruption crackdown dubbed the “burning furnace” that has swept up numerous officials and members of Vietnam’s business elite.

A total of 47 other defendants have requested reduced sentences at the appeal.

Last month, Lan was convicted of money laundering and jailed for life in a separate case.