International News
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida-the man who steered LDP to yet another victory
The Japanese ruling party Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its allies have come back to power with a comfortable win. This allows Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to work on his election pledges of making Japan militarily strong, revive the coronavirus-affected economy and restrengthen measures against Covid-19.
Kishida was elected as the prime minister by the LDP after Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga decided to step down a couple of months back. Suga had lost the confidence of voters over his management of the coronavirus pandemic and organising the Olympics despite opposition.
Despite a comfortable win, LDP’s tally has come down from 276 to 259–a loss of 17 seats. Diet–the Japanese parliament has a Lower House with 465 seats.
Japan went to elections after four years on October 31 and the results were declared overnight. Exit polls by Japanese news agency Koyodo which had predicted that the ruling party would be voted back to power have come true.
Some of the important issues before the electorate were the handling of the Covid-19 infection, rising income inequality, kick-starting the pandemic-wrecked economy as well as geo-political tensions in the region.
Kishida as the new Prime Minister has heavily stressed upon building a stronger military for Japan due to threats from China and North Korea. He had said in the election campaign that his party may even double Japan’s defence spending.
On the other hand, the opposition parties have highlighted growing economic disparity between the rich and the poor as well as a poor economy due to the pandemic, says The Asahi Shimbun.
The main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPJ), alleged that the government has mismanaged the Covid-19 response as well as supported the rich classes. It’s campaign issues included gender equality and separate surnames for married couples. The opposition promised lower taxes for the low and middle class and abandoning nuclear energy.
For Kishida, this win restores the party’s confidence in him as well as in his leadership. For the party it means that the LDP completes nine years of uninterrupted rule.
The soft-spoken 64-year-old Kishida comes from a family of politicians from Hiroshima. He followed his father and grandfather into politics and had been eyeing the position of the Prime Minister for a while.
Kishida is well aware of the national and regional challenges that lie before him–which he repeatedly discussed during the election campaign.
Kishida was earlier the LDP’s policy chief and the country’s foreign minister between 2012-17. During his tenure, he negotiated accords with Russia and South Korea, both nations with which Japan has continuing tussles in the region.
On the foreign policy front, he is known for his public stand over abolishing nuclear weapons. He was lauded for bringing the then-US President Barack Obama to Hiroshima on a historic visit.
In his personal life, Kishida enjoys baseball as well as drinks. A keen baseball player, he is known to be a big fan of the Hiroshima Carp baseball team. The Tokyo Weekender quotes Kishida as saying: “I love Hiroshima Carp. I love Hiroshima and sake (laughs). Other than that, I have some hobbies, but it’s not a big deal.”
Kishida is known to be a strong drinker. As the foreign minister, he particularly enjoyed holding a competition of vodka and sake with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov over diplomatic conversations.
His wife comes from a wealthy business family known for its sake-brewing business.
International News
23 Palestinians killed by Israeli airstrikes across Gaza
Gaza, Dec 23: At least 23 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes across the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
At least nine people, including three children and two women, were killed, and some others were injured as a result of the Israeli bombing of the Musa bin Nusayr School on Sunday, which houses displaced people in the Al-Daraj neighborhood of Gaza City.
Four more people were killed when the Israeli army bombed a vehicle on the Al-Jalaa Street in Gaza City, it added.
Five citizens, including four children, were killed on Sunday morning in Israel’s shelling of the Jabalia town, north of Gaza City, WAFA said in a separate report.
In the southern Gaza Strip, two people were killed when the Israeli army bombed their apartment west of Khan Yunis, and three others died in the Israeli bombing of the city of Rafah, WAFA said.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement on Sunday that with the direction of intelligence, the air force conducted a “precise strike” on Hamas militants who were operating inside a command-and-control center in the Gaza Strip.
The command-and-control center, which was embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Musa bin Nusayr School, was used by the militants to plan and execute attacks against IDF troops and the State of Israel, it added.
Israel has been on a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and about 250 taken hostage.
The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip has risen to 45,227, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Saturday.
Crime
At least 18 killed in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza
Gaza, Dec 21: At least 18 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes on the central and northern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian sources.
Local sources and eyewitnesses reported that Israeli warplanes targeted an apartment in the multi-story “Yaffa” tower in the al-Nuseirat camp, located in central Gaza.
A statement from Al-Awda Hospital in the camp confirmed that eight people were killed and 14 others injured, some seriously, in the attack.
In northern Gaza, Israeli shelling struck a house belonging to the “Khilla” family in Jabalia Al-Balad, killing 10 people and injuring several others, according to the Gaza Strip’s Civil Defence.
The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents.
Also on Friday, the military wing of Hamas, Al-Qassam Brigades, announced that one of its fighters had carried out a suicide attack targeting an Israeli force of six soldiers in Jabalia refugee camp, northern Gaza.
The Israeli army has not issued a comment on this incident.
Earlier on Thursday at least 16 Palestinians were killed by Israeli bombings in northern Gaza, the Palestinian official news agency WAFA reported.
At least 10 people were killed on Wednesday night and some others injured when the Israeli aircraft bombed the house of the Al-Najjar family in the town of Jabalia, WAFA said.
Six more people were killed due to Israeli bombing on the house of the Al-Zaytouniya family near the Al-Tabi’in School in the Al-Daraj neighborhood, east of Gaza City, it added.
The Israeli army has not commented on these incidents.
Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in Gaza in retaliation for the October 7, 2023 Hamas assault on southern Israel, which resulted in approximately 1,200 deaths and 250 hostages taken.
As of Friday, the Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 45,206, according to Gaza-based health authorities.
International News
Khalistani separatist Pannun’s threat to Indian ambassador ‘serious’ issue, taken up with US: MEA
New Delhi, Dec 20: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Friday revealed that New Delhi has taken “seriously” the latest threat issued by the US-based Khalistani separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun against India’s Ambassador to the US, Vinay Mohan Kwatra and raised it accordingly with the authorities in Washington.
In a recent video, Pannun threatened that Kwatra is on the radar of pro-Khalistani Sikhs in America for allegedly coordinating with Russian authorities, who in turn were providing inputs to Indian intelligence agencies on the Khalistani network in the United States.
“As and when such threats are issued, we take them very seriously and raise them with the US government. In this particular case also, we have raised it with the US government and it is our expectation that the United States government will take our security concerns seriously and act on it,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said during a weekly media briefing in New Delhi on Friday.
A former Foreign Secretary, Kwatra took charge as India’s Ambassador to the United States in August this year, succeeding Taranjit Singh Sandhu.
His appointment came at a time when Khalistani separatists continue to target Hindu community in the country and also the Indian missions.
Khalistanis have been found to be involved in incidents of defacement of temples, including in California and New York, and also in acts of arson and vandalism at the Indian embassy in San Francisco.
Several lawmakers, including Shri Thanedar – a Democrat elected to the House of Representatives from Michigan state – have raised alarm over the “substantial increase” in attacks on Hindus and their places of worship in the United States.
The lawmaker had recently expressed frustration with the investigating agency for their failure to find the culprits behind the incidents at the temples and the consulate.
“It appears to be a very coordinated effort to attack these places of worship which has created a lot of fear in the community. And often what we have seen is that the law enforcement, the local law enforcement enters into these investigations and rarely any suspects have been identified, and that investigation goes nowhere.
“What that does is that it leaves the community feeling like nobody cares about them. Nobody reports back to them on what’s going on. And that means that the community continues to live in fear, the computing community continues to live in an adverse situation with essentially no help from law enforcement,” he said.
The lawmaker went on to state that he and his colleagues are asking the US Department of Justice for “coordinated efforts between the local law enforcement and the Federal Bureau of Investigation Department of Justice, and higher priority needs to be assigned to such hate crimes against this peaceful community”.
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