Yasuo Fukuda, known as a dove toward Japan's neighbors, has gained ground in his bid to become prime minister this fall, although the hawkish Shinzo Abe remains the favorite, polls said yesterday.
Fukuda last week visited Washington and met top US officials including Vice President Dick Cheney. Media here viewed the trip to Japan's closest ally as preparation for the race to succeed Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
Some 21 percent of Japanese voters believed Fukuda, a former chief Cabinet secretary, was best suited to be prime minister, said a poll of 1,499 households across party lines by the Nihon Keizai Shimbun.
Support for Fukuda surged by seven percentage points from the business newspaper's last poll in March.
But he remained below Abe, the current chief Cabinet secretary, who enjoyed 33 percent backing in the latest poll. Other survey respondents picked other candidates to be prime minister or were undecided.
Koizumi, 64, plans to retire in September after more than five years in power. His Liberal Democratic Party will hold an internal election on his successor.
Despite his charismatic image and popularity at home, Koizumi has infuriated China and South Korea by visiting a shrine that honors war dead including war criminals.
Abe supports visits to the Yasukuni shrine, unlike Fukuda who has vowed to repair relations with China. At age 51, Abe is young for a Japanese politician, while Fukuda turns 70 in July.
Asked why they supported their favorite candidates, 49 percent of Fukuda supporters pointed to his stand on diplomacy and security issues, surpassing the 36 percent who cited his personality and image.
The trend was the reverse for Abe. Forty-nine percent of his backers cited his personality, compared with just 23 percent who listed foreign policy.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of
A prominent Christian leader has allegedly been stabbed at the altar during a Mass yesterday in southwest Sydney. Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was saying Mass at Christ The Good Shepherd Church in Wakeley just after 7pm when a man approached him at the altar and allegedly stabbed toward his head multiple times. A live stream of the Mass shows the congregation swarm forward toward Emmanuel before it was cut off. The church leader gained prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, amassing a large online following, Officers attached to Fairfield City police area command attended a location on Welcome Street, Wakeley following reports a number