Yasua Fukuda, a moderate ruling party veteran, was yesterday seen pulling ahead in the two-way race to become Japan's next prime minister, reports said.
Fukuda and former foreign minister Taro Aso submitted their applications to lead the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) at the party's Tokyo headquarters as the battle to succeed Shinzo Abe heated up.
"I would like to officially declare my candidacy," Fukuda, 71, told reporters, having earlier said it was time to engage in "broad dialogue" with the people.
The scandal-plagued LDP is scheduled to select its next leader on September 23. The winner then becomes Japan's prime minister as the party controls the powerful lower house of parliament.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced his resignation on Wednesday following a raft of scandals, a plunge in popularity and ill health. He has since been hospitalized.
Both candidates have said Japan cannot afford to drop out of the global war on terrorism and pledged to push to extend the country's naval mission in the Indian Ocean.
"Our mission is highly regarded by the international community. We must win understanding for the need to extend," Fukuda told a joint press conference yesterday.
Fukuda, a former top government spokesman who is seen as a foreign policy dove, has already secured the "overwhelming" support of a majority of LDP members after closed-door negotiations among senior party figures, the Nikkei business daily and other media reported.
"Now I'm feeling the gravity of my responsibility as a lot of people support me," Fukuda told a joint news conference with Aso. "I want to do my best to fulfil my responsibility and regain trust in the party."
Aso, 66, who assumed the party's second-highest position in last month's cabinet reshuffle after almost two years as foreign minister, has lost twice in leadership elections -- against Abe and his predecessor Junichiro Koizumi.
"If I dropped my bid due to my inferior situation, the LDP would die out," Aso said. "Receiving your hope firmly, I want to fight through this tough situation."
Fukuda, the eldest son of late premier Takeo Fukuda, has vowed to continue reforms in the world's second largest economy and to strengthen ties with Asia.
"Reform is the main premise," Fukuda said on Friday. "On top of that, we have to consider how we can stimulate local economies."
Crowds in Bangladesh are flocking to snap photographs with an unlikely social media star — an albino buffalo with flowing blond hair nicknamed “Donald Trump” that is due to be sacrificed within days. Owner Zia Uddin Mridha, 38, said his brother named the 700kg bull over its flowing helmet of hair resembling the signature look of the US president. “My younger brother picked this name because of the buffalo’s extraordinary hair,” he said at his farm in Narayanganj, just outside the capital, Dhaka. Mridha said that a constant stream of curious visitors — social media fans, onlookers and children — have come throughout
The Bolivian government on Friday struck a deal with protesting miners, but was still grappling with blockades and demonstrations by other workers across La Paz. Other groups are still blocking access roads into the city, which is also the seat of the government. Police on Thursday prevented the miners from entering the main square by using tear gas, while the demonstrators hurled stones and explosives with slingshots. Protests against the policies of Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz have convulsed the Andean nation since early this month, and roadblocks were choking routes into La Paz throughout Friday, the national road authority said. Miners demanded that Paz
The Philippines said it has asked the country’s Supreme Court to allow it to arrest former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer to stand trial in an international tribunal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) last week unsealed an arrest warrant against Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, accusing him along with Duterte and other “coperpetrators” of the “crime against humanity of murder.” Dela Rosa briefly sought refuge in the Philippine Senate last week while asking the Philippine Supreme Court to stop an ongoing attempt by government agents to arrest him. “By his own conduct, he has placed himself outside the protection of
The researchers in Ireland looked at their computer screen, marveling at a medieval book tracked down in a Roman library. They flipped through its digitized pages and found their sought-after treasure: the oldest surviving English poem. “We were extremely surprised. We were speechless. We couldn’t believe our eyes when we first saw that,” said Elisabetta Magnanti, a visiting research fellow at Trinity College Dublin’s school of English. The poem was also within the main body of Latin text, she said, calling it “extraordinary.” Composed in Old English by a Northumbrian agricultural worker in the 7th century, Caedmon’s Hymn appears within some copies of
RSS