The entire leadership of Japan's biggest opposition party resigned yesterday over a scandal surrounding an e-mail falsely accusing a ruling party leader's son of financial links with disgraced Internet company Livedoor.
Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) leader Seiji Maehara and his lieutenants' resignations were the latest blow to the group in the scandal, which has deeply damaged the only credible competitor to the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
"It is my responsibility that the problem was not dealt with immediately," Maehara said following his resignation.
PHOTO: AP
The DPJ issued a public apology earlier this month after it found that allegations made by lawmaker Hisayasu Nagata in Parliament -- in which he alleged financial links between the son of LDP Secretary General Tsutomu Takebe and Livedoor Co. -- were unfounded.
Nagata had backed up his allegations with a purported e-mail from Livedoor president Takafumi Horie ordering a company official to pay Takebe's son. But Nagata later acknowledged he was unable to verify the e-mail's authenticity.
Nagata has expressed his intention to give up his parliamentary seat, Maehara said.
The scandal and the resignation of the DPJ leadership have been harsh on the party, which as recently as a year ago was considered a serious contender for the power held by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's LDP.
But the party was decimated in elections for the powerful lower house of parliament in September as Koizumi rode a wave of popularity and support for his reform program.
Maehara took charge of the party after the post-election resignation of leader Katsuya Okada, but under his leadership the party was unable to regain its earlier popularity.
Maehara said he hoped his stepping down would set the stage for the party to rebuild.
"I arrived at my decision to take responsibility as the country's largest opposition party, to win back the public's trust and to achieve the party goal of taking over the government in the next election," he said.
Horie and four other Livedoor executives have been under arrest since January on charges of doctoring financial results, artificially inflating stocks and providing false information about earnings of a subsidiary.
Shamans in Peru on Monday gathered for an annual New Year’s ritual where they made predictions for the year to come, including illness for US President Donald Trump and the downfall of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. “The United States should prepare itself because Donald Trump will fall seriously ill,” Juan de Dios Garcia proclaimed as he gathered with other shamans on a beach in southern Lima, dressed in traditional Andean ponchos and headdresses, and sprinkling flowers on the sand. The shamans carried large posters of world leaders, over which they crossed swords and burned incense, some of which they stomped on. In this
Indonesia yesterday began enforcing its newly ratified penal code, replacing a Dutch-era criminal law that had governed the country for more than 80 years and marking a major shift in its legal landscape. Since proclaiming independence in 1945, the Southeast Asian country had continued to operate under a colonial framework widely criticized as outdated and misaligned with Indonesia’s social values. Efforts to revise the code stalled for decades as lawmakers debated how to balance human rights, religious norms and local traditions in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. The 345-page Indonesian Penal Code, known as the KUHP, was passed in 2022. It
Near the entrance to the Panama Canal, a monument to China’s contributions to the interoceanic waterway was torn down on Saturday night by order of local authorities. The move comes as US President Donald Trump has made threats in the past few months to retake control of the canal, claiming Beijing has too much influence in its operations. In a surprising move that has been criticized by leaders in Panama and China, the mayor’s office of the locality of Arraijan ordered the demolition of the monument built in 2004 to symbolize friendship between the countries. The mayor’s office said in
‘TRUMP’S LONG GAME’: Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said that while fraud was a serious issue, the US president was politicizing it to defund programs for Minnesotans US President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday said it was auditing immigration cases involving US citizens of Somalian origin to detect fraud that could lead to denaturalization, or revocation of citizenship, while also announcing a freeze of childcare funds to Minnesota and demanding an audit of some daycare centers. “Under US law, if an individual procures citizenship on a fraudulent basis, that is grounds for denaturalization,” US Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. Denaturalization cases are rare and can take years. About 11 cases were pursued per year between 1990 and 2017, the Immigrant Legal Resource
RSS