JAPAN
Most oppose new laws: poll
More than half of voters in Japan are opposed to their government’s plans to enact legislation this month that would allow Japanese troops to fight abroad for the first time since World War II, a newspaper poll showed yesterday. Despite big public protests, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc wants to pass the security bills before parliament ends its session on Sept. 27. A vote in the upper house is expected this week. A poll carried out over the weekend and published yesterday by the Asahi Shimbun showed 54 percent of respondents opposed the legislation, compared with 29 percent who backed it, while 68 percent saw no need to enact the bills during the current session. Support for Abe’s government fell to 36 percent, the survey showed, the lowest rate since he took the office in December 2013 and down from 38 percent in last month’s poll. Abe’s disapproval rating inched up to 42 percent from 41 percent.
PAKISTAN
Explosions kills at least nine
A police official said a blast outside of a bus terminal in central Pakistan has killed at least nine people and wounded 48. Khalid Rauf said several of the wounded from the explosion on Sunday night in the city of Multan are in critical condition. He blamed the blast on a remote-controlled bomb. Another government official, Zahid Saleem, said it appeared to be a suicide attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Multan lies in a region dotted with thousands of religious seminaries, with several belonging to local al-Qaeda-linked militant outfits.
GABON
President Bongo tries again
The president on Sunday named a new opposition figure to a senior ministerial post a day after another senior opponent declined the job, in a setback to his efforts to forge a united government ahead of next year’s election. President Ali Bongo named Mathieu Mboumba Nziengui, executive secretary of the opposition Union of the Gabonese People (UPG), as minister of state for agriculture. On Saturday, the leader of another wing of the UPG, Dieudonne Moukagni Iwangou, rejected the offer of the position, calling for political change in the oil-rich central African country. The reshuffle, announced in a presidential decree on Friday, expanded the Cabinet to 41 members from 34 and was seen as an attempt to silence critics of the Bongo family’s domination of Gabonese political life since independence from France in 1960. The president also named technocrat Jean Sylvain Bekale Nze as minister for town planning and housing after Jean-Robert Endamane, from the Bongo-allied RPG party, refused the post.
INDIA
Truck crash kills at least 18
At least 18 workers were killed when their overloaded truck overturned in southern India early yesterday, police said. Another 17 people were injured in the accident near Gundepalli, a village in Andhra Pradesh state, police officer Ravi Prakash said. The truck carrying cement and other construction materials was taking the workers to a construction site 400km southeast of Hyderabad, the state capital. He said a preliminary investigation suggested that driver negligence caused the crash, as he appeared to have fallen asleep while driving. India has the highest annual road death toll in the world, according to the WHO. More than 110,000 people are killed every year in road accidents across India, according to police.
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
CANCER: Jose Mujica earned the moniker ‘world’s poorest president’ for giving away much of his salary and living a simple life on his farm, with his wife and dog Tributes poured in on Tuesday from across Latin America following the death of former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica, an ex-guerrilla fighter revered by the left for his humility and progressive politics. He was 89. Mujica, who spent a dozen years behind bars for revolutionary activity, lost his battle against cancer after announcing in January that the disease had spread and he would stop treatment. “With deep sorrow, we announce the passing of our comrade Pepe Mujica. President, activist, guide and leader. We will miss you greatly, old friend,” Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi wrote on X. “Pepe, eternal,” a cyclist shouted out minutes later,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
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