JAPAN
Deputy minister resigns
A deputy finance minister yesterday stepped down over revelations that he had been delinquent on tax payments, another blow to Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, whose public support is languishing in the polls. Kenji Kanda, state minister of finance in charge of government bonds and monetary policy, told reporters he had resigned, because he did not want the issue to disrupt debate in parliament. The legislature is soon to deliberate a ￥13.1 trillion (US$86.3 billion) supplementary budget to fund the government’s economic package. The Shukan Bunshun magazine first reported last week that a private firm owned by Kanda, who is a licensed tax accountant, had repeatedly failed to pay taxes and authorities had foreclosed on a company building four times. Kanda said that the report was true.
THAILAND
Chinese police plan alarms
The government is mulling a plan to station Chinese police personnel at some of its popular tourist destinations to lift the confidence of travelers from China, but the move has sparked a controversy, with some critics raising concerns over sovereignty. The cooperation with Chinese police was discussed by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, senior police and tourism officials on Sunday as a way to draw more Chinese visitors. “We’re in talks with the Chinese embassy about a patrol program to bring Chinese police to Thailand,” Tourism Authority Governor Thapanee Kiatphaibool told reporters on Sunday. Thai Internet users slammed the move, with most saying they are worried that the nation would become another location for the covert operations targeting Chinese dissidents overseas. Government spokesman Chai Wacharonke said the plan was aimed at busting Chinese mafia groups operating in the nation and had nothing to do with independence or sovereignty.
IRAN
Three hanged over attacks
Tehran yesterday hanged three men convicted of carrying out 2019 bombing attacks in the restive southeastern province of Sistan-Baluchistan, the judiciary’s Mizan Online Web site quoted provincial Chief Justice Ali Mostafavinia as saying. The three men were sentenced to death after they were found guilty of bombing attacks targeting a police station and a patrol vehicle in the provincial capital, Zahedan. The defendants were also convicted over “receiving military training, transferring and hiding bomb-making materials,” Mostafavinia said. The nation has executed more than 600 people this year, the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group said in a report this month.
UNITED STATES
Scott drops out of race
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott is ending his presidential campaign, a long-shot bid to offer an alternative to Republican standard-bearer Donald Trump that drew the interest of prominent Wall Street executives. “If you ever want to love your country more, run for president,” Scott said on Fox News. “Traveling this country, meeting people, it’s been one of the most fantastic experiences of my entire life. I love America more today than I did on May 22. But when I go back to Iowa it will not be as a presidential candidate. I am suspending my campaign.” Scott, 58, faced an uphill climb in the Republican contest, struggling to emerge from a crowded pack with an upbeat message built around his personal story and an optimistic vision for the country that was in sharp contrast to Trump’s rhetoric. The only black Republican US Senator, Scott was first elected to the chamber in 2013.
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
By 2027, Denmark would relocate its foreign convicts to a prison in Kosovo under a 200-million-euro (US$228.6 million) agreement that has raised concerns among non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and residents, but which could serve as a model for the rest of the EU. The agreement, reached in 2022 and ratified by Kosovar lawmakers last year, provides for the reception of up to 300 foreign prisoners sentenced in Denmark. They must not have been convicted of terrorism or war crimes, or have a mental condition or terminal disease. Once their sentence is completed in Kosovan, they would be deported to their home country. In
Brazil, the world’s largest Roman Catholic country, saw its Catholic population decline further in 2022, while evangelical Christians and those with no religion continued to rise, census data released on Friday by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE) showed. The census indicated that Brazil had 100.2 million Roman Catholics in 2022, accounting for 56.7 percent of the population, down from 65.1 percent or 105.4 million recorded in the 2010 census. Meanwhile, the share of evangelical Christians rose to 26.9 percent last year, up from 21.6 percent in 2010, adding 12 million followers to reach 47.4 million — the highest figure
LOST CONTACT: The mission carried payloads from Japan, the US and Taiwan’s National Central University, including a deep space radiation probe, ispace said Japanese company ispace said its uncrewed moon lander likely crashed onto the moon’s surface during its lunar touchdown attempt yesterday, marking another failure two years after its unsuccessful inaugural mission. Tokyo-based ispace had hoped to join US firms Intuitive Machines and Firefly Aerospace as companies that have accomplished commercial landings amid a global race for the moon, which includes state-run missions from China and India. A successful mission would have made ispace the first company outside the US to achieve a moon landing. Resilience, ispace’s second lunar lander, could not decelerate fast enough as it approached the moon, and the company has
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