Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida yesterday sought to brush off a magazine report that questioned election expenses from last year by saying that while some receipts his office submitted did not include complete information, the money had been spent appropriately.
Kishida also denied domestic media reports that he was thinking of reshuffling his Cabinet in the next few weeks.
Kishida’s support has tumbled to its lowest since he took office in October last year and he has been trying to repair damage after a series of scandals forced him to replace three ministers in the space of a month.
Photo: Reuters
Although he need not face another election for more than two years, sagging approval ratings make it more difficult for Kishida to control his party and push policy pledges through parliament, including an increase in defense spending.
On top of this, Kishida is also struggling to deal with the country’s highest inflation in decades.
“I’m aware of the media reports, but I’m not thinking of that at all,” Kishida said when asked about plans to reshuffle the Cabinet. “I must focus on parliament now.”
An online report by Bunshun magazine emerged this week about incomplete receipts relating to his campaign for the general election last year.
The prime minister said he would instruct his office to make sure such problems do not recur.
He said that he did not know the total amount involved, but believed that the items purchased included things such as food from a convenience store and stationery.
The money was spent appropriately, in accordance with a report to which the receipts were attached, he said.
Kishida, who came to office buoyed by a clean image, was battered by a scandal over his party’s links to the Unification Church, which has a long list of court rulings against it over its fundraising methods.
The religious group came under renewed scrutiny after former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe was fatally shot in July by a man who cited a grudge over the former leader’s ties to the church.
The man blamed the group, whose members are known as “Moonies,” for bankrupting his family by taking excessive donations from his mother.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS