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.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
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