Japan's Parliament elects former diplomat Fumio Kishida as new PM
Tokyo(AP): Japan's parliament on Monday elected Fumio Kishida, a former moderate turned hawk, as prime minister. He'll face an economy battered by the pandemic, security threats from China and North Korea and leadership of a political party whose popularity is sagging ahead of a fast-approaching crucial national election.
With his party and its coalition partner holding a majority in both houses, Kishida won by a comfortable margin against Yukio Edano, head of the largest opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan. Kishida and his new Cabinet will be sworn in at a palace ceremony later in the day.
He replaces Yoshihide Suga, who resigned after only one year in office as his support plunged over his government's handling of the pandemic and insistence on holding the Tokyo Olympics as the virus spread.
Kishida is expected to make a policy speech in Parliament on Friday but is looking to dissolve the lower house to hold elections on October 31, Japanese media reported. Observers see the early date as a move to take advantage of his government's fresh image to rally support.
Jun Azumi, senior Constitutional Democratic Party lawmaker, criticized Kishida over his plan to dissolve the lower house in just over a week. It's like a delicatessen that forces customers to buy without a chance to try samples."
A former foreign minister, Kishida, 64, used to be known as a moderate but turned hawkish on security and more conservative on gender equality and other issues, apparently to show loyalty to influential conservatives in the Liberal Democratic Party and win their support. He is firmly entrenched in the conservative establishment, and his victory in last week's vote to replace Suga as the party's leader was a choice for continuity and stability over change.
Kishida replaced all but two of Suga's 20 Cabinet members and 13 will hold ministerial posts for the first time, according to the lineup announced by new Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno. Most of the posts went to powerful factions that voted for Kishida in the party election. Only three women are included, up from two in Suga's government.
Veteran female lawmaker Seiko Noda, one of four candidates who vied for the party leadership race, is becoming the minister in charge of the nation's declining birthrate and local revitalization. Another woman, Noriko Horiuchi, became vaccinations minister, replacing Taro Kono, the runner-up in the party leadership race.
Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, who is former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's younger brother, were retained, ensuring continuity of Japan's diplomacy and security policies as the country seeks to closely work with Washington under the bilateral security pact in the face of China's rise and growing tensions in the region, including around Taiwan.
Kishida supports stronger Japan-U.S. security ties and partnerships with other like-minded democracies in Asia, Europe and Britain, in part to counter China and nuclear-armed North Korea.
Kishida created a new Cabinet post aimed at tackling the economic dimensions of Japan's national security, appointing 46-year-old Takayuki Kobayashi, who is relatively new to parliament.
Finance Minister Taro Aso was shifted to a top party post and replaced by his 68-year-old relative, Shunichi Suzuki.
Japan faces growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, which last month test-fired ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets in Japan. Kishida also faces worsening ties with fellow U.S. ally South Korea over history issues even after he struck a 2015 agreement with Seoul to resolve a row over the issue of women who were sexually abused by Japan's military during World War II.
An urgent task at home will be turning around his party's sagging popularity, hurt by Suga's perceived high-handedness on the pandemic and other issues. Kishida is expected to make a policy speech later this week before dissolving the lower house of Parliament ahead of the general election that must be held by late November.
He'll also have to ensure Japan's health care systems, vaccination campaign and other virus measures are ready for a possible resurgence of COVID-19 in winter, while gradually normalizing social and economic activity.
Kishida said last week that his top priority would be the economy. Kishida's new capitalism is largely a continuation of Abe's economic policies. He aims to raise income of more people and create a cycle of growth and distribution.
A third-generation politician, Kishida was first elected to Parliament in 1993 representing Hiroshima and is an advocate for nuclear disarmament. He escorted former President Barack Obama during his 2016 visit to the city that, along with Nagasaki, was destroyed in U.S. atomic bombings in the closing days of World War II. (AP)
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Five arrested for killing youth who threatened people by making reels
New Delhi (PTI): Five people were arrested here for allegedly killing a man who used to threaten people and record the video of the act for his Instagram posts, police said on Saturday.
Ashok alias Thanda Pani, 17, was found with multiple injuries near his residence in East Delhi's Trilokpuri area on April 17. He was beaten up by a group of people with rods and sticks, police said.
According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (East) Apporva Gupta, the accused have been identified as Anuj alias Annu (34), Pawan alias Vikas (34), Abhinav Raj alias Annu Pudi (27), Sandeep Ghawari (35), and Mukesh Kumar (35).
They were arrested from from Trilokpuri on Friday.
Anuj used to work in a private company, Pawan is a taxi driver, Abhinav Raj is a part-time physiotherapist, Sandeep Ghawari is a property dealer and Mukesh Kumar works at a courier company, Gupta said.
According to a senior police officer, Thanda Pani used to make reels, where he would threaten people and record the act to influence his friends and exercise dominance in the locality.
He would also put those videos on his Instagram account, which he ran with the name 'Thana Pani', he said.
He had threatened and forced one of the accused to kneel down in front of people. He had also recorded a video of the act and uploaded it on Instagram.
The officer said that the person whose video was made caught Ashok alone in the area that day and allegedly abducted him in a car.
They beaten him up with sticks and rod and then asked a rickshaw puller to take him to the LBS Hospital where he was declared brought dead.
Police said Ashok was previously allegedly involved in 20 cases of petty crimes in the area.
