TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda is expected to reshuffle his Cabinet today, with changes aimed at cooling a raging maritime dispute with China, according to reports.
Commentators say that as well as helping soothe the diplomatic wrangle, Noda’s reshuffle is a bid to boost his waning popularity and reinvigorate his government after a costly battle to pass tax legislation.
Noda may tap Beijing-friendly Makiko Tanaka, 68, as a new addition to the Cabinet, the Asahi Shimbun daily reported on Sunday.
Tanaka, daughter of former prime minister Kakuei Tanaka who normalized diplomatic ties with Beijing 40 years ago, has warm links with China which has been jousting with Japan over disputed East China Sea islands.
Noda is considering appointing Tanaka to a ministerial post to signal to Beijing Tokyo’s intention of repairing the damaged relationship, the Asahi said.
The prime minister will likely retain Koichiro Gemba as foreign minister, to provide continuity as Japan tangles with China and South Korea over separate territorial rows, the Asahi and Jiji Press said.
The standoff with China over uninhabited islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China has drawn a furious response from Beijing and set off violent protests in several Chinese cities.
South Korea has its own territorial dispute with Japan over islands called Dokdo by Seoul and Takeshima by Tokyo, which flared after South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak paid a surprise visit to the islands last month.
Another highlight of the reshuffle is who will replace Finance Minister Jun Azumi, who is being propelled into a top party post.
Although Azumi has not been universally popular in financial circles, there have been concerns of a policy gap now that he is departing, although the minister has assured there will be no “political vacuum.”
Noda is under pressure to call a general election this year after he offered his opponents a vague pledge to dissolve parliament “sometime soon” in exchange for their support on a pet project to raise sales tax.
But woeful opinion poll numbers have left many in his factionally-riven party fearing for their seats, with the opposition Liberal Democratic Party seen likely to win a national ballot.
Japan’s main opposition party chose former premier Shinzo Abe as its new leader last week, in a vote that could see him reinstated as prime minister.
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Japan PM expected to reshuffle Cabinet
Japan PM expected to reshuffle Cabinet
Nigerian police deny church attacks as residents insist 168 people are held by armed groups
Kaduna State Police Commissioner Muhammad Rabiu described news reports of the attacks as rumors
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages
KADUNA, Nigeria: Nigerian police denied reports of simultaneous church attacks in northwestern Kaduna state over the weekend, even as residents shared accounts of kidnappings at the churches in interviews Tuesday.
A state lawmaker, Usman Danlami Stingo, told The Associated Press on Monday that 177 people were abducted by an armed group Sunday. Eleven escaped and 168 are still missing, according to the lawmaker and residents interviewed by AP.
Kaduna State Police Commissioner Muhammad Rabiu described news reports of the attacks as rumors, saying the police visited one of the three churches in the district of Kajuru and “there was no evidence of the attack.”
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages.
“I am one of the people who escaped from the bandits. We all saw it happen, and anyone who says it didn’t happen is lying,” said Ishaku Dan’azumi, the village head of Kurmin Wali.
Nigeria is struggling with several armed groups that launch attacks across the country, including Boko Haram and Daesh-WAP, which are religiously motivated, and other amorphous groups commonly called “bandits.”
Rights group Amnesty International condemned the “desperate denial” of the attack by the police and government.
“The latest mass abduction clearly shows President Bola Tinubu and his government have no effective plan for ending years of atrocities by armed groups and gunmen that killed thousands of people,” the group said in a statement.
A Kaduna-based Christian group, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria, said in a press release that security operatives did not allow its members to visit the sites of the attacks.
“The military officer who stopped the CSWN car said there was a standing order not to allow us in,” Reuben Buhari, the group’s spokesperson, said.
The Chikun/Kajuru Active Citizens Congress, a local advocacy group, published a list of the hostages. The list could not be independently verified by the AP. Police did not respond to a request for questions on the list.
The Christian Association of Nigeria also verified the attacks and has a list of the hostages, according to a senior Christian leader in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety.
“This happened, and our job is to help them. These people came, attacked and picked people from churches,” he said. “But I think they prefer to play the politics of denying, and I don’t think that’s what we want.”
Attacks against religious worship centers are common in Nigeria’s conflict-battered north. They are a part of the country’s complex security crisis that also affects schools, such as in November when hundreds of schoolchildren and their teachers were abducted in another part of Kaduna.
In the past few months, the West African nation has been in the crosshairs of the US government, which has accused the Nigerian government of not protecting Christians in the country, leading to a diplomatic rift. The USlaunched an attack against an alleged Daesh group members on Nigerian territory on Dec. 25, an operation the Nigerian government said it was aware of.
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages
KADUNA, Nigeria: Nigerian police denied reports of simultaneous church attacks in northwestern Kaduna state over the weekend, even as residents shared accounts of kidnappings at the churches in interviews Tuesday.
A state lawmaker, Usman Danlami Stingo, told The Associated Press on Monday that 177 people were abducted by an armed group Sunday. Eleven escaped and 168 are still missing, according to the lawmaker and residents interviewed by AP.
Kaduna State Police Commissioner Muhammad Rabiu described news reports of the attacks as rumors, saying the police visited one of the three churches in the district of Kajuru and “there was no evidence of the attack.”
It is common for police and locals to have contradicting accounts of attacks in Nigeria’s hard-hit villages.
“I am one of the people who escaped from the bandits. We all saw it happen, and anyone who says it didn’t happen is lying,” said Ishaku Dan’azumi, the village head of Kurmin Wali.
Nigeria is struggling with several armed groups that launch attacks across the country, including Boko Haram and Daesh-WAP, which are religiously motivated, and other amorphous groups commonly called “bandits.”
Rights group Amnesty International condemned the “desperate denial” of the attack by the police and government.
“The latest mass abduction clearly shows President Bola Tinubu and his government have no effective plan for ending years of atrocities by armed groups and gunmen that killed thousands of people,” the group said in a statement.
A Kaduna-based Christian group, the Christian Solidarity Worldwide Nigeria, said in a press release that security operatives did not allow its members to visit the sites of the attacks.
“The military officer who stopped the CSWN car said there was a standing order not to allow us in,” Reuben Buhari, the group’s spokesperson, said.
The Chikun/Kajuru Active Citizens Congress, a local advocacy group, published a list of the hostages. The list could not be independently verified by the AP. Police did not respond to a request for questions on the list.
The Christian Association of Nigeria also verified the attacks and has a list of the hostages, according to a senior Christian leader in the state who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of his safety.
“This happened, and our job is to help them. These people came, attacked and picked people from churches,” he said. “But I think they prefer to play the politics of denying, and I don’t think that’s what we want.”
Attacks against religious worship centers are common in Nigeria’s conflict-battered north. They are a part of the country’s complex security crisis that also affects schools, such as in November when hundreds of schoolchildren and their teachers were abducted in another part of Kaduna.
In the past few months, the West African nation has been in the crosshairs of the US government, which has accused the Nigerian government of not protecting Christians in the country, leading to a diplomatic rift. The USlaunched an attack against an alleged Daesh group members on Nigerian territory on Dec. 25, an operation the Nigerian government said it was aware of.
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