TOKYO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to step down, local media reported on Sunday, as members of his ruling party seek to hold a new leadership race following disastrous upper house elections.
The decision comes less than a year after the 68-year-old took the helm of the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). He has since lost his majority in both houses of parliament.
Public broadcaster NHK said Ishiba made the decision to avoid a split in the party, while the Asahi Shimbun daily said he was unable to withstand the mounting calls for his resignation.
The farm minister and a former prime minister reportedly met with Ishiba on Saturday night to urge him to resign voluntarily.
Last week, four senior LDP officials including the party’s number two Hiroshi Moriyama offered to resign.
Opponents of Ishiba had been calling on him to step down to take responsibility for the election results, following the upper chamber vote in July.
LDP lawmakers and regional officials across Japan who want a new leadership election will submit a request on Monday.
The leadership race will be held if the required majority is reached.
Japan PM decides to quit as opponents seek leadership election: reports
https://arab.news/8k4ua
Japan PM decides to quit as opponents seek leadership election: reports
- Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to step down, local media reported on Sunday, as members of his ruling party seek to hold a new leadership race following poor upper house results
ICC rejects Israeli bid to halt Gaza war investigation
- The ruling means the investigation continues and the arrest warrants issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant remain in place
THE HAGUE: Appeals judges at the International Criminal Court on Monday rejected one in a series of legal challenges brought by Israel against the court’s probe into its conduct of the Gaza war.
On appeal, judges refused to overturn a lower court decision that the prosecution’s investigation into alleged crimes under its jurisdiction could include events following the deadly attack on Israel by militant Palestinian group Hamas on October 7, 2023.
The ruling means the investigation continues and the arrest warrants issued last year for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense chief Yoav Gallant remain in place.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry called the ruling an example of the ICC’s disregard for the sovereign rights of countries who are not members of the court, in a post on social media platform X.
Israel rejects the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes in Gaza, where it has waged a military campaign it says is aimed at eliminating Hamas following the October 7 attacks.
The ICC had initially also issued a warrant for Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity, but withdrew that later following credible reports of his death.
A ceasefire agreement in the conflict took effect on October 10, but the war destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, and living conditions are dire.
According to Gaza health officials, whose data is frequently cited with confidence by the United Nations, some 67,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in Gaza.
This ruling focuses on only one of several Israeli legal challenges against the ICC investigations and the arrest warrants for its officials. There is no timeline for the court to rule on the various other challenges to its jurisdiction in this case.
