The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Japan's Abe urges voters to help end parliamentary deadlock
- South Korea proposes fresh talks with North over shuttered factories
- Egypt Brotherhood says gathering fired on in Cairo
| Japan's Abe urges voters to help end parliamentary deadlock Posted: FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, riding high in opinion polls on hopes he can revive a stagnant economy, urged voters on Thursday to back his ruling bloc in this month's upper house election and end a six-year policy deadlock. Abe, back in power after his Liberal Democratic Party's big win in a December election for the powerful lower house, is expected to lead his coalition to a hefty victory in the July 21 poll, resolving a "twisted parliament" where opposition parties control the upper house and are able to block bills. He officially kicked off the campaign on Thursday in Fukushima in Japan's northeast, which was devastated by a massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 that triggered the Fukushima nuclear disaster. "Because of a twisted parliament, rebuilding has not progressed speedily, revitalisation of the economy has not progressed speedily," Abe told a crowd of about 1,000 people near a train station in Fukushima city. Japan has suffered parliamentary gridlock ever since Abe led the LDP to a massive defeat in a 2007 upper house vote. He quit abruptly two months later due to the deadlock, plummeting support and ill health. The main opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) faced a similar headache after sweeping to power in 2009, only to lose a 2010 upper house election. Public support for Abe and the LDP now far outstrips any rivals, buoyed by hopes that his recipe of hyper-easy monetary policy, fiscal spending and structural reform to boost growth can end Japan's prolonged stagnation. An opinion poll by the Tokyo Shimbun published on Tuesday showed that 28 percent of respondents planned to vote for the LDP in districts where members are decided by proportional representation, dwarfing the 5.9 percent who intend to cast ballots for the DPJ. Voter support for the LDP in general contrasts with public antipathy towards nuclear power after the Fukushima crisis, the world's worst atomic disaster since Chernobyl. A huge earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, caused reactor meltdowns at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima plant, spewing radiation and forcing 160,000 people to flee, many never to return home. The LDP has pledged to seek the understanding of affected communities to restart offline reactors that are found to meet new safety standards that take effect on July 8. ECONOMY FIRST "Unless we have a party in power that can get things done in power, things won't change," said a 65-year-old woman who lives in a Fukushima apartment reserved for disaster victims. "I haven't actually felt the economic recovery affecting my life just yet. But I support 'Abenomics'. At least they took one step forward," she said, adding however that she also opposed the restart of nuclear reactors. Abe, a deeply conservative hawk who wants to revise Japan's pacifist constitution to ease limits on the military, has vowed to maintain his priority on fixing the economy after the election. However, many wonder if he will shift gears to focus on his agenda that includes constitutional reform. Stress on his conservative agenda, including efforts to recast Japan's war-time history with a less apologetic tone, would further strain relations with China and South Korea, where bitter memories of Japan's past militarism run deep. Tokyo is already feuding with Beijing and Seoul over disputed islands. Abe, in a debate with rivals on Wednesday, declined to say whether he would visit Tokyo's Yasukuni Shrine, where Japanese leaders convicted as war criminals by an Allied tribunal are enshrined with Japan's war dead. He also declined to be drawn on questions whether Japan had engaged in a war of aggression against China in the last century. With a victory by the LDP and its junior partner, the New Komeito, widely expected, the focus will also be on whether the Liberal Democrats can win a majority on their own in the 242-seat chamber, where half the seats are up for grabs. A massive win for the party could be a mixed blessing: it would give Abe a mandate but also bolster the ranks of MPs who may oppose painful reforms many say are needed to revive growth. Whether the LDP-led coalition, together with smaller parties that favour revising the constitution, can win a two-thirds majority is another key question, although Abe has said he will not rush to attempt any constitutional changes given wary public opinion and a cautious stance by the more dovish New Komeito. Abe wants first to revise Article 96 of the charter, which stipulates that any change in the constitution requires approval by two-thirds of both houses of parliament and a majority of votes cast in a public referendum. He and the LDP want to change the parliamentary requirement to a simple majority in both houses before the public vote. Abe's resignation in 2007 began a series of revolving-door leaders - Japan has had seven since Junichiro Koizumi served a rare five-year term ending in 2006. A win on July 21 could set the stage for the first stable, long-term administration since then. No national election needs to be held until 2016. At the same time, an anticipated bashing for the Democratic Party, which surged to power in 2009 pledging to pry control of policymaking away from bureaucrats and pay more heed to consumers than companies, could call into question its future as well as hopes for a true two-party system in Japan. (Additional reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto in Tokyo; Writing by Linda Sieg; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan) |
| South Korea proposes fresh talks with North over shuttered factories Posted: SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea offered to hold talks with North Korea aimed at reopening a jointly run factory park near the armed border between the two countries just three weeks after their last attempt at dialogue faltered amid bickering over protocol. The offer, made on Thursday, was for talks to be held on Saturday at the Panmumjom truce village that straddles the border, the South's Unification Ministry said in a statement. It was made through a telephone hotline that was restored by the North late on Wednesday and comes amid pressure from owners of small and medium businesses at the shared Kaesong industrial zone that are incurring losses. "The proposal takes into account the big problems facing the firms of Kaesong industrial zone three months after it was suspended and the potential damage anticipated with the start of the monsoon season," ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said. A sudden flurry of activities in June raised expectations that the two Koreas, which remain technically at war under a truce ending the 1950-53 Korean War conflict, would resume high-level dialogue for the first time in six years to ease tension. The North had proposed talks to reopen the money-spinning factory park, which generates $90 million annually in wages for its workers, after shutting it down in April after threatening the South with war and nuclear annihilation. Proposed cabinet-level talks were called off one day before the meeting was to start, with each side accusing the other of insincerity by planning to send low-ranking officials. The United States and South Korea, as well as China, the North's sole major diplomatic ally, have urged Pyongyang to take steps to end its nuclear programme and to return to dialogue. The impoverished and isolated North conducted its third nuclear test and threatened Seoul and Washington with nuclear attacks earlier this year. South Korean President Park Geun-hye has pledged to engage the North in dialogue and take steps to build confidence for better ties, but has also vowed not to give in to unreasonable demands or make concessions to achieve superficial progress. Her predecessor, Lee Myung-bak, cut off a decade of lucrative aid from liberal leaders and demanded nuclear disarmament, angering the North. The North was blamed for sinking a South Korean navy ship and bombing an island while Lee was leader. (Additional reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Paul Tait) |
| Egypt Brotherhood says gathering fired on in Cairo Posted: CAIRO (Reuters) - Officials of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood said a gathering of its supporters near a mosque in a Cairo suburb was attacked early on Thursday after the Islamist movement's Mohamed Mursi was ousted by the army as head of state. Independent confirmation was not immediately available. Gehad El-Haddad, the movement's official spokesman, told Reuters he was among about 2,000 people still camping out at the site when, shortly after 3 a.m. (2 a.m. British Time), men in plain clothes began firing on the crowd, many of whom were praying. He said he saw several casualties being carried away. He later tweeted that the attack lasted some 15 minutes. Osama Gado, another Brotherhood official, also told Reuters by telephone from the site that men had thrown petrol bombs at the Mursi supporters and opened fire with shotguns and rifles. He said he was not sure if there had been casualties. A wide area around the site has been cordoned off by the army since just before its announcement that Mursi had been removed and the constitution suspended. Troops have been letting demonstrators leave but not allowing people to enter the area. (Reporting by Tom Perry and Yasmine Saleh; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Lisa Shumaker) |
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