Tokyo votes in high-stakes city election
Reuters, Tokyo
Voters in the Japanese capital cast ballots today in an election that could spell trouble for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is suffering from slumping support because of a scandal over suspected favouritism for a friend doing business.
On the surface, the Tokyo Metropolitan assembly election is a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike’s year in office, but a poor showing for Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will also be taken as rebuke of his 4-1/2-year-old administration.
Central America hit by massive power outages
AFP, San Jos
A huge power outage plunged millions of people across Central America into darkness Saturday, as authorities from Panama to Costa Rica to El Salvador scrambled to restore electrical service.The blackout affected some five million people in Costa Rica alone, where officials largely had managed to restore service after a nationwide power outage lasting about five hours.
Car bombs kill 8 in Damascus
AP, Damascus
A series of car bomb explosions rocked Syria’s capital Sunday, killing at least eight people and wounding 12, as officials claimed to have foiled a plot to target crowded areas during the first morning commute after a Muslim holiday.
State media said a suicide car bomber detonated his payload after being surrounded by security forces, and that two other car bombs were intercepted before entering the city, suggesting those blasts were controlled detonations.
Former Israeli PM Olmert released from prison
Reuters, Ramle
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, 71, was released on parole on Sunday from a prison in Ramle, near Tel Aviv, after serving 16 months in jail for corruption. Olmert was found guilty in 2014 of accepting bribes from real estate developers when he was Jerusalem’s mayor, before his 2006-09 term as prime minister and head of a centrist political party.
