Abe wins party vote, set to become Japan’s longest-serving PM
Reuters, Tokyo:
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a ruling party leadership vote on Thursday, setting him on track to become Japan’s longest-serving premier and try to cement his legacy, including by revising the pacifist constitution.
If Abe, who resigned abruptly after a troubled 2006-2007 term, stays in office through November 2019, he will have exceeded the 2,886 days marked by Taro Katsura in the early 20th century.
Flynn to be sentenced on Dec 18
Reuters, Washington
US. President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI, will be sentenced on Dec. 18, according to a court filing on Wednesday.
Iran and Israel call each other nuclear threats
Reuters, London
Iran asked the United Nations to condemn what it described as Israeli nuclear threats against it on Thursday, while Israel said it was stepping up security around its atomic sites as a precaution against threats from Tehran and its regional allies. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used a visit to a secretive Israeli atomic reactor in August to warn the country’s enemies that it has the means to destroy them, in what appeared to be a reference to its assumed nuclear arsenal.
Russian Far East vote result cancelled after protests
AFP, Moscow
Authorities in the Russian Far East on Thursday cancelled the result of a runoff governorship vote in an unprecedented move after claims of vote-rigging in favour of a candidate backed by President Vladimir Putin triggered protests. A local electoral commission took the decision after Russia’s election chief Ella Pamfilova on Wednesday recommended re-running the vote.
4 children killed as Dutch train hits cargo bike
Reuters, Amsterdam
Four children were killed and two people were wounded when a train struck a “cargo” bicycle, widely used by Dutch parents to transport their children, police said on Thursday.. The accident occurred in the eastern city of Oss, near the German border.
Landslide kills 12 in Philippine
AFP, Naga
At least ten people were killed and 10 homes buried early Thursday in the central Philippines when heavy monsoon rains unleashed a landslide in a rural farming community, authorities said.
The new tragedy comes as the Philippines is recovering from 2018’s most powerful storm, Typhoon Mangkhut, which caused a separate landslide in the nation’s north where dozens are buried and believed dead.
