
Japan sets Upper House election for July 20
The official campaign period will start on July 3 in the election for the 248-seat Upper House, in which 125 seats — 75 in constituencies and 50 under proportional representation — will be contested.
The campaign will focus on ways to address rising prices and political fund issues.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Monday that his ruling coalition aims to secure a majority in the Upper House. The bloc needs to win at least 50 seats to achieve the goal.
Opposition parties want to block his goal after the ruling coalition lost a majority in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament, in an election last year.
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NHK
10 hours ago
- NHK
LDP lawmaker steps down as chair of Upper House committee over verbal gaffe
The chair of the Upper House Budget Committee has resigned from his post to take responsibility for a verbal gaffe about a powerful earthquake that hit the Noto Peninsula in central Japan last year. Committee chair Tsuruho Yosuke of the main ruling Liberal Democratic Party has come under fire for the remarks on July 8. He said, "Fortunately, there was an earthquake in the Noto Peninsula, which allows Wajima residents to get their residence certificates in Kanazawa City." That is where they evacuated to at the time. He made the comment during an Upper House election campaign speech to explain the need for two-region lifestyles in which people can live and work in multiple places. The next day he apologized for his lack of consideration for victims and retracted the comment. But Tsuruho has continued to be criticized by members of both the ruling and opposition parties, as well as residents of the disaster-hit region. His successor as chair will likely be chosen at an extraordinary session of the Diet that will be convened following the Upper House election this Sunday.

Japan Times
12 hours ago
- Japan Times
Twelve Hong Kong activists appeal convictions in landmark '47 democrats' case
Twelve Hong Kong pro-democracy activists appealed their subversion convictions and jail terms on Monday in a national security case that has spotlighted Beijing's ongoing crackdown on dissent and drawn international criticism. The appeal stems from the "47 democrats" case, named for the number of activists who were arrested and charged with 'conspiracy to commit subversion' in early 2021. The court eventually found 45 of the defendants guilty of organizing and holding an unofficial primary election in July 2020 after massive pro-democracy protests brought the city to a standstill. Prosecutors considered the action to be a "plot" to undermine the Hong Kong government. Security was tight around the West Kowloon law courts building as scores of police officers, some with police dogs, patrolled the area and occasionally searched passers-by. "I want to see all of them," said an elderly man with the surname Wong who was among around 100 people queuing to get a public ticket for the hearing. "They're not criminals." Foreign diplomats from over half a dozen countries were in attendance for this latest stage of the legal saga that began with dawn police raids on the homes of high-profile democrats in early 2021. Some countries such as the United States have condemned the case as "politically motivated" and are calling for the immediate release of the democrats who were sentenced last November to prison terms of up to ten years. Hong Kong and Chinese authorities, however, have defended the independence of the judiciary and say no one is above the law and the democrats have received a fair trial. Pro-democracy activist Gwyneth Ho, who was banned from standing in then-upcoming local elections, poses with her disqualification notice at her office in Hong Kong on Aug. 4, 2020. Judges sentenced her to seven years in prison, saying she held "the most radical political view" of uprooting Hong Kong's political structure. | AFP-JIJI Of the 16 democrats who pleaded not guilty during the trial, 11 have decided to appeal, including Gordon Ng, Gwyneth Ho and Owen Chow, who were all jailed for over seven years. Another democrat, Prince Wong, who pleaded guilty, is appealing her sentence. One defendant, Michael Pang, decided to withdraw his application on Monday. The appeals are expected to take around 10 days, and will also include a government appeal against the acquittal of one of the democrats, barrister Lawrence Lau. A years-long crackdown under a China-imposed national security law has resulted in arrests, the closures of liberal media outlets and civil society groups. The last two remaining pro-democracy parties, the Democratic Party and the League of Social Democrats, disbanded this year citing growing pressures. The case is one of the most prominent so far under a 2020 national security law that was imposed by China in response to mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.


Japan Times
13 hours ago
- Japan Times
Malaysia controls AI chip exports as U.S. targets China smuggling
Malaysia will now require permits for exports of high-performance U.S. artificial intelligence chips, suggesting the government is seeking to clamp down on potential diversion of the sensitive components to places like China. Effective immediately, individuals and companies must notify Kuala Lumpur at least 30 days prior to exporting or shipping such hardware, Malaysia's trade and industry ministry said Monday. They must inform the agency if they know or "have reasonable grounds' to suspect the items will be misused or used for restricted activities. Malaysia "will not tolerate the misuse of Malaysia's jurisdiction for illicit trading activities,' the ministry said. Kuala Lumpur has come under increasing pressure from Washington — which has effectively banned the sale of advanced AI chips to China since 2022 — to halt the suspected flow of those parts to China via intermediaries in Malaysia. Malaysian authorities said in March that they would tighten regulations on the country's burgeoning data center industry, which relies on chips from the likes of Nvidia. The new permit requirements aim to "close regulatory gaps,' according to the ministry's statement, while Malaysia "undertakes further review' of the potential inclusion of AI chips to a national list of items covered by the Strategic Trade Act. The ministry did not immediately respond to questions about whether the controls came at Washington's urging. Semiconductor sales to Malaysia also are a focal point of a court case in neighboring Singapore, where prosecutors charged three men with defrauding customers about the ultimate destination of AI servers — originally shipped from the island nation to Malaysia — that may have contained advanced Nvidia chips. Malaysia said in March that its investigation into the matter hadn't uncovered evidence of such shipments, and that the country will continue to monitor for possible fraud. Nvidia has not been accused of any wrongdoing in Singapore's investigation. Malaysia is a key part of the AI supply chain, home to many facilities used for developing and deploying AI models. American companies including Oracle are massively expanding their data center footprints in the country, which saw an increase in imports of crucial components this year — particularly in April, the month before the U.S. was expected to start requiring licenses to ship AI chips to Malaysia and many other countries. U.S. President Donald Trump's administration decided not to move forward with that policy in May, though officials have since drafted a separate regulation that would mandate such approvals for AI chip shipments to Malaysia and Thailand, in particular — an effort that seeks to crack down on suspected semiconductor smuggling into China, Bloomberg has reported. That rule is not yet finalized and could still change. Nvidia Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang has said there's "no evidence' of AI chip diversion, in general remarks that didn't touch on any particular country. In response to earlier Bloomberg queries about the potential U.S. curbs, Malaysia's trade ministry said that it welcomes dialogue with the U.S. and other nations to "clarify any misunderstandings,' while also warning that unilateral restrictions could disrupt legitimate trade and hamper innovation. The ministry — which, like many others in Asia, is currently hammering out a trade deal with U.S. officials — added that "all matters related to Malaysia-U.S. bilateral trade are interlinked, each having its own unique role in the current trade negotiations.'