Election polls put Japan's Liberal Democratic Party majority at risk

Today's news: North Korea has amended its constitution to call South Korea a ‘hostile state’; Freedom of Internet access in Myanmar is hindered as much as in China; Indian Samsung workers ended their strike after one month; While Israel continues to attack Lebanon, the US bombed Houthi weapons sites in Yemen.

JAPAN

According to the polls, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party is in danger of losing its majority in the House of Representatives, so it will probably be forced to rely on its coalition partner, the Komeito, which is linked to Japan's largest secular Buddhist association and has so far criticised the executive's most aggressive moves, such as equipping it with long-range missiles or sending weapons abroad.

NORTH KOREA - SOUTH KOREA

The North Korean media this morning commented on the explosion on the roads connecting the country with South Korea, saying that they had complied with the provisions of the Constitution, according to which South Korea is defined as a ‘hostile state’. This suggests that Pyongyang has made changes betraying ‘hopes of unification’, the Seoul government commented.

MYANMAR - CHINA

According to the annual ‘Freedm on the Net’ report, published by Freedom House, freedom of access to the internet in Myanmar is just as hindered as in China. It is ‘the first time a country has ranked as low as China in a decade’, says the research, but all 72 countries surveyed, where 87% of the world's population lives, recorded deteriorations for the 14th consecutive year.

INDIA

Workers at the Samsung factory in the southern state of Tamil Nadu have ended their strike after more than a month of protests. The main demand, the recognition of an internal union called Samsung India Labour Welfare Union, will be decided by a court, explained the organisation that supported the strike of about 1,500 workers.

MIDDLE EAST

The Israeli army struck Nabatieh yesterday, killing 16 people including the mayor, and wounding over 50. According to Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Israel ‘targeted a meeting of the municipal council to discuss the situation of services and aid in the city’. Meanwhile, the US bombed five Houthi underground weapons depots in Yemen to reduce their ‘destabilising behaviour’ on international trade.

ARMENIA - AZERBAIJAN

The President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, stated during a meeting with the Belgian ambassador that he considers a peace plan with Armenia without the resolution of outstanding issues to be ‘completely unrealistic’, while Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pašinyan stated that ‘the current content is sufficient’. The Azeris demand from the Europeans to ‘maintain a neutral stance’ so as not to create further problems.

RUSSIA

Russia's Supreme Court processed over 206 thousand bankruptcy cases in the first half of 2024, a record number for at least the last 10 years, as reported by the website Sirena , and almost 5 thousand were declared bankrupt, 40% more than in 2023. Last year, 155 thousand had been granted in the same period, but this had risen to 337 thousand by the end of the twelve months.

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