3 ex-officers did not testify at their trial in Tyre Nichols’ death

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida resigned with his Cabinet on Tuesday, paving the way for his likely successor Shigeru Ishiba to take office.

Kishida took office in 2021 but is leaving so his party can have a fresh leader after his government was dogged by scandals. Ishiba plans to call a parliamentary election for Oct. 27 after he is formally chosen as prime minister later in the day.

“I believe it is important to have the new administration get the public’s judgment as soon as possible,” Ishiba said Monday in announcing his plan to call a snap election. Opposition parties criticized Ishiba for allowing only a short period of time for his policies to be examined and discussed in parliament before the vote.

Ishiba was chosen as the governing Liberal Democratic Party’s leader on Friday to replace Kishida, who announced in August he would resign at the end of his three-year term.

Ishiba is assured of becoming prime minister later Tuesday in a vote by parliament because it is dominated by his party’s ruling coalition.

Kishida and his ministers stepped down at a Cabinet meeting in the morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

Hayashi, who is Kishida’s top confidante, said the world has high expectations for Japan’s diplomatic role, noting a deepening global divide over Russia’s war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East. “We hope the next administration will pursue an active and powerful diplomacy while placing importance on (Japan’s) main pillars such as achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Hayashi said.

Ishiba earlier announced his party’s leaders ahead of naming his Cabinet, once he becomes prime minister. Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who came in third in the party leadership race, will head the party’s election task force. He is expected to name defense experts Takeshi Iwaya as foreign minister and Gen Nakatani as defense chief.

The majority of his Cabinet ministers, like Ishiba, are expected to be unaffiliated with factions led and controlled by party heavyweights, and none are from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s powerful group linked to damaging scandals.

Ishiba’s lack of stable power base could also mean a fragility of his government, and “could quickly collapse” even though Ishiba hopes to build up party unity as it prepares for the upcoming election, the liberal-leaning Asahi newspaper said.

The move is also seen as a revenge by Ishiba, who was largely pushed to the side during most of Abe’s reign.

Ishiba has proposed an Asian version of the NATO military alliance and more discussion among regional partners about the use of the U.S. nuclear deterrence. He also suggested a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance, including joint management of U.S. bases in Japan and having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States.

Ishiba outlined his views in an article to the Hudson Institute last week. “The absence of a collective self-defense system like NATO in Asia means that wars are likely to break out because there is no obligation for mutual defense. Under these circumstances, the creation of an Asian version of NATO is essential to deter China by its Western allies,” he wrote.

Ishiba proposes combining of existing security and diplomatic groupings, such as the Quad and other bilateral and multilateral frameworks involving the United States, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and the Philippines.

He also noted that the Asian version of NATO can also consider sharing of the control of U.S. nuclear weapons in the region as a deterrence against growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.

Ishiba on Friday stressed Japan needs to reinforce its security, noting recent violations of Japanese airspace by Russian and Chinese warplanes and repeated missile launches by North Korea.

He pledged to continue Kishida’s economic policy aimed at pulling Japan out of deflation and achieving real salary increases, while tackling challenges such as Japan’s declining birthrate and population and resilience to natural disasters.

The LDP has had a nearly unbroken tenure governing Japan since World War II. The party members may have seen Ishiba’s more centrist views as crucial in pushing back challenges by the liberal-leaning opposition and winning voter support as the party reels from corruption scandals that drove down Kishida’s popularity.

Ishiba, first elected to parliament in 1986, has served as defense minister, agriculture minister and in other key Cabinet posts, and was LDP secretary general under Abe.

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BEIJING (AP) — China is marking the 75th year of Communist Party rule as economic challenges and security threats linger over the massive state.

No festivities have been announced for the occasion Tuesday, save for a flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square, with an honor guard marching from the entrance of the sprawling palace that in past centuries was the home of Chinese emperors. The entirely state-controlled media ran constant reports on China’s economic progress and social stability, with no mention of challenges ranging from a declining birth rate to the disruption in supply chains that has harmed the largely export-driven economy.

Commemorations were also held in the former British colony of Hong Kong and Portugal’s former territory of Macao, both of which returned to Chinese sovereignty in the late 1990s in a key indication of Beijing’s determination to overcome what it has called a “Century of Humiliation.”

In recent decades, China has mounted military parades and displays of the country’s economic might only at the turn of decades, such as for the 60th and 70th anniversaries.

The world’s second largest economy has struggled to regain momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic.

A prolonged property slump led to a spillover effect on other parts of the economy, from construction to sales of home appliances. Last week, China announced a slew of measures to boost the economy, including lower interest rates and smaller down payment requirements for mortgages.

Party leader and head of state Xi Jinping has largely avoided overseas travel since the pandemic, while continuing with his purges at home of top officials considered insufficiently loyal or being suspected of corruption or personal indiscretions.

“The road ahead will not be smooth, there will definitely be difficulties and obstacles, and we may encounter major tests such as high winds and rough seas, or even stormy waves” Xi warned during a banquet on the eve of the anniversary.

“We must be vigilant in times of peace, plan ahead, and rely closely on the entire Party, the entire army, and people of all ethnic groups across the country” he said, “no difficulties can stop the Chinese people from moving forward.”

The anniversary also comes as China is facing growing frictions with neighbors including Japan, South Korea and the Philippines over territorial claims and their close relationships with Beijing’s chief rival, the United States.

The Communists under Mao Zedong seized power in 1949 amid a civil war with the Nationalists, also known as the KMT, led by Chiang Kai-shek, who shifted their political, economic and military power to the now self-governing island democracy of Taiwan.

Beijing continues to insist Taiwan must be annexed under Communist Party rule, by force if necessary, while the U.S. has provided arms to ensure its defense.

China, meanwhile, has involved itself in disputes over its claims to most of the South China Sea and uninhabited islands held by Japan, the Philippines, Vietnam and other neighboring nations.

China’s military buildup and its recent launch of a nuclear capable ballistic missile into the Pacific Ocean have raised concerns about a possible conflict.

At home, Xi has made himself effectively leader for life by ending term limits and extending his power over key government and party bodies. China allows no competitive elections and the party retains near total control over the media that informs its 1.4 billion people.

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SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Voting in the final phase of the election to choose a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir began Tuesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.

Over 3.9 million residents are eligible to cast their votes to choose 40 lawmakers out of 415 candidates in the region’s seven districts during the third — and last — phase of the election.

It’s the first such vote in a decade and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

The unprecedented move downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are ruled directly by New Delhi through its appointed administrators along unelected bureaucrats and security setup. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in Kashmir as an assault on its identity and autonomy.

The region has since been on edge with civil liberties curbed and media gagged.

India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The two nuclear-rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from the British colonial rule in 1947.

On Tuesday, thousands of armed government forces patrolled the voting districts and guarded over 5,000 polling stations.

In Jammu areas, tens of thousands of Pakistani Hindu refugees are voting for the first time in any regional election since their migration in 1947. The refugees, officially called as West Pakistan Refugees, have long been recognized as Indian citizens with voting rights in national elections. However, before 2019 changes, Kashmir’s special status allowed only descendants from residents of the territory in 1934 to vote and own property.

Voting began Sept. 18 with about 61% turnout. In the second phase on last Wednesday, overall turnout was about 55%. There were no incidents reported from either phase.

Votes will be counted on Oct. 8, with results expected that day.

The multistage election will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and a local legislature, called an assembly, rather than being directly under New Delhi’s rule. However, there will be a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the 90-seat assembly as Kashmir will remain a “Union Territory” — directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament as its main legislator. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored for the new government to have powers similar to other states of India.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

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