As votes have been tallied in Japanese parliamentary elections, it appears Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has fallen below the supermajority threshold needed to pursue their plans of changing the country’s constitution. Abe’s coalition, consisting of Abe’s own Liberal Democratic Party and the Komeito party, previously held a supermajority in the lower house of the Japanese government. They sought the same control in the upper house, the House of Councillors, to allow consitutional reforms to be pushed through. The current election had 124 seats in contention, of which the LDP…
The Indian state of Assam has been hit hard by flooding in the past week. In particular, the Kaziranga National Park is 90% submerged, which has resulted in mass deaths among the park’s animal population. According to The Economic Times, nearly one hundred and fifty animals have died in the flooding, including an elephant and twelve rhinoceri. The same flooding has killed thirty-seven people in the state, and caused major transportation difficulties by flooding highways. Highway troubles have in turn led to more animal deaths, with sixteen animals killed while…
The British ministers for justice and finance have now both announced they plan to resign from the government in the case that the next Prime Minister pursues a no-deal Brexit. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond and Justice Secretary David Gauke made their announcements this month in the face of a contest between Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt for leadership of the Conservative Party. Both lead candidate Johnson and his opponent Hunt have made strong statements to the effect that the UK must leave the EU on the current Brexit…
An arson attack in Kyoto on Thursday targeted one of the most well-known animation studios in Japan, resulting in the deaths of dozens. A 41-year-old suspect entered Thursday morning, poured gasoline around the studio building’s ground floor, and set it afire. He was severely burned in the act and is currently hospitalized. The fire quickly spread and many employees were trapped in stairwells trying to reach the roof. Currently the death toll is at 33 with another 35 injured. Kyoto Animation, colloquially KyoAni, was founded in 1981 and has become…
On Friday, the nation of Sudan took its first steps towards a new constitution and the restoration of order from a state of brutal crackdown. After 30 years of former President Omar al-Bashir’s rule ended in a military coup earlier this year, violence broke out between security forces and protestors, with hundreds of killings and mass rapes among the crimes reported. This caused talks between the military government and pro-democracy activists to break down, but a new agreement has now been signed to share power in Sudan’s government. A council…
A Neo-Nazi group was raided by Italian special forces Monday, with police discovering a massive cache of military weapons ranging from assault rifles to an air-to-air missile. The extremist group in question was under investigation for having sent members to the Ukraine to fight against the separatists in that country. Previous raids found a variety of pro-fascist relics dating back to WW2. Of the three members of the neo-fascist group who were arrested, one was identified as a former customs inspector, whose position was likely used to smuggle the weapons…
After months of investigation into misuse of user data, the Federal Trade Commission announced it would fine Facebook the sum of $5 billion on Friday. The result of the announcement, however, was an increase in the company’s value. Facebook’s stock hit its highest price in nearly a year by the end of the trading day on which the fine was announced. With Facebook having annual profits of $22 billion to its name, the amount of the fine has been decried as a slap on the wrist after repeated privacy violations.…
The email leaks which led to the recent resignation of Britain’s US ambassador have been revealed as the work of a journalist in a relationship with the chairman of Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party. Isabel Oakeshott – who leaked ambassador Kim Darroch’s emails referring to Donald Trump as dysfunctional and inept – has been in a relationship with MEP Richard Tice since last year. Tice wants Darroch replaced as ambassador by a “pro-Brexit businessman” – a description which fits both himself and Nigel Farage – who will push for trade deals…
A series of scandals in the Japanese entertainment community have centered on comedians performing off-the-books shows for groups tied to organized crime. Japanese entertainment company Yoshimoto Kogyo Co. suspended several of its comedians in June due to their receiving pay from such groups without involving the agency. Many comedians, however, rely on these sometimes-shady performances to make a living, as the fees taken by the entertainment agency for arranging ‘legitimate’ performances is exorbitant. Once a comedian has become widely-known, it is impossible to take side jobs in the public eye…
In Philadelphia, a carjacker and kidnapper was pronounced dead Thursday after being attacked by a crowd while fleeing the scene. 54-year-old Eric Hood took the car from a mother who was traveling with three children, after the mother had stopped to speak to the childrens’ father at a pizza shop and left the car running with the children inside. The children were still in the car as Hood drove away. The father chased after the car until traffic at a red light forced Hood to stop, at which point he…