Sunday, July 10, 2022

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Musk abandons deal to buy Twitter; company says it will sue

Posted: 10 Jul 2022 03:26 AM PDT

ELON Musk announced Friday that he will abandon his tumultuous $44 billion offer to buy Twitter after the company failed to provide enough information about the number of fake accounts. Twitter immediately fired back, saying it would sue the Tesla CEO to uphold the deal.The likely unraveling of the acquisition was just the latest twist in a saga between the world's richest man and one of the most influential social media platforms, and it may portend a titanic legal battle ahead.Twitter could have pushed for a $1 billion breakup fee that Musk agreed to pay under these circumstances. Instead, it looks ready to fight to complete the purchase, which the company's board has approved and CEO Parag Agrawal has insisted he wants to consummate.In a letter to Twitter's board, Musk lawyer Mike Ringler complained that his client had for nearly two months sought data to judge the prevalence of "fake or spam" accounts on the social media platform."Twitter has failed or refused to provide this information. Sometimes Twitter has ignored Mr. Musk's requests, sometimes it has rejected them for reasons that appear to be unjustified, and sometimes it has claimed to comply while giving Mr. Musk incomplete or unusable information," the letter said.Musk also said the information is fundamental to Twitter's business and financial performance, and is needed to finish the merger.In response, the chair of Twitter's board, Bret Taylor, tweeted that the board is "committed to closing the transaction on the price and terms agreed upon" with Musk and "plans to pursue legal action to enforce the merger agreement. We are confident we will prevail in the Delaware Court of Chancery."The trial court in Delaware frequently handles business disputes among the many corporations, including Twitter, that are incorporated there.Former President Donald Trump weighed in on his own social platform, Truth Social: "THE TWITTER DEAL IS DEAD, LONG LIVE THE 'TRUTH'". Musk said in May that he would allow Trump, who was banned from Twitter following the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, back onto the platform.Much of the drama surrounding the deal has played out on Twitter, with Musk — who has more than 100 million followers — lamenting that the company was failing to live up to its potential as a platform for free speech.On Friday, shares of Twitter fell 5% to $36.81, well below the $54.20 that Musk agreed to pay. Shares of Tesla, meanwhile, climbed 2.5% to $752.29. After the market closed and Musk's letter was published, Twitter's stock continued to decline while Tesla climbed higher."This is a disaster scenario for Twitter and its board," Wedbush analyst Dan Ives wrote in a note to investors. He predicted a long court fight by Twitter to either restore the deal or get the $1 billion breakup fee.On Thursday, Twitter sought to shed more light on how it counts spam accounts in a briefing with journalists and company executives. Twitter said it removes 1 million spam accounts each day. The accounts represent well below 5% of its active user base each quarter.To calculate how many accounts are malicious spam, Twitter said it reviews "thousands of accounts" sampled at random, using both public and private data such as IP addresses, phone numbers, location and account behavior when active, to determine whether an account is real. (AP)

US eyes counter-China moves in Southeast Asia

Posted: 10 Jul 2022 03:06 AM PDT

THE Biden administration moved Sunday to strengthen ties with key Southeast Asian ally Thailand as it pressed ahead with efforts to counter China's relentless push for influence in the region.U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken signed two cooperation agreements with his Thai counterpart, pledging to expand strategic cooperation and improve the resilience of supply chains.Although modest, the deals fit into the administration's broader strategy for the Indo-Pacific, which is aimed at blunting China's increasing assertiveness and offering alternatives to Beijing-sponsored development that many U.S. officials regard as a trap for smaller, poorer nations.Blinken did not mention China by name in his comments with Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha or Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai but after signing the deals said the U.S. and Thailand "share the same goal of a free, open, interconnected prosperous, resilient and secure Indo-Pacific."American officials use that phrase often to refer to the prevention of Chinese dominance in the region and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had similar comments when he visited Bangkok last month and met Prayuth.Thailand is already a member of President Joe Biden's Indo-Pacific Economic Forum, a bloc that was created earlier this year with the aim of curbing the momentum of China's Belt and Road Initiative, which has poured billions of dollars into development and infrastructure projects throughout Asia and elsewhere.Blinken went to Bangkok after attending an international conference in Indonesia, where he also raised concerns about China's increasing assertiveness, as well as its backing for Russia's war in Ukraine that he said had complicated already fraught relations between Washington and Beijing.After meeting China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Bali on Saturday, Blinken warned that Chinese support for Russia on Ukraine poses a threat to the rules-based international order.Like its predecessors, the Biden administration has watched China's rapid growth warily and sought to hold it to international standards without significant success.The U.S. and like-minded democracies are trying to discourage developing Southeast Asian and other countries from entering large-scale infrastructure and development projects with China unless they are proven economically feasible, structurally sound and environmentally safe."What we're about is not asking countries to choose but giving them a choice when it comes to things like investment and infrastructure, development assistance, et cetera," Blinken said in Bali."There is on one level plenty of room for everyone to do that because the needs are immense," he said. "But what we want to make sure is that we're engaged in a race to the top — that is, we do things to the highest standards — not a race to the bottom where we do things to the lowest standards."U.S. officials from multiple administrations have criticized China for exploiting smaller nations by luring them into unfair or deceptive agreements."My hope would be that if, as China continues to engage itself in all of these efforts that it engages in a race to the top, that it raise its game," Blinken said. "That would actually benefit everyone."Before beginning his program with Thai officials in Bangkok, Blinken offered support and encouragement to Myanmar dissidents who have been forced to flee their country since the military seized power from the elected government on Feb. 1, 2021.Before returning to Washington, Blinken will travel on Monday from Bangkok to Tokyo, where he will make a brief condolence call on senior Japanese officials following the assassination on Friday of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. (AP)

Abe's death raises security questions as Japan mourns

Posted: 09 Jul 2022 05:28 PM PDT

A TOP police official on Saturday, July 9, 2022, acknowledged possible security lapses that allowed an assassin to fire his gun into former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe while he was addressing a campaign rally, raising questions how could the attacker get so close behind him.Abe was shot in the western city of Nara on Friday and airlifted to a hospital but died of blood loss. Police arrested the attacker, a former member of Japan's navy, at the scene. Police confiscated his homemade gun and several others were later found at his apartment.The attacker, Tetsuya Yamagami, told investigators he acted because he believed rumors that Abe was connected to an organization that he resents, police said. Japanese media reported that the man had developed hatred toward a religious group that his mother was obsessed about and that caused his family financial problems. The reports did not specify the group.On Saturday, a black hearse carrying Abe's body and accompanied by his wife, Akie, arrived at his home in Tokyo's upscale residential area of Shibuya. Many mourners, including top party officials, waited for his remains and lowered their heads as the vehicle passed.Nara prefectural police chief Tomoaki Onizuka said Abe's assassination was his "greatest regret" in a 27-year career."I cannot deny there were problems with our security," Onizuka said. "Whether it was a setup, emergency response, or ability of individuals, we still have to find out. Overall, there was a problem and we will review it from every perspective."Abe's assassination ahead of Sunday's parliamentary election shocked the nation and raised questions over whether security for the former prime minister was adequate.Some observers who watched videos of the attack noted a lack of attention in the open space behind Abe as he spoke.A former Kyoto prefectural police investigator, Fumikazu Higuchi, said the footage suggested security was sparse at the event and insufficient for a former prime minister."It is necessary to investigate why security allowed Yamagami to freely move and go behind Mr. Abe," Higuchi told a Nippon TV talk show.Experts also said Abe was more vulnerable standing on the ground level, instead of atop a campaign vehicle, which is usually the case but was reportedly unavailable due to his hastily arranged visit to Nara."Looks like police were mainly focusing on frontward, while paying little attention to what's behind Mr. Abe, and nobody stopped the suspect approaching him," said Mitsuru Fukuda, a crisis management professor at Nihon University. "Clearly there were problems."Fukuda said that election campaigns provide a chance for voters and politicians to interact because "political terrorism" was extremely rare in postwar Japan. But Abe's assassination could prompt stricter security at crowded events like campaigns, sports games and others.During a parliamentary debate in 2015, Abe resisted suggestions by an opposition lawmaker to beef up his security, insisting that "Japan is a safe country."In videos circulating on social media, the 41-year-old Yamagami can be seen standing only a few meters (yards) behind Abe across a busy street, and continuously glancing around.A few minutes after Abe stood at the podium and started his speech — as a local party candidate and their supporters stood and waved to the crowd — Yamagami can be seen taking his gun out of a bag, walking toward Abe and firing the first shot, which released a cloud of smoke, but the projectile apparently missed Abe.As Abe turned to see where the noise came from, a second shot went off. That bullet apparently hit Abe's left arm, missing a bulletproof briefcase raised by a security guard who stood behind him.Abe fell to the ground, with his left arm tucked in as if to cover his chest. Campaign organizers shouted through loudspeakers asking for medical experts to provide first-aid to Abe. His heart and breathing had stopped by the time he was airlifted to a hospital, where he later pronounced dead.Police on Saturday said autopsy results showed that a bullet that entered Abe's upper left arm damaged arteries beneath both collar bones, causing fatal massive bleeding.According to the Asahi newspaper, Yamagami was a contract worker at a warehouse in Kyoto, operating a forklift. He was described as a quiet person who did not mingle with colleagues. A next-door neighbor at his apartment told Asahi he never met Yamagami, though he recalled hearing noises like a saw being used several times late at night over the past month.Japan is particularly known for its strict gun laws. With a population of 125 million, it had only 10 gun-related criminal cases last year, eight of then gang-related.Even though he was out of office, Abe was still highly influential in the governing Liberal Democratic Party and headed its largest faction. But his ultra-nationalist views made him a divisive figure to many.Abe stepped down two years ago blaming a recurrence of the ulcerative colitis he'd had since he was a teenager. He said he regretted leave many of his goals unfinished, especially his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea, a territorial dispute with Russia, and a revision of Japan's war-renouncing constitution.That ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China, and his push to create what he saw as a more normal defense posture angered many Japanese liberals. Abe failed to achieve his cherished goal of formally rewriting the U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support.Loyalists said his legacy was a stronger U.S.-Japan relationship that was meant to bolster Japan's defense capability. Abe divided the public by forcing his defense goals and other contentious issues through parliament.Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who early on had a frosty relationship with Abe, sent a condolence message to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Saturday, a day after most other world leaders issued their statements.Xi credited Abe with making efforts to improve China-Japan relations and said he and Abe had reached an important understanding on building better ties, according to a statement posted on China's Foreign Ministry website. He also told Kishida he is willing to work with him to continue to develop neighborly and cooperative relations.Abe was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. His political rhetoric often focused on making Japan a "normal" and "beautiful" nation with a stronger military through security alliance with the United States and bigger role in international affairs.He became Japan's youngest prime minister in 2006, at age 52, but his overly nationalistic first stint abruptly ended a year later, also because of his health, prompting six years of annual leadership change.He returned to office in 2012, vowing to revitalize the nation and getting its economy out of its deflationary doldrums with his "Abenomics" formula, which combines fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural reforms. He won six national elections and built a rock-solid grip on power. (AP)

Sri Lanka protesters storm president’s residence, office

Posted: 09 Jul 2022 05:25 AM PDT

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan protesters demanding President Gotabaya Rajapaksa resign forced their way into his official residence and nearby office on Saturday, local television reports said, as thousands of people demonstrated in the capital against the island nation's worst economic crisis in recent memory.It was not clear if Rajapaksa was inside the residence in Colombo but footage shot on mobile phones showed a large number of people inside the well-fortified house and on the grounds outside.Hundreds of protesters, some carrying national flags, also entered the president's office in another nearby building, television footage showed. Protesters blame Rajapaksa for the economic woes and had occupied the entrance to his office building for the past three months calling on him to step down.At least 34 people including two police officers were wounded in scuffles as protesters tried to enter the residence. Two of the injured are in critical condition while others have sustained minor injuries, said an official at the Colombo National Hospital.Thousands of protesters had entered the capital, Colombo, from the suburbs earlier on Saturday after police lifted an overnight curfew.Last month, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said the country's economy has collapsed. The government's negotiations with the International Monetary Fund have been complex because it has now entered negotiations as a bankrupt state.In April, Sri Lanka announced it is suspending repaying foreign loans due to a foreign currency shortage. Its total foreign debt amounts to $51 billion of which it must repay $28 billion by the end of 2027.Police imposed a curfew in Colombo and several other main urban areas on Friday night but withdrew it Saturday morning amid objections by lawyers and opposition politicians who called it illegal.The economic crisis has led to a heavy shortage of essentials like fuel, cooking gas and medicines, forcing people to stand in long lines to buy the limited supplies.Months of protests have nearly dismantled the Rajapaksa political dynasty that has ruled Sri Lanka for most of the past two decades. One of Rajapaksa's brothers resigned as prime minister last month, and two other brothers and a nephew quit their Cabinet posts earlier.President Rajapaksa has held on to power.Wickremesinghe took over as prime minister in May and protests temporarily waned in the hope he could find cash for the country's urgent needs but people now want him to resign saying he has failed to fulfill his promises. / Ap

Impassioned Biden signs order on abortion access

Posted: 09 Jul 2022 05:22 AM PDT

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday condemned the "extreme" Supreme Court majority that ended a constitutional right to abortion and delivered an impassioned plea for Americans upset by the decision to "vote, vote, vote vote" in November. Under mounting pressure from fellow Democrats to be more forceful in response to the ruling, he signed an executive order to try to protect access to the procedure.The actions Biden outlined are intended to head off some potential penalties that women seeking abortion may face after the ruling, but his order cannot restore access to abortion in the more than a dozen states where strict limits or total bans have gone into effect. About a dozen more states are set to impose additional restrictions.Biden acknowledged the limitations facing his office, saying it would require an act of Congress to restore nationwide access to the way it was before the June 24 decision."The fastest way to restore Roe is to pass a national law," Biden said. "The challenge is go out and vote. For God's sake there is an election in November!"Biden's action formalized instructions to the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services to push back on efforts to limit the ability of women to access federally approved abortion medication or to travel across state lines to access clinical abortion services.He was joined by Vice President Kamala Harris, HHS secretary Xavier Becerra and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco in the Roosevelt Room as he signed the order.His executive order also directs agencies to work to educate medical providers and insurers about how and when they are required to share privileged patient information with authorities — an effort to protect women who seek or obtain abortion services.He is also asking the Federal Trade Commission to take steps to protect the privacy of those seeking information about reproductive care online and establish a task force to coordinate federal efforts to safeguard access to abortion.Biden is also directing his staff to line up volunteer lawyers to provide women and providers with pro bono legal assistance to help them navigate new state restrictions.The order comes as Biden has faced criticism from some in his own party for not acting with more urgency to protect women's access to abortion. The court's decision in the case known as Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling.Since the decision, Biden has stressed that his ability to protect abortion rights by executive action is limited without congressional action, and stressed that Democrats do not have the votes in the current Congress to do so."We need two additional pro-choice senators and a pro-choice house to codify Roe," he said. "Your vote can make that a reality."On Friday, he repeated his sharp criticism of the Supreme Court's reasoning in striking down what had been a half-century constitutional right to abortion."Let's be clear about something from the very start, this was not a decision driven by the Constitution," Biden said. He accused the court's majority of "playing fast and loose with the facts."He spoke emotionally of a 10-year-old Ohio girl reported to have been forced to travel out of state to terminate a pregnancy after being raped, noting that some states have instituted abortion bans that don't have exceptions for cases of rape or incest.Lawrence Gostin, who runs the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health at Georgetown Law, described Biden's plans as "underwhelming.""There's nothing that I saw that would affect the lives of ordinary poor women living in red states," he said.Gostin encouraged Biden to take a more forceful approach toward ensuring access to medication abortion across the country and said Medicaid should consider covering transportation to other states for the purposes of getting abortions.Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser condemned Biden's order, saying, "President Biden has once again caved to the extreme abortion lobby, determined to put the full weight of the federal government behind promoting abortion." (AP)

Canada: Outage leaves many without mobile, internet service

Posted: 08 Jul 2022 07:10 PM PDT

TORONTO — A widespread network outage from Rogers Communications Inc. left many Canadian customers without mobile and internet service Friday and caused problems for police, courthouses, passport offices and other facilities.A notice on the Toronto-based telecommunications company's website said the outage is affecting both wireless and home service customers as well as phone and chat support.The outage disrupted services across retailers, courthouses, airlines, train networks, credit card processors and police forces, pushing many to delay business transactions, serve customers through analog means or even flock to coffee shops where they could find Wi-Fi.The company offered no explanation for what caused he outage, its expected length, how many customers were impacted or where they were located."Our technical teams are working to restore our services alongside our global technology partners, and are making progress,″ Rogers said in a statement."We know how much you rely on our networks. Today we have let you down. We are working to make this right as quickly as we can. We will continue to keep you updated, including when services will be back online.″Toronto's Go Transit said in a tweet that some parts of its system were affected by the outage and fares could not be purchased using debit or credit cards. E-tickets may also be unavailable, it warned.Among the most serious impacts were warnings from police in Toronto and Ottawa of connection problems when Canadians called 911."If your call fails, please try again, or call from a landline or cellphone with another provider,″ Ottawa Police said on Twitter.The outage forced the postponement of The Weeknd's tour stop at Toronto's Rogers Centre. The Toronto date was one of only two set for Canada.Scarborough Health Network, which operates three hospitals and eight satellite sites in Toronto, requested physicians and staff to head to their workplaces for any shifts for which they are scheduled to be on-call until the disruption is resolved.In Quebec, some court matters were hampered. Peter Nygard's Montreal court appearance on sex-related charges was put off because the fashion mogul, who is detained in a Toronto jail, couldn't connect by video conference. His bail hearing will now take place next week.Service Canada tweeted it too was impacted by outage with call centers and offices, including ones that issue passports, affected.The outage stands to exacerbate passport delays that have left Canadians lined up outside Service Canada offices for lengthy periods of time as the government works through a backlog.Canada Border Services Agency warned that people may not be able to complete submissions through the ArriveCAN app — a mandatory requirement for all cross-border travellers.Many retailers and businesses were also facing trouble when trying to accept payments because Interac, which processes electronic financial transactions, said its online and checkout debit offerings and e-transfer services were impacted.As a result, the Confederation Bridge, which links the provinces of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, was unable to accept debit cards Friday morning. Canada's Wonderland in Vaughan, Ontario, said amusement park goers could only pay with credit cards. They were told on Facebook they must be able to access e-tickets on their phone or bring printed tickets to the park, if visiting Friday.Downdetector, a website that tracks outages, showed people started reporting problems with Rogers' service around 4:30 a.m. EDT and by 7 a.m. 20,000 reports had been logged.Many Rogers customers scrambled to find internet service, heading to coffee shops to connect and trade tales of the outage.Kathryn Bowen, 30, an independent fashion designer, spent Friday morning on the floor of a Starbucks in Toronto's financial district, videoconferencing with clients."I don't really know where to go because if I go home, I don't have internet,″ said Bowen. "I can't even step outside and text anyone because Rogers doesn't work on my phone either, so I'm just sitting here until my phone dies basically.″Roseanna Chen, 27, relied on a coffee shop as well, after her workplace's internet was hit by the outage, but found the cafe's wireless network became unstable as it filled with people."We're trying to see if (the office Wi-Fi) comes back,″ said Chen, an accounting associate at Imperial PFS Canada. "If it doesn't, we'll probably try and head back home, but my internet at home is also out.″The country's telecom sector is dominated by three large carriers — Rogers, BCE Inc. and Telus Corp. — and their hold on the industry has long been a concern of academics, who have called for regulators to increase competition for mobile and internet services in Canada."The outage is illuminating the general lack of competition in telecommunications in Canada,″ said Vass Bednar, executive director of McMaster University's master of public policy program.Federal Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said in a statement that the government was monitoring the situation closely and had told Rogers "how important it is that this matter be resolved as soon as possible and for the company to provide prompt and clear communication directly to those impacted."Meanwhile, the Public Interest Advocacy Centre called on the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to launch an inquiry under the Telecommunications Act into the outage. The commission said it was reviewing the request.Telus wasn't impacted by the outage, but the Rogers rival warned that some customers may experience "slower than normal″ data speeds because of increased usage by customers without access to home internet. (AP)

Assassination suspect admits attacking Japan's Shinzo Abe

Posted: 08 Jul 2022 06:18 PM PDT

NARA, Japan — Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was assassinated Friday on a street in western Japan by a gunman who opened fire on him from behind as he delivered a campaign speech — an attack that stunned a nation with some of the strictest gun control laws anywhere.Related story: Ex-leader Shinzo Abe fatally shot in shock Japan attackThe 67-year-old Abe, who was Japan's longest-serving leader when he resigned in 2020, collapsed bleeding and was airlifted to a nearby hospital in Nara, although he was not breathing and his heart had stopped. He was later pronounced dead after receiving massive blood transfusions, officials said.A hearse carrying Abe's body left the hospital early Saturday to head back to his home in Tokyo. Abe's wife Akie lowered her head as the vehicle passed before a crowd of journalists.Nara Medical University emergency department chief Hidetada Fukushima said Abe suffered major damage to his heart, along with two neck wounds that damaged an artery. He never regained his vital signs, Fukushima said.Police at the shooting scene arrested Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, a former member of Japan's navy, on suspicion of murder. Police said he used a gun that was obviously homemade — about 15 inches (40 centimeters) long — and they confiscated similar weapons and his personal computer when they raided his nearby one-room apartment.Police said Yamagami was responding calmly to questions and had admitted to attacking Abe, telling investigators he had plotted to kill him because he believed rumors about the former leader's connection to a certain organization that police did not identify.Dramatic video from broadcaster NHK showed Abe standing and giving a speech outside a train station ahead of Sunday's parliamentary election. As he raised his fist to make a point, two gunshots rang out, and he collapsed holding his chest, his shirt smeared with blood as security guards run toward him. Guards then leapt onto the gunman, who was face down on the pavement, and a double-barreled weapon was seen nearby.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his Cabinet ministers hastily returned to Tokyo from campaign events elsewhere after the shooting, which he called "dastardly and barbaric." He pledged that the election, which chooses members for Japan's less-powerful upper house of parliament, would go on as planned."I use the harshest words to condemn (the act)," Kishida said, struggling to control his emotions. He said the government would review the security situation, but added that Abe had the highest protection.Even though he was out of office, Abe was still highly influential in the governing Liberal Democratic Party and headed its largest faction, Seiwakai, but his ultra-nationalist views made him a divisive figure to many.Opposition leaders condemned the attack as a challenge to Japan's democracy. Kenta Izumi, head of the top opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, called it "an act of terrorism" and said it "tried to quash the freedom of speech ... actually causing a situation where (Abe's) speech can never be heard again."In Tokyo, people stopped to buy extra editions of newspapers or watch TV coverage of the shooting. Flowers were placed at the shooting scene in Nara.When he resigned as prime minister, Abe blamed a recurrence of the ulcerative colitis he'd had since he was a teenager. He said then it was difficult to leave many of his goals unfinished, especially his failure to resolve the issue of Japanese abducted years ago by North Korea, a territorial dispute with Russia, and a revision of Japan's war-renouncing constitution.That ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China, and his push to create what he saw as a more normal defense posture angered many Japanese. Abe failed to achieve his cherished goal of formally rewriting the U.S.-drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support.Loyalists said his legacy was a stronger U.S.-Japan relationship that was meant to bolster Japan's defense capability. But Abe made enemies by forcing his defense goals and other contentious issues through parliament, despite strong public opposition.Abe was groomed to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, former Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi. His political rhetoric often focused on making Japan a "normal" and "beautiful" nation with a stronger military and bigger role in international affairs.Tributes to Abe poured in from world leaders, with many expressing shock and sorrow. U.S. President Joe Biden praised him, saying "his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific will endure. Above all, he cared deeply about the Japanese people and dedicated his life to their service."Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose tenure from 2005-21 largely overlapped with Abe's, said she was devastated by the "cowardly and vile assassination." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared Saturday a day of national mourning for Abe, and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres tweeted that he would remember him for "his collegiality & commitment to multilateralism."Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian declined to comment, other than to say Beijing offered sympathies to Abe's family and that the shooting shouldn't be linked to bilateral relations. But social media posts from the country were harsh, with some calling the gunman a "hero" — reflecting strong sentiment against right-wing Japanese politicians who question or deny that Japan's military committed wartime atrocities in China.Biden, who is dealing with summer of mass shootings in the U.S., also said "gun violence always leaves a deep scar on the communities that are affected by it."Japan is particularly known for its strict gun laws. With a population of 125 million, it had only 10 gun-related criminal cases last year, resulting in one death and four injuries, according to police. Eight of those cases were gang-related. Tokyo had no gun incidents, injuries or deaths in the same year, although 61 guns were seized.Abe was proud of his work to strengthen Japan's security alliance with the U.S. and shepherding the first visit by a serving U.S. president, Barack Obama, to the atom-bombed city of Hiroshima. He also helped Tokyo gain the right to host the 2020 Olympics by pledging that a disaster at the Fukushima nuclear plant was "under control" when it was not.He became Japan's youngest prime minister in 2006, at age 52, but his overly nationalistic first stint abruptly ended a year later, also because of his health.The end of Abe's scandal-laden first stint as prime minister was the beginning of six years of annual leadership change, remembered as an era of "revolving door" politics that lacked stability.When he returned to office in 2012, Abe vowed to revitalize the nation and get its economy out of its deflationary doldrums with his "Abenomics" formula, which combines fiscal stimulus, monetary easing and structural reforms.He won six national elections and built a rock-solid grip on power, bolstering Japan's defense role and capability and its security alliance with the U.S. He also stepped up patriotic education at schools and raised Japan's international profile. (AP)
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