22/07/2025

TUESDAY | JULY 22, 2025

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Japan PM vows to stay on after bruising polls defeat

China denies espionage group links SINGAPORE: The Chinese embassy here refuted claims that an espionage group accused of performing cyberattacks on Singapore’s critical infrastructure was linked to China. In a Facebook post published over the weekend, the Chinese embassy said such claims were “groundless smears and accusations”. “The embassy would like to reiterate that China is firmly against and cracks down all forms of cyberattacks in accordance with law. China does not encourage, support or condone hacking activities,” it wrote on Saturday. Last Friday, a Singapore minister said the espionage group UNC3886 was “going after high value strategic threat targets, vital infrastructure that delivers essential services” but did not give details of the attacks. The minister did not link the group to China but Google-owned cybersecurity firm Mandiant has described UNC3886 as a “China-nexus espionage group” that has attacked defence, technology and telecommunications organisations in the United States and Asia. Beijing routinely denies any allegations of cyberespionage, and says it opposes all forms of cyberattacks and is in fact a victim of such threats. Singapore’s critical infrastructure sectors include energy, water, banking, finance, healthcare, transport, government, communication, media, as well as security and emergency services, according to the country’s cyber agency. – Reuters Filipino journalist shot dead MANILA: A radio broadcaster was gunned down in the southern Philippines yesterday, a presidential task force said, adding to the growing list of media workers killed in a country ranked among the most dangerous in the world for journalists. Erwin Labitad Segovia, 63, a broadcaster for Radio WOW FM and host of a programme that focused on social issues and local governance, was shot dead by a still unidentified gunman while on his way home shortly after completing his morning broadcast. According to the police, Segovia was followed by two suspects on a motorcycle. The Philippines ranked ninth on the 2024 Committee to Protect Journalists’ Global Impunity Index, which tracks countries where journalist murders remain unsolved. Authorities have launched an investigation and have activated a Special Investigation Task Group to handle the case, Jose Torres Jr, executive director of the Presidential Task Force on Media Security, said in a statement. “The safety of journalists remains a priority for the government and justice for victims of media-related violence continues to be a national concern,”Torres said. Segovia’s murder highlights the continuing risks faced by journalists in the Philippines, especially in provinces where local power dynamics often go unchecked. More than 200 journalists have been killed in the country since democracy was restored in 1986, according to the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines, including 32 in a single incident in 2009 in the south of the country. – Reuters

o Opposition mulls no-confidence motion

Yoshihiko Noda, said on Sunday he is considering submitting a vote of no-confidence in the Ishiba administration as the result showed it did not have voters’ trust. The CDPJ returned 22 seats in the ballot, finishing second. Some senior LDP lawmakers were also quietly voicing doubts over whether Ishiba should stay, according to news reports yesterday. Among them was former prime minister Taro Aso, leader of a powerful faction within the ruling party, who said he “couldn’t accept” Ishiba staying on, Japan’s TV Asahi reported. Senior party members including Aso met on Sunday to discuss whether Ishiba should resign, Sankei newspaper reported. The far-right Sanseito party clocked the biggest gains of the night, adding 14 seats to one elected previously. Launched on YouTube during the pandemic by publishing reports on vaccines and a cabal of global elites, the party found wider appeal with its “Japanese First” campaign and warnings about a “silent invasion” of foreigners. Sanseito party leader Sohei Kamiya, a former supermarket manager and English teacher, has previously pointed to Germany’s AfD and Reform UK as a possible blueprint for future success. – Reuters

Economics’ lead Japan economist Norihiro Yamaguchi. Facing a voter backlash over rising consumer prices, investors fear his administration will now be more beholden to opposition parties advocating tax cuts and welfare spending that the world’s most indebted country can ill afford.

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba (pic) vowed to remain in office yesterday after his ruling coalition suffered a bruising defeat in upper house elections, prompting some of his own party to deliberate his future as the opposition weighed a no-confidence motion. The embattled premier told a news conference he would remain in office to oversee tariff talks with the United

Adding to the economic anxiety, Ishiba’s lack of progress in averting tariffs set to be imposed by its biggest trading partner, the United States, on Aug 1 appears to have frustrated some voters. “Had the ruling party resolved even one of these issues, it (its approval rate) would have gone up, but we didn’t feel

anything and it seems like the US would continue to push us around,” said Hideaki Matsuda, a 60-year-old company manager, outside Tokyo’s bustling Shinjuku station yesterday. Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has ruled Japan for most of its post-war history, and coalition partner Komeito returned 47 seats, short of the 50 seats it needed to ensure a majority in the 248-seat upper chamber in an election where half the seats were up for grabs. The leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDPJ),

States and other pressing matters such as rising consumer prices that are straining the world’s fourth largest economy. Analysts say his days may be numbered, having also lost control of the more powerful lower house in elections last year and shedding votes on Sunday to opposition parties pledging to cut taxes and tighten immigration policies. “The political situation has become fluid and could lead to a leadership change or the reshuffling of the coalition in coming months, but Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will likely stay to complete the tariff negotiations,” said Oxford

KM Barcelona 5 caught fire while on its way to Manado. – AFPPIC

Indonesia ferry fire kills three, more than 500 rescued JAKARTA: Three people died and more than 500 others were rescued after a ferry caught fire off the island of Sulawesi. Passengers jumped overboard with Indonesian authorities previously reported five people died in the accident, but later revised the death toll to three.

dead, the national search and rescue agency said in a statement yesterday. The ferry’s log had only registered 280 passengers and 15 crew on board. Local media reported that the ship had a capacity for 600 people. Sunday’s fire came just weeks after another ferry sank off Bali due to bad weather, killing at least 19 people. Marine accidents are a regular occurrence in the Southeast Asian archipelago. – AFP Rezaul Islam, a teacher at Milestone College, said young children take classes in the damaged building. The building had holes in it and was on fire, he said. The incident comes a little over a month after an Air India plane crashed onto a medical college hostel in Ahmedabad city, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and 19 on the ground, marking the world’s worst aviation disaster in a decade. – Reuters

“Until now, the joint rescue team is still conducting the search and rescue operation,” Manado rescue agency head George Leo Mercy Randang said yesterday. “Our post is open 24 hours a day, in case families want to report missing relatives.” At least 568 people were rescued from the ferry and water while three others were found

lifejackets after the fire broke out on Sunday at the stern of the KM Barcelona 5 , as it sailed to Manado, according to the Indonesian coast guard. A video released by the Manado rescue agency showed a coast guard vessel spraying water on the ferry.

Bangladesh training jet crashes into college campus, one dead DHAKA: One person was killed as a Bangladesh air force training aircraft crashed in a college campus in the capital city of Dhaka yesterday, a fire services official said. F-7 BGI is a Chinese made jet. Videos of the aftermath of the crash showed a big fire near a lawn emitting a thick plume of smoke into the sky, as crowds watched from a distance.

At least 13 people were injured and taken to a military hospital in the area, local newspaper Prothom Alo reported. The daily said that initial reports indicated the plane had crashed on the roof of the Milestone College canteen.

The incident occurred in Dhaka’s northern area of Uttara, the military’s public relations department said in a statement. “Bangladesh Air Force’s F-7 BGI training aircraft crashed in Uttara. The aircraft took off at 1.06pm (3.06pm in Malaysia),” it said.