24/07/2025

THURSDAY | JULY 24, 2025

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Japan PM denies talk of quitting

knees, while Aguilar walked down the aisle with the hem of her gown submerged in water. A wide area in the Philippines was flooded due to heavy rains brought by severe tropical storm Wipha . At least 12 people were reported dead in the floods and other accidents brought about by the inclement weather, according to the police. Most of the fatalities died from drowning, while at least two people died when struck by falling trees or debris, the national disaster agency said. About 1.2 million people were affected by Wipha’s onslaught and the monsoon rains, including over 286,000 residents displaced and forced to stay in evacuation centres. Wipha blew out of the Philippines on Saturday, but the weather bureau said a new storm was barrelling towards the northernmost part of the country. – Bernama who identifies as K, born as a female and identifies as a man, and who sought to amend the Public Conveniences (Conduct and Behaviour) Regulations to allow individuals undergoing Real Life Experience (RLE) treatment under medical supervision to use public toilets that align with their gender identity. This is the latest ruling from the city’s judiciary in recent years that recognises the rights of transgender people. The city’s Court of Final Appeal in February 2023 unanimously sided with appeals launched by transgender activists that barred transgender people from changing their gender on their mandatory ID cards unless they undergo full sex reassignment surgery, saying it violated their rights. The Hong Kong government last April revised the policy and allowed transgender people who have not completed full sex reassignment surgery to change the gender stated on their ID cards. – Reuters constitution, and opposes allowing women to retain their maiden names, saying it would undermine tradition. Takaichi courted controversy in 2016 when she suggested the government could revoke broadcasting licences of media companies deemed to be politically biased. Koizumi, 44, the son of a former prime minister and heir to a political dynasty with a hand in governing Japan for more than a century, would become its youngest prime minister in eight decades if he succeeded Ishiba. Koizumi has stayed close to Ishiba as his agriculture minister, overseeing the release of rice stockpiles in a bid to curb soaring prices of the staple. – Reuters

MANILA: A long-time couple from the Philippines did not let a severe tropical storm stop them from tying the knot as they said their I Do’s in a flooded church. Jao Verdillo and Jamaica Aguilar waded through one-foot-deep floodwaters inside Barasoain Church in Malolos City in Bulacan province, just north of Manila, for the wedding ceremony on Tuesday. “Nothing could have stopped us,” Aguilar told ABS-CBN News. “We have been waiting for this for a long time. This is just a flood. We have much more to brave through together.” The couple had booked their wedding in the church two years ago and had taken time off from their work for the ceremony. Family and friends also waded through the flood water, with some taking their shoes off to keep them dry. Verdillo folded his pants to his HONG KONG: A court here ruled yesterday in favour of a transgender person who challenged laws that criminalise them for going into public toilets that align with their chosen gender identity. Judge Russell Coleman struck down the two provisions that made it criminal to do so but suspended the ruling for 12 months to let the government “consider whether it wishes to implement a way to deal with the contravention”. The Hong Kong government did not immediately respond. “This is a matter of the line drawing, which seems to me to be a question for the government or legislature to address,” Coleman wrote in his judgment. He also said the question of where to draw the line between a “female person” and a “male person” is “an answer not appropriately given by the courts, and is more appropriately a matter for legislation”. The legal challenge was launched by a transgender person, call a general election straight away, instead holding off on strengthening the party’s appeal before seeking a mandate from voters, the source said. However, the selection process may not be smooth, since the LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito lack a majority in both houses of parliament. A Yomiuri newspaper poll following Sunday’s election showed Takaichi as the top pick for prime minister in an LDP-led government, with 26% of votes, followed by farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, at 22%. Takaichi previously served as Japan’s economic security minister, internal affairs minister and the LDP’s policy council chief. She is known for her conservative views, such as revising the pacifist

house to 14 from one. The party has attracted voters with pledges to curb immigration, slash taxes, and provide financial relief to households squeezed by rising prices. Ishiba defeated hardline conservative Sanae Takaichi in a party leadership runoff last year. Whoever succeeds him as head of the LDP would have to govern without a majority in either house of parliament following the government’s lower house election defeat in October. Any new leader’s immediate priority will be to secure support from enough opposition party lawmakers to win confirmation as prime minister. An incoming leader is unlikely to

identified because they are not authorised to talk to the media. Ishiba and Trump unveiled a trade deal on Tuesday that lowers tariffs on imports of Japanese cars and spares Tokyo punishing new levies on other goods. Ishiba will announce his resignation next month, Japanese media reported earlier. If he does go, his departure less than a year after taking office will trigger a succession battle within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party as it contends with challenges from new political parties, particularly on the right, that are stealing its support. Among them is the “Japanese First” Sanseito far-right group which surged in Sunday’s vote, growing its representation in the 248-seat upper

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba denied talk yesterday that he would quit after a source and media reports said he plans to step down following a bruising upper house election defeat. The 68-year-old leader said media reports that he had already decided to resign were “completely unfounded”. Ishiba chose not to quit straight after the election to prevent political instability as an Aug 1 deadline for clinching a trade deal with the US approached, a source close to the prime minister said, asking not to be o Reports completely unfounded, says Ishiba

Filipino couple ties the knot in flooded church

Retrial for woman who bit off tongue of attacker SEOUL: A South Korean court reopened a decades-old case yesterday after the country’s #MeToo movement inspired a woman to challenge her conviction for defending herself against sexual violence 61 years ago.

Choi Mal-ja was 19 when she was attacked by a 21-year-old man in the southern town of Gimhae in 1964. He pinned her to the ground and forced his tongue into her mouth, court records showed. Choi managed to break free by biting off about 1.5cm of his tongue. In one of South Korea’s most contentious rulings on sexual violence, the aggressor received only six months in prison, suspended for two years, for trespassing and intimidation but not attempted rape. But Choi was convicted of causing grievous bodily harm and handed a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for two years. The court said at the time her action had “exceeded the reasonable bounds of legally permissible self defence”. Choi’s case gained renewed momentum decades later after #MeToo movement, which took off globally in 2017 and inspired her to seek justice. In South Korea, massive women’s rights protests led to victories on issues ranging from abortion access to tougher penalties for spycam crimes. Choi filed for a retrial in 2020, but lower courts initially rejected her petition. After years of campaigning and an appeal, South Korea’s top court finally ordered a retrial last year. “For 61 years, the state made me live as a criminal,” Choi told reporters outside the Busan District Court

Transgender person wins suit against public toilet law

Choi rejoices after her retrial hearing in Busan. – YONHAP/ AFPPIC

meant to “become a source of strength for other victims of sexual violence and correct past wrongs”. At the retrial hearing on Monday, the prosecution asked the court to clear her of the past conviction, said the Busan District Court. A verdict is expected in September. – AFP

ahead of yesterday’s retrial hearing. She said she hoped future generations could “live in a world free from sexual violence where they can enjoy human rights and a happy life”. Choi Sun-hye, executive director of the Korea Women’s Hotline counselling centre, which supported her case, said her decision was also

Myanmar drone crashes over Thai border BANGKOK: A Myanmar drone targeting rebels crashed over the border in Thailand, the kingdom’s military said, prompting a rebuke over hazardous spillover from the civil war. Western Thailand regularly suffers ramifications from the conflict that has raged in Myanmar since the military toppled the country’s elected civilian government in 2021. crossings of the countries’ 2,400km frontier. Thailand’s military said it found the “kamikaze drone” on Monday in a forest in Tak Province, 15km inside the Thai border. “No civilians were injured or killed, and no property damage was reported,” said a statement issued on Tuesday night .

resistance forces, but lost control and crashed on the Thai side.” The statement said a disposal team “neutralised the explosive materials” and a “formal protest” has been lodged on the incident with a border dialogue organisation. Myanmar military and its rebel opponents are both increasingly relying on drones to gain a strategic edge in the civil war, which has dragged on for more than four years. – AFP

“Initial investigations suggest the drone belonged to the Myanmar military and was used against

Deserting troops, fleeing civilian refugees and desperate economic migrants often make unsanctioned