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LDP poised for landslide win

Snapchat blocks 415,000 accounts SYDNEY: Snapchat has blocked 415,000 accounts under Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, the company said yesterday, but warned some youngsters may be bypassing age verification technology. The platform urged the Australian authorities to oblige app stores to check users’ ages as an “additional safeguard” for the world-first crackdown. Platforms including Snapchat, Meta, TikTok and YouTube must stop underage users from holding accounts under the legislation, which came into effect on Dec 10. Companies face fines of A$49.5 million (RM135.5 million) if they fail to take “reasonable steps” to comply. Australia’s eSafety online regulator reported last month that tech giants had already blocked 4.7 million accounts, delivering “significant outcomes”. As of the end of last month, Snapchat said it had blocked or disabled 415,000 Snapchat accounts in Australia belonging to under-16s. “We continue to lock more accounts daily,” it said in an online statement. But the law leaves “significant gaps”, Snapchat said, arguing that age estimation technology was only accurate to within two to three years. “In practice, this means some young people under 16 may be able to bypass protections, potentially leaving them with reduced safeguards, while others over 16 may incorrectly lose access.” Snapchat joined Meta in calling on Australia to require app stores to check users’ ages before allowing downloads. “Creating a centralised verification system at the app-store level would allow for more consistent protection and higher barriers to circumventing the law,” Snapchat said. The platform said it did not believe an outright ban was the right approach. Snapchat said it understood Australia’s objectives and wanted to protect people online, but did not agree its platform should be covered by the social media ban. “In the case of Snapchat – which is primarily a messaging app used by young people to stay connected with friends and family – we do not believe that cutting teens off from these relationships makes them safer, happier, or otherwise better off.” – AFP colluded to sell and manufacture about 11 tonnes of methamphetamine”, it said. The four were sentenced to death in November. A fifth person, Bai Suocheng, “died of illness” following the November verdict, the court said. He was alleged to have been the group’s ringleader. – AFP

o Coalition seen reaching 300 seats

up for grabs in the lower house, according to Asahi’s poll released on Sunday. That would be an increase from 198 seats now. Together with LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party or Ishin, the ruling alliance will likely reach 300 seats, the poll showed. “A huge LDP win would further strengthen Takaichi’s grip on power. It won’t be surprising for markets to see a higher chance of Takaichi pursuing her flagship proactive fiscal policies including a consumption tax cut,” said Keisuke Tsuruta, senior bond strategist at Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities. Japanese government bond yields rose yesterday as investors priced in the chance Takaichi will secure an electoral mandate to push through her “proactive” fiscal policy focused on bigger spending and tax cuts. The largest opposition party, the

Centrist is struggling and could lose half its 167 seats, Asahi said. Takaichi’s ruling coalition holds a slim majority in the lower house but has a minority in the upper house. The premier dissolved parliament last month and called a snap election on Feb 8 seeking a mandate for her push to reflate the economy with expansionary fiscal policy. Japan suffered a broad market rout last month after Takaichi pledged to suspend an 8% levy on food sales for two years, reviving investor concerns about fiscal discipline in a country with public debt more than twice the size of its economy. Most other parties have also called for a suspension or a cut to the consumption tax to cushion the blow to households from rising living costs. – Reuters Reform Alliance,

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s party is likely to score a landslide victory in next week’s lower house election, a survey by Asahi newspaper showed, heightening the chance the country will continue to pursue big spending and tax cuts. A strong showing in Sunday’s election would solidify Takaichi’s grip on her party and give her a mandate for her expansionary fiscal policy, which could heighten concerns about Japan’s finances and push bond yields higher. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party is likely to well exceed a majority of 233 seats out of 465 seats

Takaichi ... likely to pursue big spending and tax cuts. – REUTERSPIC

Trump hopeful of Iran deal PARIS: US President Donald Trump on Sunday said he was hopeful of agreeing a deal with Iran after the country’s supreme leader warned that any US attack on the Islamic republic would trigger a regional war.

Following the Iranian authorities’ response to anti-government protests that peaked last month, Trump has threatened military action and ordered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier group to the Middle East. Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday likened the recent protests to a “coup”, warning that a US attack would trigger a broad conflict. “The Americans should know that if they start a war, this time it will be a regional war,” he said, telling Iranians they “should not be scared” of Trump’s rhetoric. “They (rioters) attacked the police, government centres, IRGC centres, banks, and mosques, and burned the Koran ... It was like a coup,” Khamenei said, adding that “the coup was suppressed”. Asked about the Iranian leader’s warning, Trump told reporters on Sunday: “Of course he is going to say that. “Hopefully we’ll make a deal. If we don’t make a deal, then we’ll find out whether or not he was right,” he said. The demonstrations in Iran began as an expression of discontent at the high cost of living, but grew into a mass anti-government movement that the country’s leaders have described as “riots” stoked by the United States and Israel. As tensions heightened between Iran and the United States, Tehran’s

An F/A-18E Super Hornet launches from the flight deck of USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea last week. – US NAVY HANDOUT/AFPPIC

The most recent four people executed were linked to the “Bai family criminal group”, the Shenzhen Intermediate People’s Court said in a statement. Their crimes included “fraud, intentional homicide, intentional injury, kidnapping, extortion ... (and) forced prostitution” among others. One member, Bai Yingcang, “also without withdrawing his earlier threats, adding “we’ll see what happens”. The US president previously said he believed Iran would make a deal over its nuclear and missile programmes rather than face military action. Tehran has said it is ready for nuclear talks if its missile and defence capabilities are not on the agenda. – AFP

up cooperation with regional governments, and thousands of people have been repatriated to face trial in China’s opaque justice system. The latest announcement comes days after a court in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou said it had executed 11 people linked to telecom scam operations with the“Ming family criminal group”. what President Trump said: to come to a fair and equitable deal to ensure that there is no nuclear weapons,” he said in an interview with CNN. Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Saturday: “Contrary to the hype of the contrived media war, structural arrangements for negotiations are progressing.” Trump also confirmed that dialogue was taking place, but

cryptocurrency investments have flourished across Southeast Asia, including in Cambodia and Myanmar. Initially largely targeting Chinese speakers, the criminal groups have expanded operations into other languages to steal billions of dollars. They used thousands of foreign workers to carry out the scams. In recent years, Beijing has stepped Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Sunday said he was concerned about “miscalculations” but said he believed Trump was “wise enough to make the correct decision”. He said Iran has lost trust in the United States as a negotiating partner, adding that some countries in the region were acting as intermediaries to rebuild trust. “So I see the possibility of another talk if the US negotiation team follows

China executes four Myanmar scam centre leaders BEIJING: China has executed four leading members of Myanmar-based scam syndicates, a Chinese court said yesterday, the second such

announcement in less than a week as Beijing ramps up a crackdown on cross-border telecom fraud. Fraud compounds where scammers lure internet users into fake romantic relationships and