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Japan’s ex-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe shot during campaign event

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3 years ago

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The country’s longest serving prime minister was delivering an election campaign speech when he was attacked in Nara.

Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has succumbed to his wounds after being shot while delivering an election campaign speech in the city of Nara, local media reported.

The NHK broadcaster and the Kyodo news agency reported Abe’s death on Friday, hours after the 67-year-old was shot in the chest and the neck.

Earlier, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had condemned the attack in the “strongest terms” and said he was praying “from the depths” of his heart Abe would survive.

The motive for the attack was not yet known, added Kishida, who cut short a campaign appearance in the northern prefecture of Yamagata and returned by helicopter to his official residence in the capital, Tokyo.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters Abe, who was in Nara campaigning ahead of Sunday’s election for the parliament’s upper house, had been shot at about 11:30am (02:30 GMT). “Such an act of barbarity cannot be tolerated,” Matsuno said.

Quoting Japanese police, NHK said Abe appeared to have been shot from behind with a shotgun and said its reporter on the scene heard “what sounded like a gun going off twice”. The broadcaster aired footage showing Abe collapsed on the street, with several security guards running towards him. Abe was holding his chest when he collapsed, with his shirt smeared with blood.

A 41-year-old male suspect has been taken into custody on suspicion of attempted murder, NHK said. The suspect, who was identified as Yamagami Tetsuya, was holding a gun, which police confiscated, it added.

“This is an outrageous attack,” Koichiro Matsumoto, Japan’s deputy cabinet secretary for public affairs, told Al Jazeera. “The government strongly condemns in its utmost terms.”

Shock and condemnation

Abe served as Japan’s prime minister from December 2012 to September 2020, making him the country’s longest-serving prime minister.

Hailing from a wealthy political family that included a foreign minister father and a grandfather who served as prime minister, Abe has been best known for his signature “Abenomics” policy, which featured bold monetary easing and fiscal spending. He also bolstered defence spending after years of declines and expanded the military’s ability to project power abroad.

But he failed to achieve his cherished goal of formally rewriting the US-drafted pacifist constitution because of poor public support, while his ultra-nationalism riled the Koreas and China.

Abe had been due to stay on until late 2021, giving him an opportunity to see out one final event in his historic tenure – the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. But in a shock announcement, he stepped down in August 2020, after a chronic health problem resurfaced. Abe has had ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment.

Despite stepping down, Abe has remained a dominant presence over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), controlling one of its major factions.

An aerial view shows the site where Abe was shot during in Nara [Kyodo via Reuters]

The news of the shooting prompted shock and condemnation in Japan and worldwide. The United States Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said he was “saddened and shocked” by Friday’s shooting. “Abe-san has been an outstanding leader of Japan and unwavering ally of the United States,” he said in a statement.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also expressed his shock at the news. “Our thoughts are with his family and the people of Japan at this time,” he said on Twitter.

The shooting was especially “tragic and surprising” given Japan is one of the world’s safest countries, said Benoit Hardy-Chatrand, a professor at Japan’s Temple University.

“This is certainly not something we are used to seeing in Tokyo. We never have this kind of gun violence. [We have] one of the lowest rates of homicide in the world,” he told Al Jazeera.

“So this comes as a shock to everyone, especially considering the stature of the importance of the victim of Abe Shinzo, one of the most important post-war politicians for Japan.”

Culled from  AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES 

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Bizarre Epstein files reference to Trump, Putin, and oral sex with ‘Bubba’ draws scrutiny in Congress

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2 weeks ago

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November 14, 2025

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The latest tranche of emails from the estate of late convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein includes one that contains what appear to be references to President Donald Trump allegedly performing oral sex, raising questions the committee cannot answer until the Department of Justice turns over records it has withheld, says U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee.

Garcia insists the Trump White House is helping block them.

In a Friday afternoon interview with The Advocate, the out California lawmaker responded to a 2018 exchange, which was included in the emails released, between Jeffrey Epstein and his brother, Mark Epstein. In that message, Mark wrote that because Jeffrey Epstein had said he was with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, he should “ask him if Putin has the photos of Trump blowing Bubba.”

“Bubba” is a nickname former President Bill Clinton has been known by; however, the email does not clarify who Mark Epstein meant, and the context remains unclear.

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USDA head says ‘everyone’ on SNAP will now have to reapply

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2 weeks ago

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November 14, 2025

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Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on Thursday said the Trump administration is planning to have all Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) beneficiaries reapply for the program due to alleged fraud.

The secretary said after receiving data on SNAP recipients from 29 red states that “186,000 deceased men and women and children in this country are receiving a check.”

“Can you imagine when we get our hands on the blue state data what we’re going to find?” she asked during a Thursday appearance on Newsmax’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight.”

“It’s going to give us a platform and a trajectory to fundamentally rebuild this program, have everyone reapply for their benefit, make sure that everyone that’s taking a taxpayer-funded benefit through SNAP or food stamps, that they literally are vulnerable, and they can’t survive without it,” she added.

Every state has a periodic recertification process that requires SNAP or food stamp recipients to update their whereabouts and earnings, according to the Department of Agriculture (USDA). Most municipalities require updated data every six to 12 months.

“Secretary Rollins wants to ensure the fraud, waste, and incessant abuse of SNAP ends,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to The Hill. “Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work. As well as ongoing analysis of State data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with States. “

Earlier this month, food stamps were threatened amid the government shutdown as the Trump administration argued against using contingency funds to fuel the welfare program.

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Trump orders Bondi to investigate Epstein’s ties to Clinton and other political foes

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2 weeks ago

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November 14, 2025

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NEW YORK (AP) — Acceding to President Donald Trump’s demands, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Friday that she has ordered a top federal prosecutor to investigate sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Trump political foes, including former President Bill Clinton.

Bondi posted on X that she was assigning Manhattan U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to lead the probe, capping an eventful week in which congressional Republicans released nearly 23,000 pages of documents from Epstein’s estate and House Democrats seized on emails mentioning Trump.

Trump, who was friends with Epstein for years, didn’t explain what supposed crimes he wanted the Justice Department to investigate. None of the men he mentioned in a social media post demanding the probe has been accused of sexual misconduct by any of Epstein’s victims.

Hours before Bondi’s announcement, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he would ask her, the Justice Department and the FBI to investigate Epstein’s “involvement and relationship” with Clinton and others, including former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and LinkedIn founder and Democratic donor Reid Hoffman.

Trump, calling the matter “the Epstein Hoax, involving Democrats, not Republicans,” said the investigation should also include financial giant JPMorgan Chase, which provided banking services to Epstein, and “many other people and institutions.”

“This is another Russia, Russia, Russia Scam, with all arrows pointing to the Democrats,” the Republican president wrote, referring to special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference in Trump’s 2016 election victory over Bill Clinton’s wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Asked later Friday whether he should be ordering up such investigations, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One: “I’m the chief law enforcement officer of the country. I’m allowed to do it.”

In a July memo regarding the Epstein investigation, the FBI said, “We did not uncover evidence that could predicate an investigation against uncharged third parties.”

The president’s demand for an investigation — and Bondi’s quick acquiescence — is the latest example of the erosion of the Justice Department’s traditional independence from the White House since Trump took office.

It is also an extraordinary attempt at deflection. For decades, Trump himself has been scrutinized for his closeness to Epstein — though like the people he now wants investigated, he has not been accused of sexual misconduct by Epstein’s victims.

None of Trump’s proposed targets were accused of sex crimes

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