World News Quick Take

Former prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, known for trying to build stable ties with China, has died at the age of 90, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party official said yesterday. Fukuda passed away on Oct. 22, the official said. He led Japan for a year from September 2007 after replacing the late prime minister Shinzo Abe, whose first term ended after just 12 months. During his stint in power, he sought to improve relations with China and invited then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) to visit Japan. Hu’s trip in May 2008 made him the first Chinese head of state to visit the country in a decade. The two leaders issued a joint statement committing to a “mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests.” Fukuda resigned in September 2008 as his approval ratings dropped. He retired as a politician in 2012.

Yasuo Fukuda, former Prime Minister of Japan, speaks during an interview with the Associated Press at his office on Sept. 21, 2022, in Tokyo.

Photo:AP

BULGARIA

Presidential runoff Nov. 1

The presidential elections headed into a runoff as President Iliana Yotova failed to muster a convincing victory on Sunday amid a record-low turnout. Yotova, who won 34.6 percent of the vote, is to face former caretaker prime minister Andrey Gyurov, who had 32 percent, on Nov. 1, according to official results with 95 percent of the votes processed. The president is a close ally of Prime Minister Rumen Radev, who has often criticized the EU’s military aid to Ukraine and urged the bloc to restore its ties to Russia. Yotova has also avoided direct criticism of the Kremlin. Her potential victory would cement Radev’s grip on power in Bulgaria, a eurozone member. However, as a series of deadly Russian drone strikes hit commercial ships off the coast of Bulgaria and Romania in the past few weeks, national security became a bigger focus of the campaign, Alpha Research’s managing partner Boryana Dimitrova told BNT public broadcaster. It made the choice between Yotova and Gyurov much starker in the eyes of voters, she said.

JORDAN

Three arrested over attack

Jordanian security forces yesterday arrested three men over Friday’s attack on a Greek Orthodox Church that killed nine people and wounded more than two dozen. The Public Security Directorate said the three suspects were arrested following a dawn shootout and that all three were wounded. No members of the security forces were injured in the dawn operation in Karak, which is home to a minority Christian population. There was still no claim of responsibility, and no armed group has been accused of the attack.

JAPAN

Senior outwits scammer

A 93-year-old woman outsmarted a suspected scammer by pretending to fall for the scheme and helping police arrest him at her home, an officer said yesterday. The woman, who lives in the Shiga region, received telephone calls from Wednesday through Thursday last week from a man who claimed to be a police officer. The caller falsely informed her that her bank account had experienced an unauthorized withdrawal. The woman was told to hand over her ATM card to a man, posing as a police officer, who would visit her so that authorities could verify her account. Suspecting a scam, the woman consulted her son and the police as she waited for the scammer to visit her house. When a 47-year-old man appeared at her doorstep, waiting officers arrested him on the spot, a local police official said on condition of anonymity, urging other elderly residents to consult family members when they suspect fraud.