Rise of Right-Wing Populism Threatens Japan's Haven Status
An election in Japan's upper house earlier this week showed the ruling Liberal Democratic Party losing ground to a range of opposition parties, all broadly united by anger over prices rising at the fastest pace in more than 20 years.
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Bloomberg
8 hours ago
- Bloomberg
Japan's Ishiba to Face Crunch Meeting of LDP Lawmakers Monday
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's resolve to remain in power will be tested Monday at a rare meeting of all the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's lawmakers to assess the reasons for the party's recent election setback. The gathering, scheduled to start around 3:30 p.m. local time, will give those in the party who seek a change at the top an opportunity to directly challenge Ishiba over his leadership.
Chicago Tribune
14 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
East Chicago honors Hispanic political pioneers Jesse and Rosemarie Gomez
The 3800 block of Grand Boulevard in East Chicago now honors Jesse and Rosemarie Gomez, both Hispanic pioneers in politics. Jesse was the first Hispanic elected official in Indiana, Councilman Robert Garcia said. Rosemarie became the first Hispanic woman to serve on the East Chicago City Council after her husband died in 1979. Garcia represents the district that the Gomezes once did. The City Council approved the resolution last year, but getting everyone together for Friday's dedication of the new sign for Jesse & Rosemarie Gomez Way took time. 'We stand on the back of those elected officials,' Garcia said. 'I stand on the shoulders of their leadership and their legacy.' Their son, also named Jesse Gomez but with a different middle name, followed in his parents' footsteps, serving on both the city council and now on the school board. Gomez told his parents' story. 'My father's family arrived here in East Chicago from Mexico as trailblazers in 1916, and he was born here on April 14, 1920,' Gomez said. At age 12, Gomez's father and his family returned to Zacatecas, Mexico, later attending the University of Mexico, where he focused on political science. With the impending start of World War II, he returned to East Chicago to register for the draft and work at Inland Steel. After he left the mill, he worked as an insurance agent, an editorial writer for two Spanish-language newspapers, a radio announcer for WJOB's Spanish-language 'Hora Mexicana' program, and as a health inspector for the city. In 1963, he was elected 6th District councilman, the first Hispanic elected to political office in the state's history. He was re-elected to three additional consecutive terms, Gomez said, eventually becoming the 5th District councilman. 'Time with an elected official is interesting,' Gomez said. 'As a youngster, I remember that we often had a table set for eight at dinner – two for my parents, four for the children and one for the live-in family friend, Joe. The eighth seat was reserved for someone else, usually an immigrant who was first making their way here to East Chicago from Mexico, Puerto Rico or somewhere across the Atlantic.' 'My father was a good dancer, a great sketch artist, a fantastic chess player, a horrible joke teller and, in his mind, the greatest soccer player in the world,' Gomez said. Gomez rattled off a long list of achievements during his father's career, including serving as a Spanish language volunteer for the Pan-American Games and project coordinator for the East Chicago Vietnam Veterans Memorial, not to mention service twice as City Council president. 'That's a lot for one person to do in a lifetime. My father achieved that during his short time here on Earth,' Gomez said. The elder Jesse died Aug. 31, 1979, at age 59. Rosemarie was born Jan. 14, 1926, in Saltillo, Mexico. While she was young, her family moved back and forth between the United States and Mexico. She attended East Chicago public schools but left early to work at Inland Steel to help her family financially, Gomez said. She later returned to school and graduated from Washington High School. In 1939, Rosemarie portrayed the Statue of Liberty during the Mexican Independence Day Parade. The next year, she served as queen of that parade. Rosemarie, 99, has her own long list of accomplishments and involvement in the community. 'My mother was a great cook, a fantastic gardener, and she is one of the most loving, kind and considerate people that you ever will meet,' Gomez said. One day, Gomez said, his father told Rosemarie she needed to become an American citizen, which she did. 'My mother later found out that the reason he asked her to do that was so that years later she could vote for him when he first ran for the City Council, a race he won,' Gomez said. 'Together, my parents were trailblazers, in similar fashion to the way their parents were,' Gomez said. 'They were kind of the Hispanic version of John and Jackie Kennedy.'
NBC News
16 hours ago
- NBC News
Sen. Lindsey Graham says there's no way to for Israel to negotiate an end to the war with Hamas
WASHINGTON — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in an interview on NBC News' 'Meet the Press' on Sunday that he believes there is no way for Israel to safely negotiate an end to the war with Hamas and that Israel would take over Gaza, comparing the move to U.S. actions at the end of World War II. Graham said he believed Israel has concluded 'that they can't achieve a goal of ending the war with Hamas that would be satisfactory to the safety of Israel.' 'I think President Trump has come to believe, and I certainly have come to believe, there's no way you're going to negotiate an end of this war with Hamas,' Graham said. 'They're going to do in Gaza what we did in Tokyo and Berlin, take the place by force and start over again, presenting a better future for the Palestinians, hopefully having the Arabs take over the West Bank and Gaza,' he later added. His comments come as Israel is facing mounting international pressure over a growing hunger crisis in Gaza, where at least 133 people have died by starvation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. On Sunday, Israel announced a pause in fighting in parts of Gaza to facilitate aid delivery. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously said that Israel was 'moving toward full control' of Gaza. Ceasefire discussions have stalled in recent days, and the White House's special envoy Steve Witkoff last week brought home the U.S. negotiating team, which had been participating in talks in Qatar. Asked whether a takeover of Gaza would mean hostages would not come home alive, Graham said, 'I hope not.' 'I think there are people maybe in the Hamas organization that would accept safe passage if they release the hostages,' Graham said. 'If I were Israel, I'd make that offer to Hamas fighters: 'You can leave safely. We want our hostages back.'' Graham continues advocating for special counsel to investigate Obama claims Graham on Sunday advocated for a special counsel to investigate Republicans' claims that President Barack Obama tried to influence an intelligence assessment about Russian interference in the 2016 election. These claims came to the fore last week when Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard alleged during a press briefing that the former president participated in a 'treasonous conspiracy' to harm Trump's campaign. Obama spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush has said that the 'bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.' NBC News has also reported that former CIA officer Susan Miller, who helped lead the team that produced a report on Russia's actions during the 2016 election, defended the report and said the White House was 'lying' about it. Graham said Sunday that 'the best way to handle this is if there is evidence of a crime being committed, or suspected evidence of a crime being committed, create a special counsel to look at it.' A special counsel had previously been appointed during the first Trump administration to examine the origins of the Russia probe, and in 2023, then- special counsel John Durham argued that certain FBI personnel 'displayed a serious lack of analytical rigor toward the information they received.' A 2020 Senate report backed up the assessment that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election, with the then-chair of the Senate intelligence committee, a Republican, saying: 'The Committee found no reason to dispute the Intelligence Community's conclusions.' In recent days, critics have accused Republicans of trying to turn the spotlight on Obama to distract from mounting criticism of the White House's handling of files related to Jeffrey Epstein. Asked whether he was trying to rewrite history to distract from the Epstein news, Graham said: 'At the end of the day, I'm not calling for prosecution against President Obama for treason, but I am calling for an investigation.'
