resignation

Sept. 7 (UPI) — Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba announced his resignation Sunday to avoid a split of his Liberal Democratic Party after recent election defeats.

“Today, I have decided resign from the position of President of Liberal Democratic Party,” Ishiba posted in a brief message on social media.

Ishiba, in a news conference carried by public broadcaster NHK, said he had decided to resign from the post now that negotiations with the administration of President Donald Trump over tariffs had ended.

“I thought a decisive division within the party could be created if the issue of an extraordinary presidential election continued to develop. That is not what I wanted,” Ishiba said in the news conference.

“I hope people will fully understand as I will continue fulfilling my duties during my remaining time in office.”

Ishiba instructed LDP Secretary-General Hiroshi Moriyama to begin preparations for a leadership election in line with party rules, according to NHK.

The announcement followed a bruising summer election in which Ishiba’s LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the upper house of parliament.

Projections ahead of the vote had warned the coalition was at risk of falling short, and final results confirmed the parties captured only 47 seats, three shy of the 50 needed to maintain control.

The setback deepened the LDP’s political troubles after earlier losses in the lower house, fueling speculation about Ishiba’s hold on power. NHK noted the results left the ruling party struggling to pass legislation without opposition support, raising the prospect of gridlock.

Ishiba, a former defense minister who became prime minister in 2024, had campaigned on strengthening Japan’s security posture and managing rising costs of living. But his government’s popularity waned amid economic pressures, and party heavyweights pressed him to step aside to clear the way for new leadership.

The resignation was heralded as a smart move to bolster party unity by members of Ishiba’s own party while Saito Tetsuo, the chief representative of coalition partner Komeito, called the announcement regrettable.

“I am deeply disappointed by this announcement of resignation. However, I understand it as an unavoidable decision to bring an early end to the confusion within the Liberal Democratic Party,” Tetsuo said in a post on social media.

“In order to minimize the political vacuum, and also to realize the promised tax cuts and benefits, I call on the Liberal Democratic Party to respond swiftly.”

Noda Yoshihiko, the head of the main opposition party, the Constitutional Democratic Party, also expressed concern about the country operating in a political vacuum while inflation grips Japan, NHK reported.

With Ishiba’s departure, the LDP will quickly move to initiate its formal leadership selection process. Under party rules, aspiring candidates must secure at least 20 endorsements from fellow LDP members in the Diet, the national legislature, to qualify.

The election will involve both LDP lawmakers and rank-and-file party members across Japan. If no single candidate achieves a majority in the first round, a run-off between the top two vote-getters will be held, this time giving equal weight to lawmakers and one vote per prefectural branch.

Once a new party president is chosen, the Diet will convene to endorse the next prime minister. Although the LDP has lost its majority in both chambers, its dominance in the lower house ensures that its nominee can secure the post.

Yet the absence of a decisive majority sets the stage for political instability, forcing the new leader to rely on cross-party cooperation to pass legislation or consider calling a general election for a fresh mandate.

WASHINGTON — Members of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s family are calling for him to step down as Health secretary following a contentious congressional hearing this past week, during which the Trump Cabinet official faced bipartisan questioning about his tumultuous leadership of federal health agencies.

Kennedy’s sister, Kerry Kennedy, and his nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy III, issued scathing statements Friday, calling for him to resign as head of the Health and Human Services Department.

The calls from the prominent Democratic family came a day after Kennedy defended his recent efforts to roll back COVID-19 vaccine recommendations and fire high-level officials at the Centers for Disease Control during a three-hour Senate hearing.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a threat to the health and wellbeing of every American,” Joseph P. Kennedy III said in a post on X. The former congressman added: “None of us will be spared the pain he is inflicting.” His aunt echoed those claims, saying that “medical decisions belong in the hands of trained and licensed professionals, not incompetent and misguided leadership.”

This is not the first time Kennedy has been the subject of his family’s ire. Several of his relatives had objected to his presidential run in the last campaign, while others wrote to senators earlier this year calling for them to reject his nomination to be President Trump’s Health secretary given his anti-vaccine views they considered disqualifying.

Kennedy, a longtime leader in the anti-vaccine movement, has spent the last seven months implementing his once-niche, grassroots movement at the highest level of America’s public health system. The sweeping changes to the agencies tasked with public health policy and scientific research have resulted in thousands of layoffs and the remaking of vaccine guidelines.

The moves — some of which contradict assurances he made during his confirmation hearings — have rattled medical groups and officials in several Democratic-led states, which have responded with their own vaccine advice.

Chipmaker Intel is the latest tech company facing political pressure from President Trump.

On Thursday, Trump called for the immediate resignation of Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan, who took the helm in March to turn around the beleaguered chipmaker.

“The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.

Trump didn’t say what the conflicts were in his post, but his remarks came after Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) sent a letter to Intel’s board, expressing national security concerns about Tan’s reported ties to Chinese companies. Cotton cited a report from Reuters that said Tan has invested in more than 600 Chinese firms and some of them have links to the country’s military.

Trump’s call for Tan’s resignation adds to a list of issues Intel already has to deal with.

The 57-year-old tech company, once the most valuable U.S. chipmaker, is trying to keep up as the race to dominate artificial intelligence escalates. The Santa Clara, Calif., company has been losing money and has seen its stock plunge while it falls behind rivals such as Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices.

As of Thursday morning, Intel’s share price was down 2% to $19.92. The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump said Wednesday during an event in which Apple announced an additional $100-billion investment in the United States that he plans to place a tariff on semiconductors, but that there won’t be a charge for companies building in the United States.

While he praised companies such as Apple and Nvidia, he criticized Intel.

“Intel was just taken over the coals. They were taken to the cleaners, frankly, and moved to other places, in particular Taiwan,” Trump said at the event.

Intel, known for making the “brains” that power computers, has been investing heavily in its foundry business, taking on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which makes chips for companies including Apple and Nvidia. During the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Commerce awarded Intel roughly $8 billion to support manufacturing and advanced packaging projects in the United States.

TOKYO — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday vowed to remain in power to oversee the implementation of a new Japan-U.S. tariff agreement, despite media speculation and growing calls for him to resign after a historic defeat of his governing party.

Ishiba met with heavyweights from his Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, and former Prime Ministers Taro Aso, Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga at party headquarters.

He told reporters afterward that they didn’t discuss his resignation or a new party leadership contest, but only the election results, voters’ dissatisfaction and the urgent need to avoid party discord.

Despite his business-as-usual demeanor, Ishiba is under increasing pressure to bow out after the LDP and junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in Sunday’s election in the 248-member upper house, the smaller and less powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament, shaking his grip on power.

It came after a loss in the more powerful lower house in October, and so his coalition now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament, making it even more difficult for his government to pass policies and worsening Japan’s political instability.

Ishiba says he intends to stay on to tackle pressing challenges, including tariff talks with the U.S., so as not to create a political vacuum despite calls from inside and outside his party for a quick resignation.

Ishiba “keeps saying he is staying on. What was the public’s verdict in the election all about?” said Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the surging Democratic Party for the People, or DPP.

At the LDP, a group of younger lawmakers led by Yasutaka Nakasone started a petition drive seeking Ishiba’s early resignation and renewal of party leadership.

“We all have a sense of crisis and think the election results were ultimatum from the voters,” he said.

Japanese media reported that Ishiba is expected to soon announce plans to step down in August.

The conservative Yomiuri newspaper said in an extra edition on Wednesday that Ishiba had decided to announce his resignation by the end of July after receiving a detailed report from his chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, on the impact of the U.S. tariffs on the Japanese economy, paving the way for a new party leader.

Ishiba denied the report and said that he wants to focus on the U.S. trade deal, which covers more than 4,000 goods affecting many Japanese producers and industries. He welcomed the new agreement, which places tariffs at 15% on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the U.S. from Japan, down from the initial 25%.

Still, local media are already speculating about possible successors. Among them are ultraconservative former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, who lost to Ishiba in September. Another conservative ex-minister, Takayuki Kobayashi, and Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former popular Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, are also seen as potential challengers.

In Sunday’s election, voters frustrated with price increases exceeding the pace of wage hikes, especially younger people who have long felt ignored by the ruling government’s focus on senior voters, rapidly turned to the emerging conservative DPP and right-wing populist Sanseito party.

None of the opposition parties have shown interest in forming a full-fledged alliance with the governing coalition, but they have said they are open to cooperating on policy.

People expressed mixed reaction to Ishiba, as his days seem to be numbered.

Kentaro Nakamura, 53, said that he thought it’s time for Ishiba to go, because he lacked consistency and did poorly in the election.

“The (election) result was so bad and I thought it would not be appropriate for him to stay on,” Nakamura said. “I thought it was just a matter of time.”

But Isamu Kawana, a Tokyo resident in his 70s, was more sympathetic and said if it wasn’t Ishiba who was elected prime minister last year, the result would have been the same.

“I think he got the short end of the stick,” Kawana said.

Yamaguchi writes for the Associated Press. Reeno Hashimoto contributed to this report.

Thousands of protesters have gathered in Thailand’s capital to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra amid growing anger over a leaked phone call with former Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Demonstrators took to the streets on Saturday, outraged by a June 15 conversation in which Paetongtarn urged Hun Sen – the current Cambodian Senate president who still wields considerable influence in his country – not to listen to “the other side” in Thailand, including an outspoken Thai army general who she said “just wants to look cool”.

The army commander was in charge of an area where a border clash last month led to one Cambodian soldier being killed. The man was killed on May 28 following an armed confrontation in a contested area.

The leaked phone call with Hun Sen was at the heart of Saturday’s protest and has set off a string of investigations in Thailand that could lead to Paetongtarn’s removal.

Protesters held national flags and signs as they occupied parts of the streets around the Victory Monument in central Bangkok. At a huge stage set up at the monument, speakers expressed their love for Thailand following the intensified border dispute.

“It looks like this is going to be a pretty well-attended rally, certainly a loud voice … Lots of speeches, lots of whistles, lots of noise, all calling in full voice for Prime Minister Paetongtarn to resign,” said Al Jazeera’s Tony Cheng, reporting from Bangkok. “They say this conversation has undermined Thailand, has undermined the military, and they are insisting that she step down – it does put her in a very tricky position.”

Many of the leading figures in the protest were familiar faces from a group popularly known as Yellow Shirts, whose clothing colour indicates loyalty to the Thai monarchy. They are longtime foes of Paetongtarn’s father, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who reportedly has a close relationship with Hun Sen.

“The political scientists we’ve been speaking to over the last couple of days think it is going to be very difficult for Paetongtarn to survive as prime minister, but the problem then is who would replace her,” Cheng said.

Hun Sen addresses supporters

In Cambodia, Hun Sen on Saturday promised to protect his country’s territory from foreign invaders and condemned what he called an attack by Thai forces last month.

At a 74th anniversary celebration of the foundation of his long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party, Hun Sen claimed the action by the Thai army when it engaged Cambodian forces was illegal.

He said the skirmish inside Cambodian territory was a serious violation of country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, despite Cambodia’s goodwill in attempting to resolve the border issue.

“This poor Cambodia has suffered from foreign invasion, war, and genocide, been surrounded and isolated and insulted in the past but now Cambodia has risen on an equal face with other countries. We need peace, friendship, cooperation, and development the most, and we have no politics and no unfriendly stance with any nation,” Hun Sen said in an address to thousands of party members at the event in the Cambodian capital, Phnom Penh.

There is a long history of territorial disputes between the countries. Thailand is still rattled by a 1962 International Court of Justice ruling that awarded Cambodia the disputed territory where the historic Preah Vihear temple stands. There were sporadic though serious clashes there in 2011. The ruling from the UN court was reaffirmed in 2013, when Yingluck was prime minister.

The scandal has broken Paetongtarn’s fragile coalition government, costing her Pheu Thai Party the loss of its biggest partner, the Bhumjaithai Party.

The departure of Bhumjaithai left the 10-party coalition with 255 seats, just above the majority of the 500-seat house.

Paetongtarn also faces investigations by the Constitutional Court and the national anticorruption agency. Their decisions could lead to her removal from office.

Sarote Phuengrampan, secretary-general of the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission, said on Wednesday that his agency is investigating Paetongtarn for a serious breach of ethics over the Hun Sen phone call. He did not give a possible timeline for a decision.

Reports said the Constitutional Court can suspend Paetongtarn from duty pending the investigation and could decide as early as next week whether it will take the case. The prime minister said on Tuesday she is not worried and is ready to give evidence to support her case.

“It was clear from the phone call that I had nothing to gain from it, and I also didn’t cause any damage to the country,” she said.

The court last year removed her predecessor from Pheu Thai over a breach of ethics.