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Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist
Journalist @baltimoresun writer artist runner #amwriting Md Troopers Assoc #20 & Westminster Md Fire Dept Chaplain PIO #partylikeajournalist

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

20070912 Reuters: Japanese PM Abe announces resignation By Yoshiyasu Shida

Reuters: Japanese PM Abe announces resignation By Yoshiyasu Shida

This is a bit of a setback…

Reuters: Japanese PM Abe announces resignation

Wed Sep 12, 2007 1:07 AM EDT

By Yoshiyasu Shida

TOKYO (Reuters) - Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, struggling after a bashing at the polls and suffering low support rates, said on Wednesday that he would resign.

The hawkish 52-year-old Abe took office just one year ago promising to boost Japan's global security profile and pursue economic reforms and growth.

Media reports of the surprise decision caused the yen and stocks to slip, on concerns about political uncertainty.

On Sunday, Abe had indicated that he would step down if he failed to extend a Japanese naval mission supporting U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.

Opposition parties, which won control of parliament's upper house in the July poll and can delay the enabling legislation, had been preparing to grill him on the topic in parliament on Wednesday afternoon.

"The timing is astonishing. It's a huge surprise. He said he would risk his job in passing the antiterrorism law, so I don't know why he is resigning before making the effort," said Koichi Haji, chief economist at NLI Research Institute.

The LDP and its junior partner suffered a drubbing in the July election, and his support ratings have floundered amid a row over pensions and a series of financial scandals involving cabinet ministers.

LDP Secretary-General Taro Aso, a close Abe ally who shares most of his hawkish views on security policy, is generally seen as frontrunner to succeed as LDP president and hence, prime minister.

Read the rest here: Japanese PM Abe announces resignation


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