TOKYO — Prime Minister Taro Aso has decided to dissolve parliament and call general elections, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported today.
NHK said parliament will be dissolved next week, with general elections to be held on Aug. 30.
The report came after results for a crucial Tokyo vote showed Aso’s Liberal Democratic Party had suffered a major defeat in a local election in Tokyo.
The vote for the local parliament is widely viewed as a barometer for the upcoming national election.
The main opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan, made major gains in the Tokyo election.
Pakistan: Militants attacked
Fighter jets pounded suspected militant hide-outs in the South Waziristan tribal region on Sunday as part of ongoing operations against Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud. At least eight militants were killed, intelligence officials said. South Waziristan is part of the lawless tribal region along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, and top Taliban and al-Qaida leaders are believed to be hiding there, helping plot attacks on American troops across the border.
Somalia: Clashes kill dozens
Islamic insurgents fought their way toward Somalia’s presidential palace in Mogadishu on Sunday in fighting that killed dozens and wounded about 150, officials said. African Union peacekeepers directly intervened for the first time to support government forces when militants came within a half-mile of the palace. Somalia has not had a functioning government for 18 years.
China: Miners alive after 25 days
Three miners have been found alive after surviving 25 days trapped in a flooded mine in southern China, a Comunist Party spokesman said today. The Xinqiao Coal Mine was flooded on June 17. The miners drank water that seeped through the earth, the spokesman said.
Norway: Oil spilled in fjord
Norwegian police say a large amount of oil has leaked from a cruise ship Sunday in the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Geiranger fjord. Police spokesman Magne Toennoey said authorities have managed to contain the oil in one spot and will try to pump it out of the water.
California: Gas down 10 cents
The national average price of gasoline fell about 10 cents a gallon during the past two weeks to $2.56, according to the Lundberg Survey of fuel prices released Sunday in Camaillo. Analyst Trilby Lundberg said it’s the first significant price drop since early December. Wichita, Kan., has the lowest prices; the average there is $2.26 for a gallon for regular. Honolulu has the highest prices, with an average of $3.20.
Florida: 2 held in couple’s slaying
Officials in the Florida Panhandle say they’re holding two men on open murder charges in the Thursday slaying of a wealthy Florida couple, Byrd and Melanie Billings, known for adopting children with developmental disabilities. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said day laborer Wayne Coldiron turned himself in Sunday night, and Leonard P. Gonzalez Jr. was arrested later in Santa Rosa County. Morgan said Coldiron was friends with 56-year-old Leonard P. Gonzalez Sr., who was charged earlier in the day with evidence tampering.
Mississippi: Church bus rollover kills 1
A bus carrying a church youth group from Louisiana to Georgia flipped Sunday on Interstate 20 in Mississippi, killing one person and injuring 23 others, a coroner said. The bus, from First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., had a blowout and rolled three times near Meridian and trapped at least two people underneath, the coroner said. Cobler said injuries ranged from severe pelvic, back, and chest injuries to scrapes and scratches.
From Herald news services
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