����ֱ��

TOKYO: Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party and the Japan Innovation Party have broadly agreed to form a coalition government, setting the stage for the country’s first female prime minister, Kyodo news agency reported on Sunday.
Sanae Takaichi, leader of the conservative LDP, and Hirofumi Yoshimura, head of the smaller right-leaning group, known as Ishin, are set to sign an agreement on their alliance on Monday, Kyodo said.
Calls to the LDP and Ishin headquarters to seek comment went unanswered outside business hours.
Ishin’s co-head, Fumitake Fujita, raised expectations for a deal on Friday, saying the two parties had made “big progress” in coalition talks.
Ishin lawmakers will vote for Takaichi in an election to choose the prime minister in parliament on Tuesday, but the party does not plan to send ministers to Takaichi’s cabinet initially, the news agency said.
Takaichi’s path to succeed Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba had seemed all but certain after she won her party’s presidency early this month. But then the long-ruling LDP’s junior partner, Komeito, quit their 26-year coalition, setting off a flurry of negotiations with rival parties to select the next premier.
In an effort to get Ishin on board, the LDP offered to keep working toward banning donations from companies and other organizations and exempting food items from Japan’s sales tax, Kyodo said.
Ishin has proposed eliminating the tax on food items for two years.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan agreed to an “immediate ceasefire” at talks in Doha, after at least 10 Afghans were killed in Pakistani air strikes that broke an earlier truce.

For more than a week, the South Asian neighbors have engaged in bloody border clashes — their worst conflict since the return of the Taliban government in 2021.

A 48-hour truce briefly put a stop to the fighting, which has killed dozens of troops and civilians, until Friday’s air strikes.

After peace talks in Doha, Qatar’s foreign ministry said early Sunday that “the two sides agreed to an immediate ceasefire and the establishment of mechanisms to consolidate lasting peace and stability between the two countries.”

They also agreed to follow-up meetings in the coming days to ensure the ceasefire, the foreign ministry added.

Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif confirmed that a ceasefire agreement had been reached and said the two sides would meet again in Istanbul on October 25.

“Terrorism on Pakistani soil conducted from Afghanistan will immediately stop. Both neighboring countries will respect each other’s sovereignty,” Asif posted on social media.

Afghanistan’s spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid also confirmed the “signing of an agreement.”

“It was decided that both countries will not carry out any acts of hostility against each other,” he wrote on X on Sunday.

“Neither country will undertake any hostile actions against the other, nor will they support groups carrying out attacks against the Government of Pakistan.”

The defense ministers posted a picture on X shaking hands after the signing.

‘Still afraid’

Security issues lie at the heart of the clashes.

Since the Taliban returned to power, Pakistan has witnessed a dramatic spike in militant attacks, mainly near its 2,600-kilometer border with Afghanistan.

Analysts say Islamist fighters have been emboldened by the neighboring insurgency’s success following the withdrawal of US forces in 2021.

Islamabad alleges that hostile groups, including the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), operate from “sanctuaries” in Afghanistan, a charge the Taliban government routinely denies.

The cross-border violence flared on October 11, days after explosions rocked Kabul during an unprecedented visit by the Taliban’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to India, Pakistan’s archrival.

The Taliban then launched a deadly offensive along parts of its southern border with Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to vow a strong response.

Ahead of the Doha talks, a senior Taliban official said that Pakistan had bombed three locations in Paktika province late Friday, and warned that Kabul would retaliate.

A hospital official in Paktika said that 10 civilians, including two children, were killed and 12 others wounded. Three cricket players were among the dead.

Zabihullah, the Taliban spokesman, wrote on X that their forces had been ordered to hold fire “to maintain the dignity and integrity of its negotiating team.”

Saadullah Torjan, a minister in Spin Boldak in Afghanistan’s south, said: “For now, the situation is returning to normal.”

“But there is still a state of war, and people are afraid.”