Japan ex-PM Abe Dies after Being Shot while Making a Speech

Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020 Kazuhiro NOGI AFP/File
Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020 Kazuhiro NOGI AFP/File
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Japan ex-PM Abe Dies after Being Shot while Making a Speech

Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020 Kazuhiro NOGI AFP/File
Abe, Japan's longest-serving prime minister, held office in 2006 for one year and again from 2012 to 2020 Kazuhiro NOGI AFP/File

Former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's longest-serving leader, died on Friday hours after he was shot while campaigning for a parliamentary election, shocking a country in which political violence is rare and guns are tightly controlled.

A man opened fire on Abe, 67, from behind with an apparently homemade gun as he spoke at a drab traffic island in the western city of Nara, Japanese media reported.

It was the first assassination of a sitting or former Japanese premier since the days of prewar militarism in the 1930s, Reuters said.

The hospital that tried to save him said he died at 5:03 p.m. (0803 GMT), about five and a half hours after he was shot. A doctor said Abe had bled to death from two deep wounds, one on the right side of his neck. He had no vital signs when he was brought in.

Speaking before Abe's death was announced, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned the shooting in the "strongest terms" while Japanese people and world leaders expressed shock.

"This attack is an act of brutality that happened during the elections - the very foundation of our democracy - and is absolutely unforgivable," said Kishida, struggling to keep his emotions in check.

A fire department official had said Abe appeared to be in a state of cardiac arrest when airlifted to hospital.

Police said a 41-year-old man suspected of carrying out the shooting had been arrested. NHK quoted the suspect, identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, as telling police he as dissatisfied with Abe and wanted to kill him.

Abe was making a campaign speech outside a train station when two shots rang out at about 11:30 a.m. (0230 GMT). Security officials were then seen tackling a man in a grey T-shirt and beige trousers.

"There was a loud bang and then smoke," businessman Makoto Ichikawa, who was at the scene, told Reuters, adding that the gun was the size of a television camera.

"The first shot, no one knew what was going on, but after the second shot, what looked like special police tackled him."

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Earlier, Kyodo news service published a photograph of Abe lying face-up on the street by a guardrail, blood on his white shirt. People were crowded around him, one administering heart massage.

Nara emergency services said he had been wounded on the right side of his neck and left clavicle. His brother, Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi, had said Abe was getting blood transfusions.

NHK showed live footage of Abe's wife, Akie, on her way by train to the hospital where he was being treated.

Airo Hino, political science professor at Waseda University, said such a shooting was unprecedented in Japan. "There has never been anything like this," he said.

Senior Japanese politicians are accompanied by armed security agents but often get close to the public, especially during political campaigns when they make roadside speeches and shake hands with passersby.

In 2007, the mayor of Nagasaki was shot and killed by a yakuza gangster. The head of the Japan Socialist Party was assassinated during a speech in 1960 by a right-wing youth with a samurai short sword. A few other prominent postwar politicians were attacked but not injured.

Police said the suspected shooter was a resident of Nara. Media said he had served in Japan's military for three years until 2005. Defense Minister Kishi declined to comment on that.

Abe served two terms as prime minister, stepping down in 2020 citing ill health. But he has remained a dominant presence over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), controlling one of its major factions.

Kishida, Abe's protege, had been hoping to use the election to emerge from Abe's shadow and define his premiership, analysts have said. Kishida suspended his election campaign after the shooting. All main political parties condemned the attack.



The Seven States That Will Decide the US Presidency

Voters are reflected in a window near an American flag as they mark their ballots during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP)
Voters are reflected in a window near an American flag as they mark their ballots during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP)
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The Seven States That Will Decide the US Presidency

Voters are reflected in a window near an American flag as they mark their ballots during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP)
Voters are reflected in a window near an American flag as they mark their ballots during early voting in the general election, Friday, Nov. 1, 2024, at City Hall in Providence, R.I. (AP)

US Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump are hurtling toward their November 5 election showdown, one of the closest contests in modern American history.

And in the handful of critical states framing the 2024 race, there is little daylight between the rivals with barely a week before Election Day.

Under the US Constitution, America's founding fathers established that each of the 50 states would hold its own vote for president.

Under the complex Electoral College system, each state has a certain number of "electors," based on population. Most states have a winner-take-all system that awards all electors to whoever wins the popular vote.

With candidates needing 270 of the 538 electoral votes to win, elections tend to be decided in the hotly contested "swing states" with a history of alternating between Republican and Democratic candidates.

This year, there are seven such battlegrounds, and every one is a toss-up within the margin of error. Here is a look:

- Pennsylvania (19 Electoral College votes) -

Pennsylvania was once reliably Democratic, but these days, they don't come much tighter than the Keystone State.

Republican Trump won the most populous battleground, with 13 million residents, by 0.7 percentage points in 2016. Joe Biden claimed it by 1.2 percentage points in 2020.

Known for its "Rust Belt" cities like Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania has been blighted for decades by the steady decline of its industrial manufacturing base.

Trump and Harris have campaigned repeatedly in the eastern state, where the pair held their one and only presidential debate. Trump, who survived an assassination attempt at a July rally in Pennsylvania, is courting the rural white population and warning that migrants are overwhelming small towns.

Harris is touting recent infrastructure wins, and in Pittsburgh she outlined plans to invest $100 billion in manufacturing, a key issue for state residents.

- Georgia (16) -

This southeastern state was an election flashpoint at the end of Trump's first term, and the controversy simmers.

Prosecutors in Georgia indicted Trump in an election interference case after he called state officials urging them to "find" enough votes to overturn Biden's narrow 2020 victory.

But in a boost for Trump, the case is paused until after the election.

Biden was the first Democrat to win the Peach State since 1992. Demographic changes are likely to benefit Harris, who has courted minority voters across Georgia.

- North Carolina (16) -

The southeastern state has voted Democratic only once since 1980, but Harris believes it's back in play.

The population, now over 10 million, is expanding and growing more diverse, benefiting Democrats.

Complicating matters for Trump, a scandal involving the state's Republican gubernatorial candidate has infuriated party officials who worry it could sink Trump in a close race.

As in neighboring Georgia, one wild card is how the devastation from storm Helene, which recently laid waste to towns in western North Carolina, might impact the vote.

- Michigan (15) -

Trump flipped Michigan, a former Democratic stronghold, on his way to defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Biden returned it to the blue column in 2020, buoyed by unionized workers and a large Black community.

But this time, Harris risks losing the support of a 200,000-strong Arab-American community that has denounced Biden's -- and by extension her -- handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

- Arizona (11) -

The Grand Canyon state was among 2020's tightest races, with Biden triumphing by just 10,457 votes.

Trump hopes frustrations over the Biden-Harris administration's immigration policy will swing Arizona, which shares a border with Mexico, back in his favor.

Harris visited Arizona's border in September vowing to crack down on migration and work on reviving last year's bipartisan border bill, which she said Trump "tanked" for political purposes.

- Wisconsin (10) -

Clinton lost Wisconsin after giving the state a wide berth during the 2016 campaign.

As with Midwestern neighbor Michigan, it was a different story when Trump's opponent was Biden, who turned a 23,000-vote deficit into a winning margin of 21,000 for Democrats.

Trump considers it winnable, and his party held its summer national convention there.

While Trump led early against Biden, Harris has made the state race a nailbiter.

- Nevada (6) -

The Silver State, with a population of 3.1 million, hasn't voted Republican since 2004. Conservatives, buoyed by Trump's headway with Hispanic voters, are convinced they can flip the script.

Trump held a significant lead here against Biden.

But within weeks of becoming the Democratic nominee, Harris -- promoting her economic plans to help small businesses and combat inflation -- has erased that advantage in the western state, whose largest city Las Vegas is dominated by the hospitality industry.