Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
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Japan PM Takaichi Reappointed Following Election

Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON
Sanae Takaichi gestures at the Lower House of the Parliament in Tokyo, Japan, 18 February 2026. EPA/FRANCK ROBICHON

Japan's lower house formally reappointed Sanae Takaichi as prime minister on Wednesday, 10 days after her historic landslide election victory.

Takaichi, 64, became Japan's first woman premier in October and won a two-thirds majority for her party in the snap lower house elections on February 8.

She has pledged to bolster Japan's defenses to protect its territory and waters, likely further straining relations with Beijing, and to boost the flagging economy.

Takaichi suggested in November that Japan could intervene militarily if Beijing sought to take Taiwan by force.

China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious.

Beijing's top diplomat Wang Yi told the Munich Security Conference on Saturday that forces in Japan were seeking to "revive militarism".

In a policy speech expected for Friday, Takaichi will pledge to update Japan's "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" strategic framework, local media reported.

"Compared with when FOIP was first proposed, the international situation and security environment surrounding Japan have become significantly more severe," chief government spokesman Minoru Kihara said Monday.

In practice this will likely mean strengthening supply chains and promoting free trade through the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) that Britain joined in 2024.

Takaichi's government also plans to pass legislation to establish a National Intelligence Agency and to begin concrete discussions towards an anti-espionage law, the reports said.

Takaichi has promised too to tighten rules surrounding immigration, even though Asia's number two economy is struggling with labor shortages and a falling population.

On Friday Takaichi will repeat her campaign pledge to suspend consumption tax on food for two years in order to ease inflationary pressures on households, local media said, according to AFP.

This promise has exacerbated market worries about Japan's colossal debt, with yields on long-dated government bonds hitting record highs last month.

Rahul Anand, the International Monetary Fund chief of mission in Japan, said Wednesday that debt interest payments would double between 2025 and 2031.

"Removing the consumption tax (on food) would weaken the tax revenue base, since the consumption tax is an important way to raise revenues without creating distortions in the economy," Anand said.

To ease such concerns, Takaichi will on Friday repeat her mantra of having a "responsible, proactive" fiscal policy and set a target on reducing government debt, the reports said.

She will also announce the creation of a cross-party "national council" to discuss taxation and how to fund ageing Japan's ballooning social security bill.

But Takaichi's first order of business will be obtaining approval for Japan's budget for the fiscal year beginning on April 1 after the process was delayed by the election.

The ruling coalition also wants to pass legislation that will outlaw destroying the Japanese flag, according to the media reports.

It wants too to accelerate debate on changing the constitution and on revising the imperial family's rules to ease a looming succession crisis.

Takaichi and many within her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) oppose making it possible for a woman to become emperor, but rules could be changed to "adopt" new male members.



Iran Guards Vow ‘Stronger’ Response Than in January if New Protests Erupt

A security personnel stands guard as Iranians take part in a protest marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 13, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A security personnel stands guard as Iranians take part in a protest marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 13, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
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Iran Guards Vow ‘Stronger’ Response Than in January if New Protests Erupt

A security personnel stands guard as Iranians take part in a protest marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 13, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters
A security personnel stands guard as Iranians take part in a protest marking the annual al-Quds Day (Jerusalem Day) on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan, amid the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, in Tehran, Iran, March 13, 2026. Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters

Iran's Revolutionary Guards, the ideological arm of the country's military, warned on Friday that any new protests against the authorities would be met with a stronger response than in January, when several thousand people were killed.

"The evil enemy, failing to achieve its field battle goals, is once again pursuing the instillation of fear and street riots," the Guards said in a statement broadcast on TV, promising "a stronger blow than on January 8" in the event of new unrest.

The warning comes two weeks into Iran's war with the United States and Israel in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says one of the aims is to "create, for the Iranian people, the conditions to bring down" the Iranian government.

US President Donald Trump has also called for Iranians to rise up and overthrow their government.

In December, protests against the high cost of living in Iran turned into a broad protest movement against the authorities.

It reached its peak on January 8 with what Iranian authorities called "riots" blamed on "terrorists" working on behalf of Israel and the United States.

The official death toll from Iranian authorities stands at more than 3,000, with the government saying the vast majority were members of security forces or passers-by.

NGOs based abroad have accused the security forces of deliberately firing on demonstrators.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency, based in the United States, says more than 7,000 people were killed.


Trump Threatens Iran Following New Wave of Attacks on Gulf States and Israel

File photo: President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio listen. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
File photo: President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio listen. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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Trump Threatens Iran Following New Wave of Attacks on Gulf States and Israel

File photo: President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio listen. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
File photo: President Donald Trump speaks as he meets with Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, and Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, Friday, June 27, 2025, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, as Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio listen. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Iran launched multiple attacks early Friday on Gulf Arab states, including dozens of drones at Saudi Arabia, following warnings from its new supreme leader about hosting American bases, and US President Donald Trump threatened major new retaliation.

“Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today," Trump wrote in a social media post. “Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.”

The comments came the day after Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to “not refrain from avenging the blood” of Iranians killed, and warned Gulf Arab nations to shut US bases, saying the notion of American protection was “nothing more than a lie.”

Intense airstrikes landed around Iran’s capital, Tehran early Friday, just before rallies were to begin for the annual Quds Day event in support of the Palestinians. Israel said its air force had hit more than 200 targets in Iran over the past 24 hours, including missile launchers, defense systems and weapons production sites.

With growing global concerns about a possible energy crisis and no end to the war in sight, the price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly over $100 per barrel as Iran kept its stranglehold on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil transits on its way from the Arabian Gulf to the open seas.

Brent prices have spiked as high as about $120 per barrel and are currently some 40% higher than when Israel and the United States attacked Iran on Feb. 28 to start the war.

Iran has been attacking ships that try to transit the strait, and Khamenei's comments — his first to the public since being named to replace his father, who was killed during the first day of the conflict — said Iran would continue to block the waterway.

In Iraq, recovery efforts were underway after an American KC-135 refueling plane went down, according to US Central Command. And a French soldier who was stationed in the north of the country was killed in an attack, the French president said Friday.

Iran launches new attacks on Gulf Arab countries

Iran has been attacking oil and other infrastructure around the Gulf region, and on Friday Saudi Arabia that it had downed nearly 50 drones sent in multiple waves throughout the early morning hours.

In Oman, two people were killed when two drones crashed in an industrial area in the region of Sohar, the Oman News Agency reported.

Sirens also sounded in Bahrain warning of incoming fire, and in Dubai black smoke billowed from an industrial area after a blaze authorities said was sparked by debris from an interception.

A building at the Dubai International Financial Center also sustained damage when hit with debris from what authorities described as a “successful interception.”

The DIFC is an economic free zone for banks, capital traders and wealth managers, home to exclusive restaurants and nightclubs for the city-state’s elite. Iran said earlier this week that it would target banks and financial institutions after an airstrike hit a bank in Tehran.

Nearly 60 people were wounded in northern Israel after Hezbollah said it had fired several rocket salvoes toward the area and at Israeli troops in southern Lebanon. Almost all the injuries were described as very minor.

One person was killed in southwestern Beirut in an Israeli strike, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry, and another attack hit an apartment in the capital, leaving it engulfed in flames. Following the attacks, the Israeli army said it had been targeting a member of Iran-linked Hezbollah.

In eastern Lebanon, a strike on an apartment wounded a local official with the Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood and killed his two sons, the state-run National News Agency reported. Israel for the past two years has targeted officials with the group, known as al-Jamaa al-Islamiya or the Islamic Group.

More than 600 people have been killed in Lebanon since the fighting began, the Health Ministry has reported and nearly 800,000 have been internally displaced, according to the UN refugee agency.

Iranian authorities say more than 1,300 people have been killed there, and Israel has reported 12 deaths. The US has lost at least seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.

In his Friday morning post, Trump said that "we are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise."

“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” Trump said. “What a great honor it is to do so!”

The US military said American forces have now struck more than 6,000 targets since the operation against Iran began, including more than 30 minelaying vessels.


Earthquake Hits Northeast Türkiye, Says Disaster Agency

 A working seismograph is shown in a display about earthquakes. (Reuters)
A working seismograph is shown in a display about earthquakes. (Reuters)
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Earthquake Hits Northeast Türkiye, Says Disaster Agency

 A working seismograph is shown in a display about earthquakes. (Reuters)
A working seismograph is shown in a display about earthquakes. (Reuters)

A magnitude 5.5 earthquake rattled northeast Türkiye on Friday, the country's disaster management agency said.

The tremor hit around 3:35 am (0035 GMT) in Tokat province, with no reports of damage, the Turkish disaster and emergency management authority said.

The agency added it was continuing to assess the situation.

The governor of Tokat announced that schools would be closed on Friday.

Türkiye is crisscrossed by several geological fault lines which have previously caused catastrophes in the country.

A quake in February 2023 in the southwest killed at least 53,000 people and devastated Antakya, site of the ancient city of Antioch.