Briefly

JAPAN

PM's son to resign amid public outrage

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Monday his son is resigning as his executive policy secretary, taking responsibility for using the prime minister's residence for a private party that triggered public outrage. Shotaro Kishida, the PM's eldest son, invited a group of people to a year-end party on Dec 30 at the Prime Minister's Official Residence. Kishida acknowledged he had briefly greeted the guests but said he didn't stay at the dinner party. He said he severely reprimanded his son for the party, but that failed to quell the criticism from opposition lawmakers and public outrage which have pushed down his support ratings. Kishida appointed his son as policy secretary in October. The appointment, was criticized as nepotism.

SPAIN

Sanchez calls snap election after drubbing

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Monday called for a snap election on July 23, a day after the ruling Socialists suffered a drubbing in local and regional polls. Widely seen as a dress rehearsal for a general election that had been expected at the end of the year, Sunday's polls saw the main opposition group, the Popular Party, or PP, chalk up the largest number of votes. The right-wing PP also scored significant gains at a regional level, seizing six regions that had been led by Socialists. But as pundits were mulling over the Socialists' drubbing in the polls, Sanchez stunned the political establishment by saying he had informed King Felipe VI of his decision to dissolve parliament and call a general election on July 23.

BRAZIL

Maduro meets Lula on first visit since 2015

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro met on Monday with Brazilian leftist leader Luis Inacio Lula de Silva during his first visit to Brazil since 2015, taking advantage of warmer relations ahead of a regional summit. Brazil's former hard-right president Jair Bolsonaro had banned Maduro from entering Brazil when he took office in 2019, a measure that Lula lifted when he returned to power this year. Lula and Maduro met at the presidential palace and were scheduled to sign agreements.

DPRK

Pyongyang to launch military satellite

Amid the heightened military tensions on the Korean Peninsula, a senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, or DPRK, stated the country's firm stance on bolstering up its self-defense capabilities, the country's state news agency reported on Tuesday, in response to the recent anti-DPRK military moves by the United States and the Republic of Korea. ROK on Monday "strongly "warned against the DPRK's planned satellite launch, according to Yonhap news agency.

Agencies Via Xinhua