International
The ruling coalition in Japan loses its majority for the first time since 2009
The ruling coalition of Japan formed by the Liberal Democratic Party (PLD) of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and the Buddhist force Komeito has lost its parliamentary majority in the general elections, as confirmed by the election results on Monday.
These two forces suffered a resounding defeat by obtaining as a whole of 215 seats in the elections held the day before, below the majority of the 233 that mark the majority in the Lower House of the Diet (Parliament) of Japan.
The conservative PLD of Ishiba took 191 seats, a sharp drop compared to the 256 it had from the previous 2021 elections, while Komeito won 24.8 less, according to the count of results collected today by the state chain NHK and in the absence of the final official figures being announced.
PDC, the big winner of the elections in Japan
The great winner of the elections has been the progressive Constitutional Democratic Party (PDC) of Yoshihiko Noda, the main force of the opposition, which has increased its parliamentary representation from 98 seats to 148.
This is the first time since 2009 that the PLD loses in elections the majority sufficient to govern, either alone or with its traditional coalition partner.
These results open a period of great political uncertainty for Japan. Both the Ishiba PLD and the Noda PDC have expressed their willingness to seek possible alliances that allow them to govern, although for now they have ruled out any option of doing it together.
Electoral punishment for the government party
The electoral punishment that the PLD has fit is attributed above all to the succession of scandals in which it has been involved in recent years, the most recent of them a series of cases of irregular financing of its parliamentarians that led to the resignation last month of the previous prime minister, Fumio Kishida.
Ishiba won his party’s primaries and campaigned for these generals with the slogan of “respecting the rules” and promoting the principles of honesty and transparency, but this message does not seem to have convinced voters.
The PLD “has not been able to gain the trust” of citizens and “has been tried severely,” said the current prime minister the day before when he learned of the projections that drew a gloomy panorama for its formation.
International
Venezuela Refuses to Repatriate Citizens Amid Tensions Over Chevron’s Departure
The government of Venezuela privately warned the government of Donald Trump that it will not accept its own citizens being deported, following the United States’ decision to end Chevron’s license to operate in the Caribbean country, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal on Friday.
The newspaper, citing sources familiar with the matter, notes that the Venezuelan repatriation agreement is becoming strained after a January meeting between Trump’s envoy Richard Grenell and the Chavista leader Nicolás Maduro, who is not recognized as president by the U.S. The Chevron issue has exacerbated tensions.
On Tuesday, the Trump administration ended Chevron’s license in Venezuela and gave the company a month, until April 3, to leave the country after President Trump criticized Maduro for not accelerating the deportation of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. as quickly as expected.
The WSJ indicates that Venezuela’s private warning could further hinder Trump’s promised mass deportation campaignof undocumented immigrants, which his administration has already had to pause due to the high costs of using military planes for repatriation flights.
International
Hearing suspended in Guatemala on revocation of José Rubén Zamora’s house arrest
Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín will know until next week if he should return to preventive detention, after this Friday the hearing was suspended for a possible revocation of his house arrest.
The resumption of the hearing was rescheduled for next Monday, at 10:00 local time (16:00 GMT), by order of criminal judge Erick García, since, as he indicated, he lacks the case file for the moment.
The possible return of Zamora Marroquín to prison is due to a case of alleged money laundering in 2022, the year in which the Public Ministry (Prosecution), whose leadership is sanctioned internationally under allegations of corruption, began a judicial prosecution against him.
The journalist’s potential return to prison takes place after this week an Appeals Chamber revoked the house arrest measures that had been granted since October 2024 to the former owner and founder of the media El Periódico, a morning in which he uncovered more than a thousand cases of state corruption.
According to the opinion of the magistrates of the Third Appeals Chamber, there was “an error” in the resolution of the judge who decided to release the journalist last year. The review of the measures was requested by the Prosecutor’s Office.
Zamora Marroquín was detained for the case for more than 800 days, between July 29, 2022 and October 2024, without his guilt being proven to date.
Before this Friday’s hearing, the journalist recalled in statements to the media that he has complied with all the court orders regarding his house arrest, and reiterated that he has not seen his family for more than two years, since they are abroad in the face of the risks they could encounter in the Central American country.
Likewise, he added that the persecution against him has been “physical and psychological but I am not going to give up” and described the Third Appeals Chamber as a court linked to the “corrupt” and Deputy Felipe Alejos, sanctioned by the United States for corruption.
Zamora Marroquín, with 30 years of journalistic career, was arrested on July 29, 2022, just five days after issuing strong criticism for corruption against then-President Alejandro Giammattei, between 2020 and 2024, and his close circle.
The journalist remained in prison for a judicial process for alleged money laundering, which according to international organizations such as the Inter-American Press Society (IAPA) has been plagued with irregularities.
International
Trump withdraws 400 million federal funds from Columbia University for anti-Semitism
Donald Trump’s government canceled this Friday subsidies and contracts with Columbia University in New York worth 400 million dollars “due to its passivity in the face of the persistent harassment of Jewish students,” after receiving on Monday a report commissioned by the administration on anti-Semitism on the campuses of several universities in the country.
This cancellation “is the first set of actions, and new cancellations are expected,” warns a statement signed by the general administrative services, which specify that Columbia currently has 5 billion federally committed.
The decision to cut subsidies and contracts has been made together with the federal departments of Justice, Health, Education and Administrative Services, after the operational group commissioned by the government with the specific task of detecting and denouncing anti-Semitic behavior has not received a satisfactory response from Columbia, according to the statement.
Complaints of anti-Semitism began to appear in Columbia and other campuses shortly after October 7, 2023, the date on which Hamas launched a terrorist attack against Israel, which was then followed by a war declared by Israel against Gaza that has been one of the deadliest in several decades.
That war gave rise to demonstrations against Israel as they had not been seen on university campuses for fifty years, with Columbia at the spearhead, with some anti-Jewish incidents that made the Joe Biden Government intervene and summon the rectors of several universities to Congress, several of which (including Columbia’s) had to resign.
Despite the fact that the protests have dropped a lot in terms of intensity, Trump went further than Joe Biden: first, he named that operative group on anti-Semitism on campuses, and second, he threatened to withdraw visas or residence permits from students accused of supporting “terrorist organizations like Hamas.”
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says that Columbia “for too long has left its homework with Jewish students on its campus, but today we show Columbia and the other universities that we will no longer tolerate that terrible passivity.”
And the director of the group that sent his report last Monday, Leo Torrell, abounded in the threats: “Freezing funds is one of the tools at our disposal to respond to this upsurge in anti-Semitism. This is just the beginning,” he said.
Curiously, in the protests against Israel, one of the most active groups has been the left-wing Jews, who have denounced that under the premise of anti-Semitism, legitimate political criticisms against the State of Israel are being included.
Former First Lady of Honduras Seeks Presidential Nomination Amidst Controversy
Venezuela Refuses to Repatriate Citizens Amid Tensions Over Chevron’s Departure
Hearing suspended in Guatemala on revocation of José Rubén Zamora’s house arrest
Tec de Monterrey honors one of its students for his contribution to nanotechnology in medicine
Defense Minister commends salvadoran soldier for Central American Cross Country victory
Ecuador prison riot leaves at least 43 dead
-
Central America4 days agoGuatemalan court’s ruling against Zamora labeled as an assault on press freedom by IAPA
-
Central America3 days agoGuatemalan surgeon sentenced after patient’s death and gruesome cover-up
-
Central America3 days agoGuatemalan suspect wanted for human smuggling network that transported 20,000 migrants
-
International2 days agoHearing suspended in Guatemala on revocation of José Rubén Zamora’s house arrest
-
International4 days agoChile’s President Boric reiterates support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, condemns Russia’s aggression
-
International1 day agoVenezuela Refuses to Repatriate Citizens Amid Tensions Over Chevron’s Departure
-
International3 days agoProsecutor orders investigation into potential ties between Milei and Libra crypto collapse
-
International2 days agoEgypt asks Trump for a “positive interaction” with his plan to rebuild Gaza
-
International4 days agoVenezuelan government marks 12th anniversary of Hugo Chávez’s death with vows of loyalty
-
Central America1 day agoFormer First Lady of Honduras Seeks Presidential Nomination Amidst Controversy
-
International4 days agoChile and Germany reaffirm commitment to multilateralism amid global challenges
-
International2 days agoTrump withdraws 400 million federal funds from Columbia University for anti-Semitism
-
International3 days agoU.S. and Mexico intensify border security measures amid ongoing migration crisis
-
International4 days agoU.S. introduces visa restrictions targeting officials responsible for facilitating illegal immigration
-
International2 days agoHamas asks Trump to also meet with the released Palestinian prisoners
-
International2 days agoTrump says it is more difficult to deal with Ukraine than with Russia
-
International2 days agoTrump says there may be a nuclear agreement with Iran “very, very soon”
-
International4 days agoPedro Castillo faces trial for rebellion without a defense lawyer
-
International2 days agoCuba, crisis and dollarization: without foreign exchange there is no country
-
International2 days agoGuyana asks the ICJ to require Caracas to stop the elections and any action to annex its territory
-
International2 days agoSafe abortion and without stigma, one of the biggest claims of Mexican women this March 8
-
International2 days agoColombian Defense Minister denounces the kidnapping of 29 uniformed men in the southwest of the country
-
International2 days agoSaudi Arabia will host a meeting between the US and Ukraine next week
-
International2 days agoColombia’s Defense Minister denounces the kidnapping of 29 uniformed officers in the southwest of the country