News Headlines - 07 September 2020

▽Cabinet support rate surges as Abe heads for the exit | The Japan Times

Support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s Cabinet soared after he announced his resignation and his right-hand man Yoshihide Suga emerged last week as the most likely candidate to replace him, according to two polls published Monday.
Cabinet support rose 27 percentage points to 62.4 percent in a survey carried out by news network JNN, and by 15 percentage points to 52 percent in a poll by the Yomiuri Shimbun. The polls signal public support for Abe’s overall record-setting run as prime minister, and an acceptance of the handover to Suga, who is expected to take over in mid-September and continue Abe’s policies, including monetary easing.
While the popularity of Abe’s Cabinet had been sagging for months amid a series of scandals and criticism of its handling of the pandemic, 74 percent of the Yomiuri poll respondents said they had a positive overall view of his nearly eight-year tenure, while 24 percent said they saw it negatively.

▽Leadership race for Japan's new main opposition party starts | The Japan Times

As Japan looks ahead to the ruling party's presidential election, which will effectively pick the country's new prime minister, official campaigning kicked off Monday in the race to choose the leader of a soon-to-be-formed major opposition party.
Yukio Edano, 56, who heads the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, and Kenta Izumi, 46, who is the policy chief of the Democratic Party for the People, have filed their candidacies for the Thursday election for the president of the new party.

▽Nissan received record 130 bil. yen loan guaranteed by Japan gov't - The Mainichi

The Development Bank of Japan extended a record 130 billion yen ($1.2 billion) to Nissan Motor Co. in May with a guarantee that the government will repay most of it in case of a default by the struggling automaker, sources familiar with the matter said Monday.
The guarantee is part of the 180 billion yen loan that Nissan received from the state-affiliated financial institution to weather the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Under the arrangement, if the automaker defaults on the loan, the government will shoulder up to 80 percent, or about 100 billion yen, of the guaranteed portion, using taxpayers' money.

▽Indian Army seeks China’s response on abduction of 5 men from Arunachal Pradesh - India News

Taking cognizance of reports of the abduction of five people from Arunachal Pradesh, the Indian Army on Sunday took up the matter with its Chinese counterpart the People's Liberation Army (PLA). A hotline message was sent to the concerned PLA unit by the commander of the Indian Army unit deployed in the area.
The matter first came to light on Sunday when kin of the abducted people posted SOS messages on Facebook. In those messages, the kin alleged that the people went hunting in a forest in the Upper Subansiri district in Arunachal Pradesh along the India-China border when they were abducted from the Nacho area.
According to reports, two people who were part of the same group managed to escape and informed the police immediately. News agency PTI, while quoting a senior official, said that both the police and Army are aware of the situation.

▽Man blows up part of house while chasing fly - BBC News

A man has blown up part of his house in France while trying to swat a fly.
The man, who is in his 80s, was about to tuck into his dinner when he became irritated by a fly buzzing around him.
He picked up an electric racket designed to kill bugs and start swatting at it - but a gas canister was leaking in his Dordogne home.
A reaction between the racket and the gas caused an explosion, destroying the kitchen and partly damaging the roof of the home in Parcoul-Chenaud village.