JAPAN: Shigeru Ishiba, the head of Japan’s governing party, said today that he plans to call a parliamentary election after he is formally elected as prime minister on Tuesday.

Mr Ishiba, who became leader of the Liberal Democratic Party on Friday, mentioned the October 27 election date as he announced his top party leadership line-up today, ahead of forming his ruling coalition cabinet.

YEMEN: The Houthi-led government has claimed that they shot down another United States-made MQ-9 Reaper drone over Yemen. 

The Yemeni broadcaster al-Masirah showed video footage of the missile striking the aircraft over the country’s Saada province. A single image online also appeared to show wreckage of the drone, with pieces resembling that of an MQ-9.

The US military did not immediately acknowledge the claim.

SOUTH AFRICA:  One more person has died from mass shootings at two houses in a South African street over the weekend, bringing the death toll to 18, officials said today.

Police are still searching for the assailants who opened fire on Saturday on people who had reportedly gathered for a family event in Lusikisiki village in Eastern Cape province.

The motive for the killings remains unknown.

SOUTH KOREA: A court gave three police officers prison sentences today over their botched handling of a 2022 Halloween crush in a Seoul nightlife district that killed nearly 160 people.

It was the first conviction of officials over the failure by authorities to prevent, or adequately respond to, the overcrowding that occurred in the popular Itaewon district.