Shinzo Abe – Japan’s longest-serving prime minister – has died after being shot twice as he made a campaign speech in the south of the country earlier today, local media has said.
The 67-year-old, who served for a total of nine years over two terms, was gunned down in the city of Nara around 11.30am as he rallied support for the local candidate ahead of parliamentary elections on Sunday. His death was reported by public broadcaster NHK around six hours later, shortly after wife Akie arrived at his bedside.
Tetsuya Yamagami, 41 and a navy veteran, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of attempted murder while wielding what appeared to be a home-made shotgun. Police say he has since confessed, telling them he wanted to kill Abe because he was ‘dissatisfied’ with him.
(I was tempted to write up the assassination as being motivated by one of three factors. But as its former PM and not current, and as he was not PM during the years of the Pandemic of Globalism, it isn’t likely about Japan’s extremely rational views on the gene-therapies, or even his economic policies, or his NATO stance on the war. Or maybe he slept with his assassin’s love interest.)
There was additional text and ideas on this post which have disappeared AFTER hitting publish. Something odd is going on. Also, people have not been able to see the post from yesterday about Boris Johnson. It often won’t load, either by scrolling down on the main page, or even clicking the link directly.