Sweeping

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is on course for a sweeping victory in snap elections, with her ruling bloc securing a two-thirds majority in the powerful lower house, according to media estimates Sunday, a result likely to buoy her agenda while unnerving Beijing and financial markets. Early projections show the Liberal Democratic Party winning about 300 of the 465 seats contested — up from 198 in the last vote — positioning Takaichi’s party to regain a stand-alone majority and possibly a supermajority without…

Myanmar’s pro-military party claims landslide in first phase of junta-run election Myanmar’s dominant pro-military party said it secured an overwhelming win in the first phase of voting in a junta-organized election, a result that, if confirmed, would deepen the military’s hold on power after a 2021 coup. A senior official from the Union Solidarity and Development Party told AFP the party won 82 lower house seats in townships where counting was complete, out of 102 at stake in the first round. The tally implies the USDP…

President Emmerson Mnangagwa has promoted Lieutenant Gen. Emmanuel Matatu and named him head of the Zimbabwean Defence Force (ZDF), and elevated Major Gen. Asher Walter Tapfumaneyi to lieutenant general as commander of the Zimbabwean Armed Forces, the presidency said in a statement. The statement said the appointments and promotions were made “in keeping with the country’s Constitution.” It gave no further detail on the timing of the handovers, the officials’ previous postings or any accompanying changes to the defence…

Egypt’s campaign against online creators exposes a new front in the fight over free expression In the last weeks Egyptian authorities have detained and charged dozens of people who make videos, run social accounts or otherwise produce content for the internet, according to Human Rights Watch. The accusations are striking not for their specificity but for their vagueness — a range of crimes from “public morals” violations to “undermining family values” — and for whom they appear to be aimed at: a generation that came of age…