Japan poised to get first female PM after Sanae Takaichi wins ruling party leadership

Margaret Thatcher admirer beat her more moderate rival to become leader of Liberal Democratic party

Japan is poised to get its first female prime minister after Sanae Takaichi was elected as leader of the governing Liberal Democratic party (LDP) – a victory that should lead to her being installed as the country’s new leader in the middle of the month.

Takaichi, a rightwing politician who has voiced admiration for Margaret Thatcher in her quest to build a “strong and prosperous” Japan on the international stage, beat her moderate rival, Shinjiro Koizumi, in a runoff election at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo on Saturday.

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Bodies of two women who died in Victorian high country might have been there ‘two or three days’, police say

Police are working to identify the women and ask anyone who had seen two women appearing ‘disoriented’ in the area earlier to contact Crime Stoppers

Emergency services have recovered the bodies of two women who died in “blizzard conditions” in the Victorian high country.

The bodies of the women were found by hikers near a remote hut at Nelse, about 400km north-east of Melbourne, on Friday afternoon. Their deaths are not considered to be suspicious, police said.

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Potential contempt charges in relation to Kyle and Jackie O comments on Erin Patterson still under consideration

Office of public prosecutions says decision has ‘not yet been finalised’, four months after judge referred comments including Kyle Sandilands saying ‘lock that bitch up’

The Victorian office of public prosecutions has yet to rule out contempt charges in relation to comments made on the Kyle and Jackie O Show about the triple murder trial of Erin Patterson, four months after the co-hosts were criticised by a supreme court judge.

Justice Christopher Beale referred the comments to the office for contempt proceedings in June, after Kyle Sandilands made comments including, “just lock that bitch up” and called the case “not strong for her”.

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Europe needs to ‘get serious’ about threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine minister says

Sergiy Kyslytsya says Kremlin already at war with Europe and predicts that Vladimir Putin will ‘escalate escalating’

Europe needs to “get serious” about the existential threat posed to it by Russia, Ukraine’s deputy foreign minister has said, warning that Vladimir Putin will “escalate escalating”.

In an interview with the Guardian, Sergiy Kyslytsya – Kyiv’s former ambassador to the UN – said the Kremlin was already at war with Europe. He said Russia’s recent drone incursions against several EU countries were well-calculated and an attempt to “move the red lines”.

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Indonesian school collapse: death toll rises to 14 as crews pull more bodies from rubble

Dozens of students remain unaccounted for at Sidoarjo boarding school as rescuers bring in heavy excavators to clear large slabs of concrete

The death toll from a school collapse in Indonesia rose to 14 on Friday after recovery crews pulled multiple bodies from beneath the rubble. Dozens of students remain unaccounted for and the death toll is expected to rise.

Rescuers initially searched by hand for survivors after the building caved in on Monday. But with no more signs of life detected by Thursday, they turned to heavy excavators equipped with jackhammers to help them progress more rapidly.

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Israel-Gaza Live Updates: Trump Says Hamas Is Ready for Peace After It Agrees to Release Hostages – The New York Times

  1. Israel-Gaza Live Updates: Trump Says Hamas Is Ready for Peace After It Agrees to Release Hostages  The New York Times
  2. Hamas agrees to release all Israeli hostages outlined in Trump Gaza peace deal: report  Fox News
  3. Trump moves closer to Middle East peace — and maybe the Nobel Prize  NBC News
  4. Hamas accepts Trump’s plan to end the war in Gaza, but with conditions  The Washington Post
  5. Exclusive | Hamas Is Still at War With Itself Over Terms of Trump’s Peace Plan  The Wall Street Journal
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