TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday apologized for time being wasted in the latest session of the Diet and pledged to fulfill the government's responsibility to fully explain its policies to a public whose support for his Cabinet has tumbled according to recent polls. The nationally televised press conference on Monday was held amid public skepticism recently regarding the government's involvement in a favoritism scandal involving a school operator chaired by a friend of Abe's being handpicked for a state-backed project in a deregulated zone. The public was also incensed just prior to the ordinary Diet session ending, by the government using its majority to enact a controversial "conspiracy" law and circumnavigating some legislative procedures to achieve this. "The latest session of the Diet was far from constructive as discussions were constantly being criticized," Abe said, adding that too much time was spent on "discussions that were irrelevant to policies and for this I apologize to the people of Japan." He went on to say that at times he had used "heated language" to deny certain allegations being levied at him and that this was regrettable. Regarding allegations that the government, in particular Abe himself, had used his influence to ensure that Kake Educational Institution, chaired by a close friend of Abe's, was selected to open a new veterinary department at a university in a special deregulated zone in Japan, Abe said that the handling of the matter had led to a loss of public faith. party wristbandscustom wrist sweatbandsyouth wristbandscheap silicone wristbands24 hour braceletscustom fidget spinners
BEIJING - Compared with the delegates to the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), more CPC members from frontline production and women have been elected as delegates to the 19th congress. According to a statement by the CPC Central Committee's organization department Saturday, a total of 771 delegates, or 33.7 percent of the total, are from frontline production and manufacturing, an increase of 3.2 percentage points compared with the 18th congress five years ago. Among them, 198 are workers or migrant workers, 86 are farmers and 283 are professional technical personnel, it said. The representation of female CPC members and members from ethnic minority groups are also rising, reaching 24.1 percent and 11.5 percent of the total respectively, the statement said, noting that ethnic minority members come from 43 out of the country's 55 ethnic minority groups. The statement also noted that the election of the delegates was conducted in adherence to strict standards regarding political integrity and clean work styles and that 27 people, including Sun Zhengcai, former Chongqing Party chief, and Mo Jiancheng, a former senior official with the Ministry of Finance, have been disqualified during the process. A total of 2,287 delegates have been elected to attend the congress, to be held in Beijing from Oct. 18. The delegates, who were elected from across the country when local CPC committees held their congresses this year, will need to pass a further check to get final approval to attend the congress. The delegates were elected in accordance with the Party constitution and CPC Central Committee requirements, the statement said. The average age of the delegates is 51.8, about 0.2 year younger compared with the 18th congress, and about 70.6 percent of them are under the age of 55, according to Saturday's statement. The statement said 2009 delegates, or 87.8 percent of the total, joined the CPC after December 1978 and 416 of them joined the Party after January 2000, a fact indicating that the Party spirit is passing on to younger generations. Strict procedures were observed all through the process, from the nomination and candidate selection to the organizational review and election. Grassroots CPC members have shown enthusiasm and fully expressed their will in the election and the delegates elected are outstanding representatives of CPC members from various sectors and social spectra. Various measures were also taken to ensure Party members in remote areas and those engaged in field work participated in the election, the statement said, noting that the average participation rate has reached 99.2 percent. It also stressed that the election was a competitive one, and more than 15 percent of the preliminary nominees had been eliminated during the process. According to convention, some retired CPC members will also attend the 19th CPC National Congress as specially invited delegates, the statement said.
