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WORLD NEWS Wednesday 28 september 2022
In Tokyo, Harris calls US-Japan alliance ‘a cornerstone’

By CHRIS MEGERIAN and Command and North Ko-
MARI YAMAGUCHI rea.
Associated Press A White House official,
TOKYO (AP) — U.S. Vice speaking on the condition
President Kamala Harris on anonymity, confirmed
met with Japanese Prime that Harris will tour sites
Minister Fumio Kishida short- at the DMZ and visit with
ly after arriving in Tokyo for troops there to demon-
the state funeral of assassi- strate that the U.S. commit-
nated former leader Shinzo ment to South Korea’s de-
Abe. fense is “ironclad.”
Abe, a former prime minis- Her visit, the first by a rank-
ter who was assassinated ing U.S. official since House
in July, will be honored on Speaker Nancy Pelosi went
Tuesday, and Harris is lead- to the DMZ in August, will
ing a U.S. delegation to pay come the same week
its respects. North Korea test-fired a
“The alliance between Ja- short-range ballistic missile
pan and the United States in apparent response to
is a cornerstone of what joint military exercises be-
we believe is integral to tween the U.S. and Korea.
peace, stability and pros- Harris will be the highest-
perity in the Indo-Pacific re- level American to go to the
gion,” she said Monday at DMZ since former President
the Akasaka Palace. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida meet at the Akasaka Donald Trump visited in 2019
Palace state guest house in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 26, 2022.
Kishida said Abe “poured Associated Press for a meeting with North
his heart and soul” into Korean leader Kim Jong
strengthening ties between The potential for war over “The president has ad- than 50,000 U.S. troops are Un. Harris, who is scheduled
their two countries. Taiwan, a self-governed dressed that issue. And based there. to spend three nights in To-
“I feel it is my duty to carry island that China claims if it comes up, the vice Harris on Thursday will visit kyo, is visiting Japan at a
on his aspirations,” Kishida as part of its own territory, president will align with the South Korea and its Prime politically fraught moment.
said. has troubled Japan, which president,” said a senior Minister Han Duck-soo dur- Kishida’s decision to hold
Abe forged closer ties would likely be pulled into administration official, who ing a meeting early Tues- a state funeral for Abe, a
with the United States at a such a conflict. requested anonymity to day said Harris will make conservative nationalist,
time of increased concern President Joe Biden said re- discuss a private meeting. a trip to the Demilitarized has been controversial in a
about China’s ambitions, cently that the U.S. would The official also said Har- Zone, the border area with country where such memo-
and Kishida is continuing his send its own troops to de- ris would “make clear our North Korea that is jointly rials are uncommon, and
push for a stronger national fend Taiwan if China at- ironclad commitment to controlled by the Amer- some oppose honoring him
defense. tacked. Japan’s security.” More ican-led United Nations in this way.q

Kenyan lawyer in ICC case linked to new president found dead

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Po- body opening,” the report that Gicheru’s 20-year-old culty breathing. He was in interference. Ruto denied
lice say a Kenyan lawyer says, noting that “the de- son, who told his mother stable condition at a local the allegations against him.
facing charges at the In- ceased is a known diabetic that Gicheru “had tak- hospital, the report said. It The court’s decision to drop
ternational Criminal Court and high blood pressure en something,” was later was not clear what hap- the case specified that
of bribing and threaten- patient.” found with “froth” coming pened. it did “not preclude new
ing prosecution witnesses The police report noted from his mouth and diffi- In comments to report- prosecution in the future.”
in a past ICC case against ers, family lawyer John Ruto was chairing his first
Kenya’s recently elected Khaminwa said the family Cabinet meeting on Tues-
president has been found had described Gicheru as day after being sworn in on
dead. stressed in the hours before Sept. 13 following a narrow
Paul Gicheru had pleaded his death. “He was not him- election win.
not guilty earlier this year self,” Khaminwa said. The ICC spokesman Fadi El Ab-
to all eight counts of inter- family intends to bring in dallah said he could not
fering with witnesses in the pathologists to “look at his comment on Gicheru’s
case against William Ruto, internal organs and other case but only on the pro-
who had been charged things,” he said. cedure to be followed: “If
with involvement in vio- The Kenya Human Rights there is information about
lence after Kenya’s 2007 Commission said it was the death of an accused,
election that left more than “concerned with the a confirmation of this infor-
1,000 people dead. shocking news of the un- mation should be submit-
A police report seen by The timely death” and urged a ted to the (trial) chamber
Associated Press said the swift and conclusive inves- and then the chamber is-
family of the 50-year-old Kenyan lawyer Paul Gicheru appears before a pre-trial chamber, tigation. sues a decision ending the
Gicheru found him uncon- via video-link from the ICC detention center, before facing The charges against Ruto case.”
scious at his home Monday charges against him of bribing and threatening prosecution and others, including previ- Judges are currently con-
night. “The body was found witnesses in the case against Kenya’s recently elected President ous President Uhuru Kenyat- sidering their verdicts in the
lying on the back, clean, William Ruto, which was ultimately dropped amid allegations of ta, were dropped in 2016 case. No date had been
witness interference, at the International Criminal Court in The
casually dressed and no Hague, Netherlands on Nov. 6, 2020. when the case fell apart set for a hearing to deliver
saliva or blood on any Associated Press amid allegations of witness the judgment.q