Fumio Kishida set to become Japan’s next prime minister

Fumio Kishida has won the LDP leadership election, all but assuring he’ll become the country’s next prime minister in the coming days. [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [View in your browser]( [Top of The World]( --------------------------------------------------------------- What The World is following Fumio Kishida set to become Japan’s next prime minister [Japanese former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, right, celebrates with outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga after being announced the winner of the Liberal Democrat Party leadership election in Tokyo, Sept. 29, 2021.] Credit: Carl Court/Pool Photo via AP Japan Fumio Kishida, Japan’s former foreign minister, has won the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) leadership election, [all but assuring]( he’ll become the country’s next prime minister in the coming days. Kishida, 64, known as an [establishment candidate with little public backing](, replaces outgoing party leader Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who is stepping down after just one year after public sentiment soured over his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kishida will be selected as Japan’s prime minister because of the LDP's majority in the lower house and has [vowed to counter](China's growing influence in the region, the pandemic-battered economy and the nation’s declining population. Elsewhere in election news, Tunisia [has named the country’s first female prime minister](, Najla Bouden Ramdhane, to lead a transitional government after the country's president removed the previous prime minister and suspended parliament. Washington Senators in Washington on Tuesday [grilled top Pentagon officials]( Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of US Central Command, over the chaotic and violent US withdrawal from Afghanistan. Gen. David Petraeus [reacted to the hearing](, telling The World’s host Marco Werman that there is a need to see Washington's inability to recognize how rapidly the collapse of the Afghan government would be and its consequences. “Now, even though there will be plenty of this relitigation that has gone on all day today ... I would hope that what we could do now is put some of that on hold a bit to focus on the immediate need, which is to ensure that the remaining US citizens and green card holders are evacuated,” Patraeus said. The Pentagon leaders will also appear before the House Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. United Kingdom British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is [seeking to ease concerns]( over fuel shortages in the country by placing army troops on standby to help distribute gasoline. The recent fuel drought in the UK has been triggered by a shortage of truck drivers and panic buying among some motorists. Gas stations around Britain have been forced to close over the past five days after running out of fuel, leading to long lines. [Government officials said Wednesday]( that they are now seeing signs of the crisis starting to let up despite many stations remaining shut. --------------------------------------------------------------- From The World [Landsat 9 will capture satellite images of a radically changing Earth, NASA scientist says]( [A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Landsat 9 satellite onboard launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, Sept. 27, 2021. It is the latest in a series of US satellites that have recorded human and natural impacts on Earth's surface for decades.]( Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA via AP Josh Willis, who works at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab at Caltech in Pasadena, California, has used Landsat satellite images in his own work. He joins The World's host Marco Werman to discuss [the power of Landsats]( to understand climate change. [Gen. David Petraeus: The US has a 'moral obligation' to help those left behind in Afghanistan]( [From left, Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of the United States Central Command, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley testify during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 28, 2021.]( Credit: Sarahbeth Maney/The New York Times via AP Pool Gen. David Petraeus, the former commander of US and allied forces in Afghanistan during the war, and a former CIA director, spoke with The World's host Marco Werman about the Capitol Hill hearings on the [chaotic US withdrawal]( from Afghanistan last month. --------------------------------------------------------------- Double Take If you go to the Kunsten Museum in northern Denmark, you may see an art installation of ... nothing! Danish artist Jens Haaning had an agreement with the musem to replicate some of his previous work that used cash to display the annual incomes of an Austrian and a Dane. Instead, Haaning [pocketed the $84,000]( and changed the name of the art to “Take the Money And Run” to represent his own working conditions. The museum has given him until Jan. 14 to return the money by the time the exhibition ends. [Screenshot of a tweet from Businessweek]( Credit: Courtesy of Twitter --------------------------------------------------------------- In case you missed it from The World --------------------------------------------------------------- - [José González, a musician drawn to styles around the globe]( - [Love lives of dinosaurs]( - [Music for night and day]( - [Efforts to preserve Maleku culture in Costa Rica]( - [Trans and nonbinary travelers continue to report discrimination 20 years after creation of the TSA]( - [Top soldiers defend chaotic US withdrawal]( - [Israeli (booster) shots heard around the world]( - [Tiny Catholic republic in Europe legalizes abortion]( - [Landsat 9 launches]( - [Jordan reopens border with Syria, resuming flights]( - [Does a US official’s visit to Saudi Arabia hint at a new approach?]( Don't forget to subscribe to The World's Latest Edition podcast using your favorite podcast player: [RadioPublic](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Stitcher](, [Soundcloud](, [RSS]( [The World logo]( [The World on Facebook]( [The World's Twitter account]( [Donate]( | [Forward to a friend]( | [Subscribe]( | [Edit your subscription]( | [Unsubscribe]( | [View in your browser]( Top of the World is written weekday mornings by the team at [The World](. 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