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ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-claims-taliban-going-through-sort-of-an-existential-crisis\nIn his interview with George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, President Biden stated that the Taliban was “going through sort of an existential crisis” as to whether they wanted to be recognized by the world as a legitimate government.\nStephanopoulos asked, “What happens now in Afghanistan? Do you believe the Taliban have changed?”\n“No. I think — let me put it this way,” Biden answered. “I think they’re going through sort of an existential crisis about do they want to be recognized by the international community as being a legitimate government. I’m not sure they do. But look, they have —”\n“They care about their beliefs more?” Stephanopoulos suggested.\n“Well, they do,” Biden allowed. “But they also care about whether they have food to eat, whether they have an income that can make any money and run an economy. They care about whether or not they can hold together the society that they, in fact, say they care so much about. I’m not counting on any of that, but that is part of what I think is going on right now in terms of I– I’m not sure I would’ve predicted, George, nor would you or anyone else, that when we decided to leave, that they’d provide safe passage for Americans to get out.”\nThe American Psychological Association defines an “existential crisis” as variously “a crucial stage or turning point at which an individual is faced with finding meaning and purpose in life and taking responsibility for his or her choices” and “any psychological or moral crisis that causes an individual to ask fundamental questions about human existence.”\nOne would surmise from Biden’s characterization of the Taliban having an “existential crisis” that he believes the group that has a history of violently subjugating women might reconsider such a position in order to be welcomed on the international stage. The State Department wrote in 2001 regarding the Taliban’s history with women when they ruled Afghanistan between 1996-2001:\nUnder Taliban rule, women were given only the most rudimentary access to health care and medical care, thereby endangering the health of women, and in turn, their families. In most hospitals, male physicians could only examine a female patient if she were fully clothed, ruling out the possibility of meaningful diagnosis and treatment. These Taliban regulations led to a lack of adequate medical care for women and contributed to increased suffering and higher mortality rates. … In May 2001, the Taliban raided and temporarily closed a foreign-funded hospital in Kabul because male and female staff allegedly mixed in the dining room and operating wards. It is significant to note that approximately 70% of health services had been provided by international relief organizations — further highlighting the Taliban’s general disregard for the welfare of the Afghan people.\nIn the face of Biden’s protestations that the Taliban was considering changing their ways, The Daily Wire reported on Wednesday, “Photos emerged on Tuesday showing women and children in Afghanistan bloodied and unconscious after they became victims of Taliban attacks.”\nThe Daily Wire is one of America’s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.\nShare this: Twitter\nFacebook"

ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.theblaze.com/news/sean-penn-vaccination-crew-movie\nHollywood actor Sean Penn said he is refusing to return to the set of his latest film series until 100% of the crew is vaccinated.\nPenn is starring in “Gaslit,” a political series related to the Watergate break-in, but he is refusing to report to the set until NBCUniversal forces every person on the film crew to get vaccinated.\n“My feeling is this, is that if I believe, as I do, that if you want to not get vaccinated you have every right to stay home,” Penn said.\n“I do not believe people have a right to, you know, point loaded guns in other people’s faces, which is what they do when they go unvaxxed into the population,” he explained. “So with knowing that there are restraints on the federal government and that private companies are able to mandate vaccination, I just didn’t want to be complicit in being part of a company that wasn’t doing that.”\nPenn went on to say that the social distancing guidelines already in place were not stringent enough.\n“So I will be returning to the set when 100% of the crew, because they try to focus this on zone one, meaning those who are involved directly with actors, and I think it’s something of an obscenity because you’re not caring for those other people that are in the other unions,” he added.\nIn another interview, he said that vaccines should be mandated by the government.\nThe series is being filmed in California where the Delta variant of the coronavirus is fueling a resurgence of the pandemic. The state is seeing a seven-day average of 13,000 new daily cases after experiencing a previous peak of 45,000 new daily cases in December. Deaths have stabilized at 89 per day after a previous high of 600 daily deaths in January.\nThe famously liberal actor tried to take a swipe at Evangelical Christians in February but was mocked mercilessly for his ignorance of his target.\nHere’s the video of Penn’s comments:\nSean Penn on not returning to ‘Gaslit’ until entire crew is vaccinated\nwww.youtube.com\nShare this: Twitter\nFacebook"

ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.oann.com/venezuelas-pdvsa-cedes-stake-in-dominican-oil-refinery-in-debt-swap/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=venezuelas-pdvsa-cedes-stake-in-dominican-oil-refinery-in-debt-swap\nFILE PHOTO: State oil company PDVSA’s logo is seen at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela May 17, 2019. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado FILE PHOTO: State oil company PDVSA’s logo is seen at a gas station in Caracas, Venezuela May 17, 2019. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado\nAugust 20, 2021\nBy Luc Cohen\n(Reuters) – Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA has given up its 49% stake in a Dominican refinery as part of a swap for some of its defaulted bonds, the Dominican Republic’s finance ministry and Venezuela’s oil minister said in statements on Thursday.\nThe transaction represents a small breakthrough between the company and its creditors as U.S. sanctions, aimed at ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, complicate efforts to restructure billions of dollars in debt that PDVSA and the government have defaulted on amidst an economic collapse.\nAs part of the deal, PDVSA subsidiary PDV Caribe S.A. first swapped its shares in the 34,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Refidomsa refinery for bonds held by a company named PATSA Ltd, a unit of Dominican cocoa company Grupo Rizek, which the finance ministry described as a “facilitator” of the transaction.\nPATSA then immediately sold the shares to the Dominican government, which already owned the remaining 51% stake in the plant, for 74 million euros ($88.1 million). The plant is now fully-owned by the Dominican government.\nThat was far below the $135 million PDVSA paid for the minority stake in Refidomsa in 2010 as part of the late former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’ efforts at boosting the OPEC member’s influence in the Caribbean through petrodiplomacy. PDVSA has neither sent crude to the refinery, nor received refined products from the plant, for several years.\nVenezuelan oil minister Tareck El Aissami said in a statement posted to Twitter that Venezuela and PDVSA reduced its outstanding debt as a result of the deal, without providing details.\n“This transaction demonstrates the firm commitment of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and PDVSA to comply with their contractual obligations, despite the criminal external restrictions,” the statement said, referring to U.S. sanctions on the company.\nThe Dominican Republic’s finance ministry said the sanctions had complicated Refidomsa’s ability to get credit and invest in expansion projects. It said it informed the U.S. government of the deal and that Washington did not object.\nThe United States under President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on PDVSA in 2019 to cut off cash flow to Maduro, who it labels a dictator and accuses of corruption, election-rigging and human rights violations. The Venezuelan government denies this and accuses the U.S. of pushing for regime change.\n(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Grant McCool and Aurora Ellis)\nShare this: Twitter\nFacebook"

ERROR: type should be string, got "https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2021/08/19/fbi-raids-home-of-couple-accused-of-january-6-capitol-trespassing-aims-gun-at-their-child-father-claims-n1471173\nAgents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) raided a farm near Covington, Ga., looking for a husband-and-wife team accused of walking into the Capitol on January 6. The couple insists they didn’t enter the building and claims the FBI aimed a gun with a laser sight at their 11-year-old daughter. Forty FBI agents, reportedly arriving in four armored vehicles, moved in on the family’s farm at 7 a.m. on August 10.\nFederal agents raided the home of Donnie Hyatt on his farm in Covington, GA. Hyatt is a member of the 111% militia. He was at the Capitol on Jan 6, but hasn’t yet been charged. He claims he was only listening to what was happening inside with a scanner. https://t.co/L3xSvzg9b4 — Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 15, 2021\nDonnie Hyatt claims he was driving down his long driveway when the FBI moved in. “They had my 11-year-old daughter at gunpoint” Hyatt told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He claims his daughter had laser sights trained on her and the girl “is pretty shaken” by the whole thing. “She still shakes when she talks about it.”\nFact-O-Rama! The Daily Mail claims five people were killed in the January 6 protest gone bad. This is a blatant lie. The only person who “got killed” was Ashli Babbitt, who was shot by a Capitol cop.\nHyatt and his wife are associated with Chris Hill, the leader of a far-right militia group called the “111% Security Force.” Hyatt claims he knows Hill on a personal level, and that his wife speak with him frequently, but insists they are not members of the group.\nGame On\nHill announced the raid on Hyatt’s farm on Wednesday, using a social media site called Clapper (he has been banned from Facebook, YouTube, and other social media outlets).\n“The roundup has begun. The police state has begun,” Hill wrote. “All you have to do is simply stand on American soil and your constitutional rights are trampled, your life is ruined and you get raided, Weaver-style, in front of the family,” he continued, referencing the 1992 raid of the home of Randy Weaver, a man from Ruby Ridge, Idaho. An 11-day standoff between Weaver and the feds ensued, leaving the man’s wife and 14-year-old son dead, as well as a U.S. Marshal.\nAntifa supporters couldn’t be happier with the raid on the Hyatt home.\nOh boy… according to a panicked “red alert” shared yesterday by III% Security Force militia leader Chris Hill, III%SFers Annemarie Katherine Hyatt (“Honey Badger”) & Donnie Britton Hyatt (“LibertyOrDeath”) of Oxford GA were raided by the Feds on Wednesday over Jan. 6th in DC. pic.twitter.com/yaDLsKqFf4 — Atlanta Antifascists (@afainatl) August 13, 2021\n“I don’t participate (in the militia) for this very reason—I can’t have my life destroyed” Hyatt declared.\nThe FBI has been criticized for arresting elderly women and families for taking selfies in the Capitol and trying to get people to rat out their families and friends.\nHyatt said that although he and his wife attended Donald Trump’s January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally outside the White House, they did not join the subsequent siege on Congress.\nThe FBI refused to provide comment when contacted by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.\nThus far no one has been charged with trying to topple the U.S. government. When 350,000 show up with Trump flags, not guns, it’s not an insurrection. It is, at best, a mostly peaceful protest (by CNN’s standards).\nShare this: Twitter\nFacebook"

ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.oann.com/jj-says-veteran-duato-to-replace-gorsky-as-chief-executive/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=jj-says-veteran-duato-to-replace-gorsky-as-chief-executive\nFILE PHOTO: Johnson & Johnson Vice President and Worldwide Chairman Pharmaceuticals Joaquin Duato attends a news conference at Actelion headquarters in Allschwil, Switzerland January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann FILE PHOTO: Johnson & Johnson Vice President and Worldwide Chairman Pharmaceuticals Joaquin Duato attends a news conference at Actelion headquarters in Allschwil, Switzerland January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann\nAugust 19, 2021\nBy Manojna Maddipatla and Carl O’Donnell\n(Reuters) -Johnson & Johnson said on Thursday its Vice Chairman of Executive Committee Joaquin Duato will become chief executive officer from Jan. 3, replacing Alex Gorsky who has been at the helm for nine years.\nDuring Gorsky’s tenure, he oversaw massive growth in J&J’s cancer business, established it as a major player in the rare disease market, and led its development of the first single shot COVID-19 vaccine.\nBut he was also at the helm during some of the biggest crises in the company’s history, including allegations its Baby Powder contained cancer-causing asbestos and litigation claiming it contributed to the U.S. opioid epidemic.\nJ&J also faced major setbacks in its COVID-19 vaccine rollout earlier this year, when quality problems at a Baltimore manufacturing facility wasted millions of doses and delayed its production.\nJ&J said its market capitalization grew from nearly $180 billion to more than $470 billion under Gorsky and its share price increased over 170%.\nGorsky oversaw the growth of J&J’s cancer drug business from $2 billion in sales in 2011 to over $12 billion in 2020 thanks in large part to blockbusters such as blood cancer drugs Darzalex and Imbruvica.\nUnder his leadership, the healthcare conglomerate also acquired Actelion in a $30 billion deal, the largest in its history, to push into medicines for rare diseases.\nJ&J also made signficant breakthroughs in its vaccine programs beyond its COVID-19 shot, including innoculations against Ebola.\nThe drugmaker recently recalled certain spray sunscreen products after discovering some of them contained low levels of benzene, a carcinogen.\nIn 2019, it paid over $100 million to settle claims from states that it violated consumer protection laws by misrepresenting the safety and effectiveness of its transvaginal surgical mesh devices.\nGorsky said in a statement it was the right time for the transition for both the company and him personally as he focuses more on family due to “family health reasons.”\nGorsky will serve as the company’s executive chairman.\nDuato, who has worked with J&J for more than 30 years, was also the chairman of the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.\nHe will also be appointed as a member of the company’s board.\n(Reporting by Manojna Maddipatla in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur and Jane Wardell)\nShare this: Twitter\nFacebook"

ERROR: type should be string, got "https://conservativeplaybook.com/2021/08/19/15-million-votes-in-2020-election-not-accounted-for-report-finds/\nAlmost 15 million mail-in ballots were unaccounted for in the 2020 presidential election, and more than a million more ballots were undeliverable, according to a new study.\nThe Public Interest Legal Foundation, a conservative watchdog group on election integrity, released a research brief Wednesday assessing the effect of mass mail-in balloting in an election with a close presidential race in key battleground states such as Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin.\n“These figures detail how the 2020 push to mail voting needs to be a one-year experiment,” J. Christian Adams, president of the Public Interest Legal Foundation, said in a public statement.\nThe report found that 1.1 million mail-in ballots were undeliverable for various reasons. Election officials rejected another 560,814 mail-in ballots.\nAnother 14.7 million mailed ballots met an “unknown” fate, the report says.\nJoe Biden defeated Donald Trump in the presidential race with an Electoral College victory of 306 to 232 after winning Arizona, Georgia, and Wisconsin by 0.6 percentage points or less.\nA Washington Post analysis in February found that flipping fewer than 43,000 votes across those three states could have changed the election outcome. In the nationwide popular vote, Biden received 81,268,924 votes to Trump’s 74,216,154—a margin of 7,052,770 votes.\nThe Georgia Election Board voted Wednesday to conduct a review of election questions that emerged from Fulton County, the state’s most populous county.\nThe review panel will investigate Fulton County’s handling of elections–not only in 2020 but complaints predating that–and could result in the state’s choosing an administrator to replace the Fulton County Registration and Elections Board.\nThe report from Public Interest Legal Foundation analyzes the undeliverable, rejected, and unaccounted-for ballots in 2020.\n“To put these numbers in perspective, President Joe Biden carried Arizona by 10,457 votes, yet [the state’s] Maricopa County reportedly sent ballots to 110,092 outdated or wrong addresses,” the legal organization’s report says.\n“The same scenario roughly happened in Nevada, where Biden carried with 33,596 votes, yet Clark County bounced 93,279 ballots.”\nThe report adds: “The lesson is clear: Increased reliance on mass mail voting must correlate with aggressive voter registration list maintenance.”\nThe report also explains “unknown” ballots.\n“The U.S. Election Assistance Commission asks local officials how many ballots were not returned as voted, were undeliverable, or were otherwise ‘unable to be tracked,’” the report says, adding:\nThe USPS Inspector General most recently reported that only 13% of mail ballots in the 2018 general election used the official tracking system. This means there is a wide variety of things that can happen to a ballot in the ‘unknown’ column.\nA ballot can be put in the wrong mailbox and land in an unfriendly neighbor’s trash. It can be thrown out with your unpaid bills. It can be left outside for the wind to carry the last mile (like seen in Nevada in 2020). Election officials simply do not know what happened. Unknown ballots are the greatest blind spot in the American electoral system.\nThe report shows that Clark County, Nevada had the second-highest number of “unknown” ballots, behind Los Angeles County, California. Of the 10 counties with the most “unknown” ballots, seven are in California, a state that Biden won handily.\nDemocrats in Congress back expansion of mail-in voting in legislation known as HR 1 and S1, dubbed the For the People Act, which also would allow the controversial practice of ballot harvesting, ban most voter ID laws, and restrict states in maintaining voter rolls.\n“Bills like HR 1/ S 1 risk inflating these numbers even further, pushing our election system toward error, disenfranchisement, and ultimately widespread doubt about election outcomes,” said Adams, who was previously a Justice Department lawyer. “Some of the counties with the least experience in administering mail voting rejected the most ballots nationwide. If continued, 2020-style chaos will become the norm.”\nOfficials across the nation increased mail-in voting in 2020, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, the number of lost ballots doubled or nearly doubled in most categories from the last presidential election, the legal organization report found.\nThe number of “unknown” ballots almost tripled, from 5.9 million in 2016, according to the report. In 2016, officials reported 318,716 ballots as rejected and 568,412 as undeliverable.\nThe report identifies Maricopa County, Arizona and Clark County, Nevada as having the nation’s highest number of undeliverable ballots. The District of Columbia had the fourth- highest number of undeliverable ballots; all others in the top 10 were California jurisdictions.\nJurisdictions in heavy blue states that decisively went to Biden–among them New York, California, New Jersey, Illinois, and Washington–reported the higher number of rejected ballots.\nOnly nominally competitive states Pennsylvania and New Mexico had counties in the top 10 for rejected ballots.\nImage and article cross-posted from Daily Signal.\nThe Dangers of Speaking the Truth Diminish If We Work Together\nIt’s becoming harder and harder for patriots to ignore the deep suppression of truth that’s happening in America today.\nIn all of my years in journalism, I have never received as many threats or been attacked by big companies like Google and Facebook as I have in 2021. I’d say that ever since we started covering widespread voter fraud, government-endorsed Pandemic Panic Theater, vaccine cover-ups, Critical Race Theory, and the various Neo-Marxist and Satanic agendas at play, I’ve been targeted more in months than the entirety of my life prior.\nSpeaking the truth is getting harder with so much censorship and suppression rampant. Prior to 2020, I was not a “conspiracy theorist” or an “anti-vaxxer,” but if there’s one thing the onslaught of exposed lies have taught us in the last 18 months, it’s that we cannot take what we’re told by the “arbiters of truth” at face value. There’s an agenda behind every message, a narrative driving every story, and a series of gigantic cover-ups designed to keep the masses in the dark.\nThis is why we’re building a network of news outlets that are willing to go against the narrative and expose the truth. We need help. We’re establishing strong partnerships with like-minded news outlets and courageous journalists. Even as Big Tech suppresses us, the honest messages they’re trying to quash are finding their way to the eyes and ears of patriots across the nation. With the help of new content partners like The Epoch Times and The Liberty Daily, we’re starting to see a real impact.\nOur network is currently comprised of nine sites:\nSome of our content is spread across all of these sites. Other pieces of content are unique. We write most of what we post but we also draw from those willing to allow us to share their quality articles, videos, and podcasts. We collect the best content from fellow conservative sites that give us permission to republish them. We’re not ego-driven; I’d much rather post a properly attributed story written by experts like Dr. Joseph Mercola or Natural News than rewrite it like so many outlets like to do. We’re not here to take credit. We’re here to spread the truth.\nI’ve said much of this before. From time to time I reframe this request for assistance by taking the most relevant message of the day and adjusting the story accordingly. We’ve discussed this network in previous articles. Now, it’s time to talk about help. First and foremost, we need financial assistance detailed below. But we could also use more writers who are willing to volunteer their thoughts for the sake of spreading the message. Those who are interested should contact me directly.\nAs far as money, we’re looking better than we have in the recent past, but we are currently experiencing a gap between revenue and expenses that cannot be overcome by click-ads and MyPillow promos alone (promo code “NOQ” by the way).\nTo overcome our revenue gap and keep these sites running, our needs fluctuate between $2200-$7800 per month. May, 2021, for example, was amazing and we almost broke even. June, revenue was sluggish at best and we had to make up a big difference out of our pockets. But we’re not just trying to get out of the red. If and when we start getting enough contributions to expand, we will do just that. Very few get into journalism to try to get rich and we’re definitely not among those who do. Our success is driven by spreading the truth, profitable or not.\nThe best way you can help us grow and continue to bring proper news and opinions to the people is by donating. We appreciate everything, whether a dollar or $10,000. Anything brings us closer to a point of stability when we can hire writers, editors, and support staff to make the America First message louder. Our Giving Fuel page makes it easy to donate one-time or monthly. Alternatively, you can donate through PayPal or Bitcoin as well. Bitcoin: 3A1ELVhGgrwrypwTJhPwnaTVGmuqyQrMB8\nTime is short. As the world spirals towards radical progressivism, the need for truthful journalism has never been greater. But in these times, we need as many conservative media voices as possible. Please help keep NOQ Report and the other sites in the network going. Our promise is this: We will never sell out America. If that means we’re going to struggle for a while or even indefinitely, so be it. Integrity first. Truth first. America first.\nThank you and God Bless,\nJD Rucker\nBitcoin: 32SeW2Ajn86g4dATWtWreABhEkiqxsKUGn\nAll ORIGINAL content on this site is © 2021 NOQ Report. All REPUBLISHED content has received direct or implied permission for reproduction. With that said, our content may be reproduced and distributed as long as it has a link to the original source and the author is credited prominently. We don’t mind you using our content as long as you help out by giving us credit with a prominent link. If you feel like giving us a tip for the content, we will not object! JD Rucker – EIC\n@jdrucker\nShare this: Twitter\nFacebook"

ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.oann.com/most-japan-firms-want-suga-out-of-power-despite-olympics-success-reuters-poll/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=most-japan-firms-want-suga-out-of-power-despite-olympics-success-reuters-poll\nFILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a news conference announcing to extend a state of emergency on COVID-19 pandemic at prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, August 17, 2021. Kimimasa Mayama/Pool via REUTERS FILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga speaks during a news conference announcing to extend a state of emergency on COVID-19 pandemic at prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan, August 17, 2021. Kimimasa Mayama/Pool via REUTERS\nAugust 19, 2021\nBy Tetsushi Kajimoto\nTOKYO (Reuters) – A majority of Japanese firms want Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to lose office through general elections that must be held this year, frustrated with the lack of leadership in his handling of COVID-19 and its economic fallout, a Reuters poll showed.\nThe Reuters Corporate Survey shows the Olympics did not help keep support for Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga from sliding below a make-or-break 30% threshold in some domestic media polls, clouding the fate of his premiership.\n“I cannot hold expectations for the opposition but at least the Suga administration should change,” a manager of an information service firm wrote in the survey.\nEven if the ruling bloc manages to stay in power through the elections, Suga could come under pressure to step down if his coalition loses enough seats, some analysts say.\nThe ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) “may be a better choice in terms of corona response and quality of policymakers,” a chemicals maker manager wrote.\n“That doesn’t mean the ruling bloc should win more seats though. I want it to end up with fewer seats to hold a little over majority so it may regain a sense of urgency.”\nTo be sure, few companies expected change of power through the elections due to weak opposition parties. But many expected the ruling camp to lose seats at the election.\nWORTH HOSTING THE GAMES\nThe Corporate Survey canvassed 503 large and midsize non-financial firms of which roughly a half responded to questions on condition of anonymity.\nMost firms said it was worth hosting the Tokyo 2020 Olympics despite the fact that pre-Olympics polls had shown opponents of the Games overwhelmed proponents amid the pandemic. Still, 90% saw the Olympics having no impact on businesses, the poll found.\n“It was worth it in terms of investment for the future by hosting the Olympics in the flexible way to convey Japan’s attractiveness,” wrote a ceramics maker manager. “Direct inbound demand has disappeared but it’s true Japan has shown the world its ability to support Olympics athletes.”\nTwo out of five firms saw the LDP and its small ally Komeito keeping the current comfortable majority or winning even more seats in the lower house, allowing smooth steering of parliament.\nStill, in a sign of deepening doubt about Suga’s leadership and accountability, one third expected the coalition to lose many seats and another quarter saw them falling short of a majority and barely holding power. Of the 465 seats in the lower chamber, the ruling parties currently hold 305 seats.\nAsked who should succeed Suga, the popular outspoken vaccine minister Taro Kono topped the list of potential candidates, chosen by 39% of firms, followed by former defence chief Shigeru Ishiba and ex-Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida.\nOn policy priorities for the post-election government, economic measures and COVID-19 responses topped respondents’ to-do list.\n(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Editing by Sam Holmes)\nShare this: Twitter\nFacebook"