DAMASCUS, OCT 5 (AFP/APP): Syria will select members of its first post-Assad parliament on Sunday in a process criticised as undemocratic, with a third of the members appointed by interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. The assembly’s formation is set to consolidate the power of Sharaa, whose Islamist forces led a coalition that toppled longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad in December after more than 13 years of civil war and five decades of one-family rule. According to the organising committee, more than 1,500 candidates — just 14 percent of them women — areRead More

TOKYO, OCT 5 (AFP/APP/DNA): Sanae Takaichi is poised to become Japan’s first female prime minister, but many of her positions are socially conservative in an often still deeply patriarchal nation. Takaichi, whose hero is Margaret Thatcher, became head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Saturday and will likely take office later this month. She has promised to appoint a cabinet with “Nordic” levels of women, up from just two under outgoing premier Shigeru Ishiba. Takaichi, 64, has also said she “hopes to raise awareness” about women’s health struggles andRead More