- PSG held by Nice to leave Monaco clear at top of Ligue 1
- AC Milan fall at Fiorentina after De Gea's penalty heroics
- Lewandowski treble for leaders Barca as Atletico held
- Fresh Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Sucic stunner earns Real Sociedad draw against Atletico
- PSG draw with Nice, fail to reclaim top spot in Ligue 1
- Gudmundsson downs AC Milan after De Gea's penalty heroics for Fiorentina
- 'Yes' vote prevails in Kazakhstan nuclear plant vote: TV
- 'Difficult day': Oct 7 commemorations begin with festival memorial
- Commemorations begin for anniversary of attack on Israel
- Lewandowski hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- 'Nothing gets in way of team,' says Celtics' MVP hopeful Tatum
- India maintain Pakistan stranglehold as Windies cruise at Women's T20 World Cup
- 'We will win!': Mozambique's ruling party confident at final vote rally
- Tunisia voting ends as Saied eyes re-election with critics behind bars
- Florida braces for Milton, FEMA head slams 'dangerous' Helene misinformation
- Postecoglou slams 'unacceptable' Spurs after 'terrible' loss at Brighton
- Marmoush double denies Bayern outright Bundesliga top spot
- Rallies worldwide call for Gaza, Lebanon ceasefire
- Maresca hails Chelsea's 'fighting' spirit after draw with 10-man Forest
- New 'Joker' film, a dark musical, tops N.America box office
- Man Utd stalemate keeps Ten Hag in danger, Spurs rocked by Brighton
- Drowned by hurricane, remote N.Carolina towns now struggle for water
- Vikings hold off Jets in London to stay unbeaten
- Ahead of attack anniversary, Netanyahu says: 'We will win'
- West Indies cruise to T20 World Cup win over Scotland
- Arshdeep, Chakravarthy help India hammer Bangladesh in T20 opener
- Lewandowski's quickfire hat-trick powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Man Utd fire another blank in Aston Villa stalemate
- Lewandowski treble powers Liga leaders Barca to Alaves victory
- Russian activist killed on front line in Ukraine
- Openda strike briefly sends Leipzig top of Bundesliga
- Goal-shy Man Utd have to 'step up', says Ten Hag
- India bowl out Bangladesh for 127 in T20 opener
- Madueke rescues Chelsea in draw with 10-man Forest
- Beckett's belief rewarded as Bluestocking storms to Arc glory
- Trump on the stump, Harris hits airwaves in razor-edge US election
- Flash flooding kills three in northern Thailand
- Kaur leads India to victory over Pakistan in Women's T20 World Cup
- Juventus held by Cagliari after late penalty drama
- In France's Marseille, teen 'stabbed 50 times' then burned alive
- Ruthless Gauff beats Muchova in straight sets to win China Open
- India restrict Pakistan to 105-8 in Women's T20 World Cup
- England target repeat of Pakistan Test whitewash
- Penrith Panthers win fourth straight NRL title after downing Storm
- Weary Sinner happy for day off after battling into Shanghai last 16
- Pakistan's Masood warns England still a force without Stokes
- Madrid's Carvajal to miss several months after serious knee injury
- Israel pounds Lebanon ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Two elephants die in flash flooding in northern Thailand
Japan to formally elect new prime minister on October 1
Japan's new prime minister will be formally elected by parliament on October 1 following next week's leadership contest, a ruling party official said Wednesday.
Polls indicate that three frontrunners are emerging among the nine candidates to succeed Fumio Kishida as head of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the September 27 internal vote.
They are conservative economic security minister Sanae Takaichi, 63, former LDP secretary general Shigeru Ishiba, 67, and Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, son of former premier Junichiro Koizumi.
The conservative LDP -- which has governed almost uninterrupted for decades -- holds a majority in parliament, meaning the winner of the party election is essentially guaranteed to become premier.
Yasukazu Hamada, a LDP lawmaker in charge of parliament affairs, told his opposition counterpart that the party "plans to convene a parliament session on October 1" to elect the new prime minister, a LDP official told AFP.
The opposition party accepted the date, which will be formally announced by the government on Monday, media reports said.
Kishida, 67, whose three-year term was tarnished by scandals, voter anger over rising prices and sliding poll ratings, announced last month that he was stepping down.
In the leadership election, each of the LDP's 367 parliament members cast a vote, and another 367 votes will be determined based on the preferences of rank-and-file party members and supporters.
Polls by different Japanese media have put Takaichi, Ishiba and Koizumi in the lead, although this is no guarantee any of them will emerge as the eventual winner.
Koizumi would be Japan's youngest-ever premier while Takaichi, a vocal nationalist popular with the LDP's conservative wing, would be the country's first woman leader.
As a regular visitor to the Yasukuni shrine to Japan's war dead, which includes convicted war criminals -- her nomination would likely rile victims of Japan's wartime aggression such as China and South and North Korea.
A.Malone--AMWN