Overview
- The partial U.S. federal government shutdown reached day 36, the longest on record, with expanding disruptions to services and aid programs.
- Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the Diet she is not considering dissolving the lower house now, stressing the need to focus on measures against high prices.
- At an LDP task force, Dainippon Ryoyukai chair Yohei Sasaki said police lack the experience for bear culling and opposed Self-Defense Forces involvement.
- The Health Ministry reported August public assistance applications fell 3.1% year on year to 20,703, the second consecutive monthly decline, with recipient households down 0.4% to about 1.65 million.
- CDP secretary-general Jun Azumi, speaking in Kitakyushu, said Fukuoka’s importance has grown for efforts to achieve a change of government ahead of the next lower-house election.