In brief: Dissolution sets in motion new election in Japan

TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe dissolved the lower house of Japan’s parliament today, paving the way for a general election next month. The dissolution will lead to elections expected on Dec. 14.

The vote is widely seen as an attempt by Abe to shore up support for his government after a series of finance-related scandals hit his newly named Cabinet this fall.

His ruling Liberal Democratic Party may lose some seats but is likely to retain a solid majority with its coalition partner in the 480-seat lower house.

The election follows Abe’s decision this week to postpone a planned increase in the consumption tax after the economy slipped into recession. He is portraying the election as a referendum on his economic revitalization policies and the postponing of the tax increase.

Protest of ‘disappeared’ trumps Revolution Day

MEXICO CITY – Tens of thousands marched in the capital Thursday demanding that authorities find 43 missing college students, seeking to pressure the government on a day normally reserved for the celebration of Mexico’s 1910-17 Revolution.

Officials had canceled the traditional Nov. 20 Revolution Day parade, and marchers carrying “mourning” flags with Mexico’s red and green national colors substituted by black suggested the country was in no mood for celebration.

“The entire country is outraged,” said housewife Nora Jaime. “It is not just them,” she added, referring to the 43 young men who haven’t been seen since being attacked by police in a southern city Sept. 26. “There are thousands of disappeared, thousands of clandestine graves, thousands of mothers who don’t know where their children are.”

The march in Mexico City was overwhelmingly peaceful, in contrast to recent protests that have ended with the burning of government buildings in Guerrero state, where the students disappeared.