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superace8 The Yomiuri Shimbun 7:00 JST, November 27, 2024 * * Motohiko Saito, 47, was reelected as the governor of Hyogo Prefecture on Nov. 17 after having been ousted from the post in September when the prefectural assembly unanimously passed a no-confidence motion against him over accusations of harassment. On the evening of the election day, people who had gathered in the area around his campaign office in a shopping district in Kobe’s Chuo Ward were extremely excited following his victory. The 10-meter-wide shopping arcade was packed with his supporters for dozens of meters, and people called out Saito’s name repeatedly as if they were at a concert. “The web has won!” a 43-year-old man from Saitama Prefecture shouted while live streaming the situation on YouTube. The man runs the “Fukumaro Net News Channel” on the video-sharing website. While working as a company employee, he used to live stream his commentaries on games on his channel but was unable to get many views. However, the number of views suddenly increased three years ago after he posted videos of Diet debates that he had edited. Having begun to receive several hundred thousand yen in advertising revenue per month, the man became a full-time “political YouTuber.” While continuing to produce videos, he visited places around the country where elections were being held. In July, he followed Shinji Ishimaru, 42, a former mayor of Akitakata, Hiroshima Prefecture, who ran in the Tokyo gubernatorial election. The man said he had no particular interest in Saito, but started gathering information on him on X, formerly Twitter, after seeing a post in support of Saito on the social media site in September by a celebrity he follows. The man said he then began to question the remarks that commentators made against Saito on TV. Through social media, the man also felt growing public interest in Saito and the issues surrounding him, so he decided to follow Saito for his YouTube channel. He went to Hyogo Prefecture one day before the official kickoff of campaigning for the gubernatorial election. Spending nights in his car, he live streamed Saito’s speeches. Considering the costs, the man said it was a “gamble” as to whether the videos would make a profit. But the number of views his channel received increased day by day, and topped 1.7 million on the day of the vote. “I earned the highest profit ever. It’s all thanks to Saito,” he said. The man distributed more than 80 videos during the campaign period. He also streamed videos of Takashi Tachibana, 57, another candidate in the Hyogo election and the head of the political group NHK Party, making remarks that are difficult to verify. “I do think there is information that hasn’t been confirmed to be true,” the YouTuber said. “But I’m fine as long as my viewers are pleased.” According to the Net Communication Research Institute, a think tank specializing in social media analysis, there were many YouTube channels supporting Saito, and the number of views of at least 13 exceeded those of Saito’s own YouTube channel. On social media sites, advertising revenue increases based on the number of views. For this reason, attracting attention is often considered to be more important than accuracy or fairness — a characteristic of what is called the “attention economy.” “There are believed to have been videos made for profit [in relation to the Hyogo election],” said Yoshimi Nakamura, the head of the research institute. “With the success of live streamers in the election, competition for attention is likely to intensify in future polls.” The spread of interest in Saito can also be seen in posts on X. The Yomiuri Shimbun asked Prof. Fujio Toriumi of the University of Tokyo, who specializes in computational social science, to analyze the posts on X during the campaign period from Oct. 31 to Nov. 16. It found that the number of posts mentioning Saito during these dates was 1.6 times greater than the total number of posts mentioning the other six candidates. Such posts were spread by a small number of accounts. Of about 990,000 posts that showed support for Saito, about 490,000 posts were based on 786 original posts from just 16 accounts. The 16 accounts made up only 0.9% of the total accounts that were related to the 990,000 posts favoring Saito. The Yomiuri Shimbun found that some of the posts were difficult to verify with evidence. For example, some of them linked the death of a prefectural official who accused Saito of workplace bullying and other allegations with the official’s personal information, which was unrelated to the accusation and was stored on an official computer. However, the police said they could not determine the reason for the official’s death. “It had been believed that the relationship between the spread of social media and elections in Japan is weak, but this time, it is considered that it had a certain impact on voting behavior,” Toriumi said. “People should approach social media with the assumption that there is misinformation on it, and we should discuss the role of social media in elections as a society.”

MILAN, Italy (AP) — Atalanta went to the top of Serie A when Ademola Lookman scored with three minutes remaining to beat AC Milan 2-1 on Friday. Atalanta’s ninth win in a row was a fitting gift to coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who was awarded the coach of the month award earlier in the day for guiding his team to a perfect record in November. Charles De Ketelaere put the home side ahead with a towering header after 11 minutes only for Milan to level 11 minutes later. Theo Hernández released Rafael Leão on the right wing and his inviting cross was converted by Álvaro Morata. Milan, which lost Christian Pulišić to a knock before halftime, looked set to end Atalanta’s impressive run but Lookman nipped in at the back post to nod home a corner in the dying moments. Atalanta has 34 points, two more than Napoli, which has a game in hand against Lazio on Sunday. Milan was in seventh place. Serie A champion Inter defeated Parma 3-1 and extended the Milan club’s unbeaten run to 13 games. Federico Dimarco put the home side ahead five minutes before halftime when he worked a neat one-two with Henrikh Mkhitaryan and fired a low shot past Zion Suzuki. Nicolò Barella made it two eight minutes into the second half when he finished a fast counterattack with aplomb. Marcos Thuram's 10th goal of the season made it 3-0 in the 66th. A Matteo Darmian own goal gave some late consolation for Parma. AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

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Team Canada Adding Canadiens’ Montembeault to 4 Nations Face-Off Roster Isn’t PoliticalA ceasefire deal that could end more than a year of cross-border fighting between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah militant group won backing from Israeli leaders Tuesday, raising hopes and renewing difficult questions in a region gripped by conflict. Hezbollah leaders also signaled tentative backing for the U.S.-brokered deal, which offers both sides an off-ramp from hostilities that have driven more than 1.2 million Lebanese and 50,000 Israelis from their homes. Recommended Videos An intense bombing campaign by Israel has killed more than 3,700 people, many of them civilians, Lebanese officials say. But while the deal, set to take effect early Wednesday, could significantly calm the tensions that have inflamed the region, it does little directly to resolve the much deadlier war that has raged in Gaza since the Hamas attack on southern Israel in October 2023 that killed 1,200 people. Hezbollah, which began firing scores of rockets into Israel the following day in support of Hamas, has previously said it would keep fighting until there was a stop to the fighting in Gaza. Here’s what to know about the tentative ceasefire agreement and its potential implications: The terms of the deal The agreement reportedly calls for a 60-day halt in fighting that would see Israeli troops retreat to their side of the border while requiring Hezbollah to end its armed presence in a broad swath of southern Lebanon. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that the deal is set to take effect at 4 a.m. local time on Wednesday (9 p.m. EST Tuesday). Under the deal, thousands of Lebanese troops and U.N. peacekeepers are to deploy to the region south of the Litani River. An international panel lead by the U.S. would monitor compliance by all sides. Biden said the deal “was designed to be a permanent cessation of hostilities.” Israel has demanded the right to act should Hezbollah violate its obligations. Lebanese officials have rejected writing that into the proposal. Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz insisted Tuesday that the military would strike Hezbollah if the U.N. peacekeeping force, known as UNIFIL , does not provide “effective enforcement” of the deal. Lingering uncertainty A Hezbollah leader said the group's support for the deal hinged on clarity that Israel would not renew its attacks. “After reviewing the agreement signed by the enemy government, we will see if there is a match between what we stated and what was agreed upon by the Lebanese officials,” Mahmoud Qamati, deputy chair of Hezbollah’s political council, told the Qatari satellite news network Al Jazeera. “We want an end to the aggression, of course, but not at the expense of the sovereignty of the state” of Lebanon, he said. The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said Tuesday that Israel’s security concerns had been addressed in the deal also brokered by France. Where the fighting has left both sides After months of cross-border bombings, Israel can claim major victories, including the killing of Hezbollah’s top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, most of his senior commanders and the destruction of extensive militant infrastructure. A complex attack in September involving the explosion of hundreds of walkie-talkies and pagers used by Hezbollah was widely attributed to Israel, signaling a remarkable penetration of the militant group. The damage inflicted on Hezbollah has come not only in its ranks, but to the reputation it built by fighting Israel to a stalemate in the 2006 war. Still, its fighters managed to put up heavy resistance on the ground, slowing Israel’s advance while continuing to fire scores of rockets, missiles and drones across the border each day. The ceasefire offers relief to both sides, giving Israel’s overstretched army a break and allowing Hezbollah leaders to tout the group’s effectiveness in holding their ground despite Israel’s massive advantage in weaponry. But the group is likely to face a reckoning, with many Lebanese accusing it of tying their country’s fate to Gaza’s at the service of key ally Iran, inflicting great damage on a Lebanese economy that was already in grave condition. No answers for Gaza Until now, Hezbollah has insisted that it would only halt its attacks on Israel when it agreed to stop fighting in Gaza. Some in the region are likely to view a deal between the Lebanon-based group and Israel as a capitulation. In Gaza, where officials say the war has killed more than 44,000 Palestinians, Israel’s attacks have inflicted a heavy toll on Hamas, including the killing of the group’s top leaders. But Hamas fighters continue to hold scores of Israeli hostages, giving the militant group a bargaining chip if indirect ceasefire negotiations resume. Hamas is likely to continue to demand a lasting truce and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza in any such deal. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas offered a pointed reminder Tuesday of the intractability of the war, demanding urgent international intervention. “The only way to halt the dangerous escalation we are witnessing in the region, and maintain regional and international stability, security and peace, is to resolve the question of Palestine,” he said in a speech to the U.N. read by his ambassador.MILAN, Italy (AP) — Atalanta went to the top of Serie A when Ademola Lookman scored with three minutes remaining to beat AC Milan 2-1 on Friday. Atalanta’s ninth win in a row was a fitting gift to coach Gian Piero Gasperini, who was awarded the coach of the month award earlier in the day for guiding his team to a perfect record in November. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

OAK PARK, Mich. (WXYZ) — Lawmakers returned to Lansing on Tuesday for the lame-duck session. Now, state and local leaders are urging the Senate and the governor to pass reforms on revenue sharing. If it doesn't pass, the legislation dies and will need to be reintroduced next session. Police, fire and road repair are three services we're all familiar with that benefit from state revenue sharing. That's when the state Legislature gives money to cities, townships and villages to fund those types of services. But lawmakers are concerned because the amount varies from year to year and that leaves municipalities guessing on how much they're going to receive to pay for those services. WATCH: News conference with leaders calling for passage of 'revenue sharing trust fund' "This is imperative that we have predictable and stable funding for our local communities that provide those services that we touch and feel and depend upon every single day," state Rep. Mark Tisdel said at a press conference Tuesday morning in Lansing. Tisdel and fellow state Rep. Amos O'Neal introduced bi-partisan legislation to establish a "revenue sharing trust fund" to take away some of the uncertainty for municipalities. The bill calls for a portion of the state's sales tax to go to the trust fund to take some of the politics out of the appropriation process. 7 News Detroit spoke with taxpayers in Oak Park about the proposed legislation. "It sounds good, but we'll have to wait and see how it progresses over time," Tim Jones said. Jacquelyn Sneed said, "As long as we don't have to pay more taxes, then I don't see anything wrong with it." As the bills stand, taxes won't increase. We also spoke with Oak Park City Manager Erik Tungate. "Since 2004, this community has lost almost $39 million in revenue sharing, revenue that we would have otherwise received. So, in order to make up for that chunk, we've had to go and raise taxes a few times. Thankfully, our taxable values since the crash of 2008 have recovered to some degree now. But it's been a long road," he explained. Tungate said the vast majority of the city's revenue is generated from property taxes, while nearly 20% comes from state revenue sharing. He said the city wrote its own resolution that urges lawmakers to establish a stable revenue sharing funding model. "The trust fund itself provides a stabilizing force to the revenue picture for communities like ours. So, it's a huge piece of the puzzle for us," Tungate said. The House passed bills 4274 and 4275. State and local leaders made the case Tuesday in Lansing for the Senate to do the same before the end of the month, so it doesn't have to be reintroduced next session. "We're begging the governor to make this a lame-duck priority to get it to the Senate and get the Senate to pass it... to pass it into law," O'Neal said. 7 News Detroit reached out to Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's office for comment. Press Secretary Stacey Larouche wrote: "We've increased revenue sharing to a 20-year high. We will review legislation as it makes its way through the process."