Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s party is likely to score a landslide victory in next week's lower house election, a survey by the Asahi newspaper shows.
A strong showing in Sunday’s election would solidify Takaichi’s grip on her party and give her a mandate for her expansionary fiscal policy, which could heighten concerns about Japan's finances and push bond yields higher.
Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party is likely to well exceed a majority of 233 seats out of 465 seats up for grabs in the lower house, according to Asahi's poll released on Sunday. That would be an increase from the current 198 seats. Together with LDP’s coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party or Ishin, the ruling alliance will likely reach 300 seats, the poll showed.
The largest opposition party, the Centrist Reform Alliance, is struggling and could lose half of its 167 seats, the Asahi reported.
Era Of Arms Control Over Nuclear Arsenals Set To End
The era of arms control over nuclear arsenals is about to end as New START – the last treaty capping operational missiles and warheads in the world’s two largest arsenals – expires on Feb 5, 2026.
The treaty’s end would mark the conclusion of more than 50 years of efforts by Washington and Moscow to restrain their nuclear stockpiles, despite persistent mistrust.
Those efforts began with the 1972 Strategic Arms Limitation Talks, signed by U.S. President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev, and continued through Cold War summits, including Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev’s 1985 meeting at a lakeside villa in Geneva.
After a brief lapse in arms control agreements, New START was signed in 2010 and later extended in 2021, capping each side's deployed nuclear warheads at 1,550.
In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Moscow’s participation in the treaty, citing U.S. military support for Ukraine. Despite the suspension, neither side has accused the other of violating the warhead limits, which remain in force.
Putin has since suggested that both countries could voluntarily adhere to the existing caps after the treaty expires. U.S. President Donald Trump, who has described the proposal as a “good idea,” has not formally committed to such an arrangement, saying instead that he would prefer a “much better” agreement involving Russia and China.
NASA Set To Launch First Crewed Moon Mission In 50 Years
NASA’s Artemis II mission will send four astronauts on a 10-day trip around the Moon, paving the way for a future landing and the eventual establishment of a long-term presence on the lunar surface.
NASA is days away from launching Artemis II, a historic mission that will send humans around the Moon for the first time in more than five decades. NASA is currently scheduling the launch of the Artemis II crewed lunar mission for no earlier than February 8, 2026. The 10-day journey marks a major step in the agency’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface and establish a sustained human presence there.
Artemis II is the second mission in the Artemis program and the first crewed flight of NASA’s powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft.
Four astronauts – NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, along with Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen – will travel beyond low Earth orbit and loop around the Moon before returning to Earth. While the crew will not land on the lunar surface, they will become the first humans to venture that far into space since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
The primary goal of the mission is to thoroughly test the rocket and spacecraft systems in deep space, ensuring they are ready for a future lunar landing.
The outcome of Artemis II will directly influence the timeline for Artemis III, the mission intended to return astronauts to the Moon no earlier than 2027.
Catch up on today’s highlights, handpicked by our News Editor at TIPP Insights.
1. China Slams Grammy Honor Given To Dalai Lama
2. Project Vault Aims To Shield U.S. Industry From China's Hold On Critical Minerals
3. Rafah Border Crossing Reopens Under Tight Limits
4. Investors Pour Billions Into Robots That Could Replace Human Labor
5. Crypto Markets Sink As Bitcoin Suffers Brutal Weekly Loss
6. Disney Beats Estimates As Theme Parks Drive Strong Quarter
7. Nvidia Shares Slip After OpenAI Investment Uncertainty
8. Devon, Coterra Agree To Major $58 Billion All-Stock Merger Deal
9. Social Media Platform Moltbook Draws Hype And Skepticism In Tech Circles
10. Judges Asked To Intervene After Epstein Files Expose Victims
11. Warsh Says Fed Balance Sheet Fueled Inflation
12. A Golden Age Needs A Strong Fed—Editorial Board, TIPP Insights
editor-tippinsights@technometrica.com
