Asean Summit, Malaysia on Nov 21, 1015

Asean Summit, Malaysia  on Nov 21, 1015
Asean Establishes Landmark Economic and Security Bloc
"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”

“ … Here is another one. A change in what Human nature will allow for government. "Careful, Kryon, don't talk about politics. You'll get in trouble." I won't get in trouble. I'm going to tell you to watch for leadership that cares about you. "You mean politics is going to change?" It already has. It's beginning. Watch for it. You're going to see a total phase-out of old energy dictatorships eventually. The potential is that you're going to see that before 2013.

They're going to fall over, you know, because the energy of the population will not sustain an old energy leader ..."
"Update on Current Events" – Jul 23, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) - (Subjects: The Humanization of God, Gaia, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Benevolent Design, Financial Institutes (Recession, System to Change ...), Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Nuclear Power Revealed, Geothermal Power, Hydro Power, Drinking Water from Seawater, No need for Oil as Much, Middle East in Peace, Persia/Iran Uprising, Muhammad, Israel, DNA, Two Dictators to fall soon, Africa, China, (Old) Souls, Species to go, Whales to Humans, Global Unity,..... etc.)
(Subjects: Who/What is Kryon ?, Egypt Uprising, Iran/Persia Uprising, Peace in Middle East without Israel actively involved, Muhammad, "Conceptual" Youth Revolution, "Conceptual" Managed Business, Internet, Social Media, News Media, Google, Bankers, Global Unity,..... etc.)









North Korean defector criticises China in rare Beijing talk

North Korean defector criticises China in rare Beijing talk
North Korean defector and activist Hyeonseo Lee, who lives in South Korea, poses as she presents her book 'The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story' in Beijing on March 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)

US under fire in global press freedom report

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …

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Sunday, August 28, 2016

Japan PM pledges to invest $30 bn in Africa by 2018

Yahoo – AFP, August 27, 2016

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a session with Kenya's Ministry
 of Health and World Bank group at the Tokyo International Conference on African
Development (TICAD) in Nairobi on August 26, 2016 (AFP Photo/Simon Maina)

Japan will pour $30 billion (27 billion euros) in investment into Africa by 2018, including $10 billion in infrastructure development, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Saturday at a summit in Nairobi.

"When combined with the investment from the private sector I expect the total real amount to be $30 billion," Abe said at the opening of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD).

"This is an investment that has faith in Africa's future," he said.

Abe will use the conference to meet dozens of leaders from across Africa, among them Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and South Africa's Jacob Zuma.

It is the first time that the TICAD conference is being held in Africa, with all five previous events hosted in Japan.

The goal of the conference is to boost trade and aid to Africa, as Japan hopes that quality will trump quantity in the battle for influence against cash-rich China.

While Tokyo already has a well-established presence in Africa, its financial importance to the continent has long since been eclipsed by regional rival China.

The world's second-largest economy -- a resource-hungry giant -- recorded total trade with Africa of about $179 billion in 2015, dwarfing Japan's approximately $24 billion.


President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya visits the Mombasa Nairobi Railway built
by China Communications Construction on Jan. 24, 2014. (Photo/Xinhua)

Related Articles:




" .... Africa

Let me tell you where else it's happening that you are unaware - that which is the beginning of the unity of the African states. Soon the continent will have what they never had before, and when that continent is healed and there is no AIDS and no major disease, they're going to want what you have. They're going to want houses and schools and an economy that works without corruption. They will be done with small-minded leaders who kill their populations for power in what has been called for generations "The History of Africa." Soon it will be the end of history in Africa, and a new continent will emerge.

Be aware that the strength may not come from the expected areas, for new leadership is brewing. There is so much land there and the population is so ready there, it will be one of the strongest economies on the planet within two generations plus 20 years. And it's going to happen because of a unifying idea put together by a few. These are the potentials of the planet, and the end of history as you know it.

In approximately 70 years, there will be a black man who leads this African continent into affluence and peace. He won't be a president, but rather a planner and a revolutionary economic thinker. He, and a strong woman with him, will implement the plan continent-wide. They will unite. This is the potential and this is the plan. Africa will arise out the ashes of centuries of disease and despair and create a viable economic force with workers who can create good products for the day. You think China is economically strong? China must do what it does, hobbled by the secrecy and bias of the old ways of its own history. As large as it is, it will have to eventually compete with Africa, a land of free thinkers and fast change. China will have a major competitor, one that doesn't have any cultural barriers to the advancement of the free Human spirit.. ...."

Friday, August 26, 2016

Malaysian rapper freed after being held for insulting Islam

Yahoo – AFP, August 25, 2016

Malaysian rapper Wee Meng Chee said the song he was filmed singing inside a
mosque, which led to his arrest, was written to "promote harmony" (AFP Photo)

A Malaysian rapper, who was arrested for insulting Islam in a music video that was filmed inside a mosque and used the word "Allah," was freed on Thursday on health grounds.

Wee Meng Chee, who goes by the stage name Namewee, was arrested on Sunday over the song, entitled "Oh my God," when he landed at Kuala Lumpar airport after returning from overseas.

Police said he was being investigated for defiling a place of worship, with the intention of insulting religion, as part of the video was filmed in a mosque.

Namewee was held for four days in northern Penang state, where the offense allegedly took place.

If found guilty, the 33-year-old ethnic Chinese musician could be jailed for up to two years and face a fine.

Penang district police chief, Mior Faridalathrash Wahid, said the magistrates court had refused to extend his arrest because Namewee had health problems.

"Namewee is suffering from stomach ulcers," he told AFP. "Namewee has been freed on police bail and we are still continuing with the investigations."

"They had entered a mosque to do the video," Mior added.

The video features Namewee and three other singers in front of various places of worship, including a mosque as well Hindu, Buddhist and Taoist temples.

The song is in Mandarin, but the lyrics include religious terms including "Allah" and "Hallelujah," as well as the Islamic call to prayer.

It is illegal for non-Muslims to use the word Allah to refer to God in Malaysia, even in reference to their own faith.

Activist Mizuad Mohamad Azudin, who lodged a police report against Namewee, said the singer's "despicable behaviour" had angered Muslims.

But Amnesty International condemned the arrest as "another sign of the increasing repression by the Malaysian authorities against government critics, including artists".

In a video posted on YouTube, Namewee said the song was written to "promote harmony".

Malaysia generally practises a moderate brand of Islam among its majority Malay community, but conservative views have gained increasing traction in recent years.

Minorities -- mainly ethnic Indians and Chinese -- complain of what they see as Islamisation.

Issues related to race, religion and language are considered sensitive in Malaysia, which witnessed deadly riots mainly between ethnic Malays and Chinese in 1969.

Thursday, August 25, 2016

Powerful quake hits Myanmar, damaging famed Bagan temples

Yahoo – AFP, Hla-Hla Htay, August 24, 2016

The ancient Sulamuni temple is seen shrouded in dust after a 6.8 magnitude
earthquake hit Bagan on August 24, 2016 (AFP Photo/Soe Moe Aung)

Yangon (AFP) - A powerful 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck central Myanmar Wednesday, killing at least three people and damaging nearly 200 pagodas in the famous ancient capital of Bagan, officials said.

The quake, which the US Geological Survey said hit at a depth of 84 kilometres (52 miles), was also felt across neighbouring Thailand, India and Bangladesh, sending panicked residents rushing onto the streets.

Two girls, aged 7 and 15, were killed in Magway region where the quake struck, according to Myanmar's Ministry of Information.

A collapsed building in a nearby town also killed a 22-year-old man and injured one woman, local police told AFP.

Heavy damage was also reported in Bagan -- Myanmar's most famous archaeological site and a major tourist destination 30 kilometres north of the quake's epicentre.

Some 171 of the city's more than 2,500 Buddhist monuments were damaged by the tremors, according to a statement posted by the Ministry of Religious and Cultural Affairs on Facebook.

"Some were seriously damaged," Aung Kyaw, the local director of Bagan's culture department, told AFP.

Famous temples in the ancient Myanmar city of Bagan 
\were damaged as a 6.8 magnitude quake struck, police say 
(AFP  Photo/Jonathan Jacobsen)

Photos showed clouds of dust billowing around some of the site's larger temples, with bricks crumbling down their tiered facades.

A police officer from Bagan said a Spanish holidaymaker was slightly hurt when the quake knocked her from the temple where she was watching the sunset.

Scaling Bagan's ancient structures to watch the sun set over the vast plain of pagodas is a daily ritual among tourists and local pilgrims.

The temples, built between the 10th and 14th centuries, are revered in the Buddhist-majority country and a top draw for its growing tourism industry.

Myanmar, which has opened its doors to a rising tide of visitors since emerging from junta rule in 2011, is eager to see the ancient capital designated a UNESCO world heritage site.

'Still scared'

Soe Win, a local politician from Chauk -- the riverside town closest to the epicentre -- said the tremors were the worst he had experienced in years.

"More than eight pagodas in town collapsed," the 50-year-old told AFP, referring to Chauk. "Two buildings collapsed as well, while some others were cracked. People in town are still scared."

Damage was also reported in the capital Naypyidaw some 200 kilometres away, with MP Thiri Yadanar posting photos on Facebook of cracked glass windows inside a parliament building.

Collapsed walls surround an ancient pagoda after the quake in Bagan on 
August 24, 2016 (AFP Photo/Soe Moe Aung)

The earthquake caused high-rise buildings in Myanmar's largest city Yangon to sway, as well as those in the Thai capital Bangkok and the Indian city of Kolkata.

"Services of the underground railway have been suspended fearing aftershocks of the quake," Kolkata Metro Railway spokesman Indrani Banerjee told AFP.

The quake was also felt throughout south and southwestern Bangladesh close to the border with Myanmar, with residents running outside.

At least 20 people were injured as workers tried to flee a building in the Savar industrial district outside Dhaka, ATN Bangla television reported.

"All of us ran to the streets leaving the houses and shops unsecured as the quake seemed very dangerous," Nazmus Sakib, from the southern city of Chittagong near the Myanmar border, wrote on his Facebook wall.

Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar, although the country has not suffered a major one since 2012.

That powerful tremor -- also of 6.8 magnitude -- struck the centre of the country, killing 26 people and injuring hundreds.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Japan, S. Korea strike conciliatory note on war anniversary

Yahoo – AFP, Natsuko Fukue, August 15, 2016

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) bows to an altar beside Emperor
Akihito and Empress Michiko during the official annual memorial service for war
victims, in Tokyo, on August 15, 2016 (AFP Photo/Toru Yamanaka)

Tokyo (AFP) - Tokyo and Seoul struck a conciliatory note Monday on the anniversary of the end of World War II, with South Korea's president calling for a "future-oriented" relationship and Japan's prime minister denouncing the "horrors of war".

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual donation to a controversial Tokyo war shrine but again avoided visiting it, in an apparent nod to China and South Korea.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye, meanwhile, called for a "future-oriented" relationship with Tokyo even as a group of Seoul lawmakers sparked official anger in Japan by visiting islets claimed by both nations.

August 15 is an emotional date in both countries, remembered in Japan as the day in 1945 when wartime Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender. In South Korea it is marked as the day Japan's harsh 35-year occupation of the Korean peninsula came to an end.

China, which was partially occupied by Japan from the early 1930s to 1945, marks the end of the war on September 3.

A frequent flashpoint for nationalist tensions is Yasukuni Shrine, which honours millions of war dead including senior military and political figures convicted of war crimes after the conflict's end.

Abe visited in December 2013, sparking fury in Beijing and Seoul and earning a rare diplomatic rebuke from close ally the United States.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye (C) gives three cheers for her country
 during Korean Liberation Day, a ceremony to celebrate liberation from Japanese 
colonial rule in 1945, at Seong Cultural Center in Seoul, on August 15, 2016 
(AFP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

He has since refrained and reactions by China and South Korea to visits by cabinet ministers and lawmakers, while still critical, have become less intense.

Separately, Abe and Emperor Akihito both reiterated Japan's commitment to peace at an official ceremony to commemorate the war dead.

"We shall never again repeat the horrors of war," Abe said.

Akihito expressed similar sentiments.

"Reflecting on our past and bearing in mind the feelings of deep remorse, I earnestly hope that the ravages of war will never be repeated," he said.

'Extremely regrettable'

China's official Xinhua news agency in a commentary said Abe's comments missed the mark as he "failed again to offer a sincere apology for the country's wartime aggression in Asia".

Park, however, stressed the need to look forward in her nationally televised speech in Seoul.

"We should newly define relations with Japan to forge future-oriented ties," she said.

A man wearing a mask of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe kneels down in a 
mock apology during an anti-Japan rally to mark the 71st anniversary of South 
Korea's liberation from Japanese colonial rule, in Seoul, on August 15, 2016 
(AFP Photo/Jung Yeon-Je)

But her remarks coincided with the visit by 10 lawmakers to the Dokdo islets where they met South Korean security personnel based there.

South Korea has long controlled the islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) which are known in Japanese as Takeshima, but Tokyo has never renounced its claim.

"We absolutely cannot accept this," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo, calling it "extremely regrettable".

Abe and Park are scheduled to visit China early next month for a Group of 20 summit hosted by President Xi Jinping, while Japan is due to host a trilateral leaders' meeting later this year.

Abe sent the offering to Yasukuni as president of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party rather than as prime minister in an apparent attempt to lessen criticism.

A total of 67 members of Japan's parliament -- 59 from Abe's ruling LDP -- visited the shrine en masse in the morning.

Tomomi Inada, Abe's hawkish new defence minister who has been a frequent visitor to Yasukuni in past years, was on an official visit to Djibouti.

But two members of Abe's cabinet showed up at the shrine in the afternoon.

"I don't think the way a country commemorates people who died for their country should be a diplomatic issue," Sanae Takaichi, internal affairs minister, told reporters.

Saturday, August 13, 2016

India sports minister draws flak over Rio entourage behaviour

Yahoo – AFP, August 12, 2016

India's sports minister Vijay Goel attends a Rio Olympics press conference in
New Delhi on July 25, 2016 (AFP Photo/Sajjad Hussain)

New Delhi (AFP) - India's sports minister drew widespread criticism Friday after the organisers of the Rio Olympics reportedly accused his entourage of "aggressive and rude" behaviour at the Games and threatened to cancel his accreditation.

The Rio organising committee said it had received multiple reports of Vijay Goel trying to get unaccredited people accompanying him into Olympic venues.

"We have had multiple reports of your minister for sports trying to enter accredited areas at venues with unaccredited individuals," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted committee manager Sarah Peterson as saying in a letter to India's chef de mission Rakesh Gupta.

"When the staff try to explain that this is not allowed, they report that the people with the minister have become aggressive and rude and sometimes push past our staff," she said.

"Should our protocol team be made aware of further examples of this type of behaviour, the accreditation of your minister for sports will be cancelled and his privileges at the Olympic Games withdrawn."

Goel has denied any wrongdoing, saying it was a "misunderstanding".

"What is being said is that my staff may have done something wrong, but I am not aware of this or any misbehaviour. Nothing is being said about me, it is about my staff," he told the NDTV news network in Rio.

But the charge has led to an outpouring of anger on social media in India, where politicians are frequently accused of abusing their position to skip queues or zip through traffic in their official cars.

"Sad to see our ministers carrying the 'do you know who I am?' attitude to Rio Olympics," said one Twitter user, Karun Chandhok.

"Finally, India has won a medal at Rio Olympics. It's for lunatic behaviour. Thank you sports minister," tweeted another.

The Indian Express newspaper meanwhile accused Goel of spending his time in Rio taking selfies with "exhausted Indian athletes".

India has sent a 118-strong contingent to Rio, its largest ever for an Olympic Games, and the sports ministry has set a target of 10 medals.

But athletes complain of substandard training facilities and a lack of government investment in sport in a country that has enjoyed two decades of rapid economic development and has a booming population of 1.25 billion.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Saudi Arabia picks princess to head women's sports

Saudi Arabia has selected Princess Reema bint Bandar as the country's de facto minister for women's sports. This year, the kingdom doubled the number of its female athletes from two to four.

Deutsche Welle, 3 Aug 2016


Saudi's Cabinet announced on Tuesday that Princess Reema would head the General Authority for Sports without disclosing further details about her role.

The daughter of the ex-ambassador to the US, Princess Reema spent much of her youth in Washington, D.C. "I am honored to serve my country," she was quoted as saying by the SPA state news agency.

Female athletics have historically not been encouraged in the kingdom, though recently there have been calls for change. In an unprecedented move, one state school introduced sports for girls in 2014.

Evolving on women's sports

In an interview with Fast Company magazine, Princess Reema said she has been working to promote women's empowerment in the country.

"Our society tend to change a bit slower than other," she told the magazine last year. "We have to explain to people that it's evolution, not Westernization."

The Cabinet's announcement comes as the kingdom gears up for the 2014 Olympic Games in Rio, where four of its women athletes will compete alongside seven male athletes. That number represents an increase of 50 percent from the number of Saudi women who competed in the last Olympic games.

blc/kms (AFP, AP)
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Pope 'opens door' to female deacons with new panel
Tokyo elects Yuriko Koike as first woman governor


"Listening to the Voice of Spirit" (2) - Feb 20, 2016 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Carroll) (DNA Efficiency is on average at 35 percent now) (Text version)

“… With free choice, the percentage of DNA efficiently started to go down as humanity grew. As soon as the DNA started to lose percentage, the gender balance was dysfunctional. If you want to have a test of any society, anywhere on the planet, and you want to know the DNA percentage number [consciousness quota] as a society, there's an easy test: How do they perceive and treat their women? The higher the DNA functionality, the more the feminine divine is honored. This is the test! Different cultures create different DNA consciousness, even at the same time on the planet. So you can have a culture on Earth at 25 percent and one at 37 - and if you did, they would indeed clash. …”

“… You're at 35. There's an equality here, you're starting to see the dark and light, and it's changing everything. You take a look at history and you've come a long way, but it took a long time to get here. Dear ones, we've seen this process before and the snowball is rolling. There isn't anything in the way that's going to stop it. In the path of this snowball of higher consciousness are all kinds of things that will be run over and perish. Part of this is what you call "the establishment". Watch for some very big established things to fall over! The snowball will simply knock them down. …”

Monday, August 1, 2016

Tokyo elects Yuriko Koike as first woman governor

Yahoo – AFP, Harumi Ozawa, July 31, 2016

Tokyo's new mayor Yuriko Koike, a 64-year-old former TV anchorwoman, speaks
 fluent English and Arabic -- the latter acquired as a student in Cairo -- and has
also served as environment minister (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

Tokyo (AFP) - Veteran politician Yuriko Koike was elected Sunday as Tokyo's first woman governor, partial results showed, and immediately vowed to get a grip on the megacity's troubled 2020 Olympic preparations.

The 64-year-old former TV anchorwoman, defence minister and environment minister was some 700,000 votes ahead of her nearest rival with almost two thirds of ballots counted.

Koike claimed victory and addressed supporters in the sprawling metropolis of 13.6 million people shortly after media exit polls declared her the winner at 8 pm (1100 GMT).

"I will lead Tokyo politics in an unprecedented manner, a Tokyo you have never seen," she said in a voice made mildly hoarse after two weeks of campaigning.

The election, contested by a record field of 21 candidates, was called after previous governor Yoichi Masuzoe resigned over a financial scandal involving the lavish use of public funds on hotels and spa trips -- the second successive Tokyo leader to quit.

Koike largely played down her achievement of becoming the capital's first woman governor in a male-dominated society but said she will push female-friendly policies "so that both women and men can shine in Tokyo".

A key task will be smoothing the city's troubled road to the 2020 Olympics, hit by a series of embarrassing scandals and soaring costs.

Koike's four-year term will extend until just after the summer Games start and her performance in the run-up will be closely watched.

A key challenge will be getting a grip on swelling costs, seen as possibly double or triple the reported original forecast of 730 billion yen ($7.14 billion).

Yuriko Koike is the first woman to lead Japan's capital city Tokyo as 
mayor (AFP Photo/Kazuhiro Nogi)

She vowed to tackle the cost issue head on.

"I would like to review the basis for the budget, so that I can clarify for the eyes of Tokyo residents how much they would have to pay," Koike said, adding that transparency would be the watchword.

"Reviewing the Olympic and Paralympic budget will be the litmus test for it."

Kadhafi, Arafat

Euphoria in 2013 at securing the right to host sport's marquee event has given way to frustration over gaffes, scandals and cost overruns.

Last year Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had to tear up blueprints for a new Olympic stadium because of ballooning costs, while organisers ditched the official logo after the designer was accused of plagiarism. A new one was solicited.

Such fiascoes, however, have since been overshadowed by allegations of corruption, and French prosecutors have launched an investigation into alleged bribes linked to Tokyo's bid. Organisers have denied wrongdoing.

Masuzoe's predecessor Naoki Inose -- who had led the successful bid to win the Games -- bowed out after becoming embroiled in a personal financial scandal.

Despite the high number of candidates, the Tokyo race was seen as a three-way contest between Koike and two men -- former prefectural governor Hiroya Masuda and prominent television journalist Shuntaro Torigoe.

Koike, long a fixture in Japanese media and politics, speaks fluent English and Arabic.

She graduated from Cairo University in 1976 in sociology and worked as an Arabic interpreter before going into journalism.

In 1978, she interviewed then-Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi and Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Yasser Arafat for a Japanese broadcaster.

She has compared herself to Hillary Clinton and was once seen as having the best chance to be Japan's first female prime minister. But she was defeated when running in 2008 for leadership of the LDP.

"Hillary used the phrase 'glass ceiling'. It's often a sheet of steel in Japan," Koike once told a television talk show.

She won the Tokyo election despite failing to obtain the party's backing. It spurned her for failing to seek its approval before announcing her candidacy and supported rival Masuda instead.

Other key issues in the balloting were Tokyo's dire childcare shortage and overseeing disaster response plans and preparations due to perennial earthquake threats to the capital.