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Japan’s governing party and its coalition partner scored a major victory in a parliamentary election Sunday imbued with meaning after the assassination of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe amid uncertainty about how his loss may affect party unity, Associated Press reported.

The Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito raised their combined share in the 248-seat chamber to 146 — far beyond the majority — in the elections for half of the seats in the less powerful upper house. 

With the boost, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stands to rule without interruption until a scheduled election in 2025.

That would allow Kishida to work on long-term policies such as national security, his signature but still vague “new capitalism” economic policy, and his party’s long-cherished goal to amend the US-drafted postwar pacifist constitution. 

A charter change proposal is now a possibility. With the help of two opposition parties supportive of a charter change, the governing bloc now has two-thirds majority in the chamber needed to propose an amendment, making it a realistic possibility. The governing bloc already has secured support in the other chamber.

Kishida welcomed the major win but wasn’t smiling, given the loss of Abe and the hard task of unifying his party without him. In media interviews late Sunday, Kishida repeated: “Party unity is more important than anything else.”

He said responses to COVID-19, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising prices will be his priorities. He said he will also steadily push for reinforcing Japan’s national security as well a constitutional amendment, according to Associated Press.

Kishida and senior party lawmakers observed a moment of silence for Abe at the party election headquarters before placing on the whiteboard victory ribbons next to the names of candidates who secured their seats.

Abe, 67, was shot while giving a campaign speech in the western city of Nara on Friday and died of massive blood loss. He was Japan’s longest-serving political leader over two terms in office, and though he stepped down in 2020 was deeply influential in the LDP while heading its largest faction, Seiwakai.

“This could be a turning point” for the LDP over its divisive policies on gender equality, same-sex marriages and other issues that Abe-backed ultra-conservatives with paternalistic family values had resisted, said Mitsuru Fukuda, a crisis management professor at Nihon University.

Japan’s current diplomatic and security stance is unlikely to be swayed because fundamental changes had already been made by Abe. His ultra-nationalist views and pragmatic policies made him a divisive figure to many, including in the Koreas and China.

Following the assassination, Sunday’s vote took on new meaning, with all of Japan’s political leaders emphasizing the importance of free speech and defending democracy against acts of violence.

Abe’s killing may have resulted in sympathy votes. Turnout on Sunday was around 52%, up about 3 points from the previous 48.8% in 2019, Associated Press reported.

“It was extremely meaningful that we carried out the election,” Kishida said Sunday. “Our endeavor to protect democracy continues.”

At least 15 people have been killed and more than 20 are feared buried under rubble after Russian rockets struck an apartment block in Chasiv Yar, a town in eastern Ukraine, officials say, BBC reported.

Some victims have been brought out alive. The death toll was given by a Ukrainian emergency services official.

One side of the five-storey building was ripped apart, leaving a mountain of rubble. Chasiv Yar is near the city of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk region.

Donetsk is the focus of a Russian push.

The region's governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said the destruction was caused by Russian Uragan rockets.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes on the residential block were carried out deliberately.

"After such strikes, they will not be able to say they did not know something or did not understand something," he said in a video address, adding that "punishment is inevitable for every Russian murderer".

Rescuers used a crane and picked through the rubble by hand on Sunday, looking for more than 20 people still said to be trapped, including a child. 

Video released by Ukraine's emergencies ministry showed rescue workers pulling a man out from underneath the collapsed building.

Some residents who survived the strike returned to the site on Sunday looking for their belongings, according to BBC.

"We ran to the basement, there were three hits, the first somewhere in the kitchen," one survivor called Lyudmila told Reuters news agency.

"The second, I do not even remember, there was a flash, we ran towards the second entrance and then straight into the basement. We sat there all night until this morning."

Another woman, Venera, told Reuters that her apartment had been destroyed in the chaos and that she had been unable to find her kittens under the rubble, BBC reported.

Thousands of leaked files have exposed how Uber courted top politicians, and how far it went to avoid justice, BBC reported.

They detail the extensive help Uber got from leaders such as Emmanuel Macron and ex-EU commissioner Neelie Kroes.

They also show how the taxi firm's former boss personally ordered the use of a "kill switch" to prevent raiding police from accessing computers.

Uber says its "past behaviour wasn't in line with present values" and it is a "different company" today.

The Uber Files are a trove of more than 124,000 records, including 83,000 emails and 1,000 other files involving conversations, spanning 2013 to 2017.

They were leaked to the Guardian, and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a number of media organisations including BBC Panorama. They reveal, for the first time, how a $90m-a-year lobbying and public relations effort recruited friendly politicians to help in its campaign to disrupt Europe's taxi industry. 

While French taxi drivers staged sometimes violent protests in the streets against Uber, Mr Macron - now president - was on first name terms with Uber's controversial boss Travis Kalanick, and told him he would reform laws in the firm's favour.

Uber's ruthless business methods were widely known, but for the first time the files give a unique inside view of the lengths it went to in achieving its goals, according to BBC.

They show how ex-EU digital commissioner Neelie Kroes, one of Brussels' top officials, was in talks to join Uber before her term ended - and then secretly lobbied for the firm, in potential breach of EU ethics rules.

At the time, Uber was not just one of the world's fastest-growing companies - it was one of the most controversial, dogged by court cases, allegations of sexual harassment, and data breach scandals.

Eventually shareholders had enough, and Travis Kalanick was forced out in 2017.

Uber says his replacement, Dara Khosrowshahi, was "tasked with transforming every aspect of how Uber operates" and has "installed the rigorous controls and compliance necessary to operate as a public company".

Protesters have said they will continue to occupy the Sri Lankan presidential and prime ministerial residences until both leaders officially resign, BBC reported.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he would step down on 13 July, according to an announcement made by the parliament's speaker on Saturday.

But the president has not been seen or made a public statement himself.

Military sources have told the BBC that he is currently on a Navy vessel in Sri Lankan waters.

His brother, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, is on a naval base in the country, the sources say.

Thousands descended on Colombo on Saturday demanding his resignation after months of protests.

The president has been blamed for the country's economic mismanagement, which has caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine for months.

Current Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe also said he would step down following Saturday's protests, in which his private residence was set on fire.

But protesters remain sceptical about the leaders' intentions, according to BBC.

Our struggle is not over," student protest leader Lahiru Weerasekara said, quoted by AFP. "We won't give up this struggle until [President Rajapaksa] actually leaves," he said.

"The next couple of days are going to be extremely uncertain times as to see what transpires politically," political analyst and human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka told Reuters, adding that it would be interesting to see if the two leaders "actually resign".

Political leaders held further meetings to discuss a smooth transition of power on Sunday.

The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said that any new government needed to immediately focus on long-term economic stability.

The speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament told the BBC World Service Newshour programme that a new cross-party coalition government must be formed within a week of the president officially stepping down. 

Mahinda Yapa Abeywardena, who is a member of the president's governing party, mostly blamed Covid-19 for the country's economic woes. 

"The Covid pandemic has created havoc in the country economically so we had to spend all our money on vaccinations," he said.

Dozens of people were injured in Saturday's protests. A spokesperson for Colombo's main hospital told AFP news agency on Saturday that three people had been treated for gunshot wounds.

The extraordinary events of Saturday appeared to be the culmination of months of mainly peaceful protests in Sri Lanka. 

Huge crowds converged on the official residence of President Rajapaksa, chanting slogans and waving the national flag before breaking through the barricades and entering the property, BBC reported.

Footage online showed people roaming through the house and swimming in the president's pool, while others emptied out a chest of drawers, picked through the president's belongings and used his luxurious bathroom.

The contrast between the luxury of the palace and the months of hardship endured by the country's 22 million people was not lost on the protesters. 

"When the whole country is under such strain people have come here to release that pressure. When you see the luxuries in this house it is obvious that they don't have time to work for the country," Chanuka Jayasuriya told Reuters. 

Mr Rajapaksa vacated his official residence on Friday as a safety precaution ahead of the planned protests, two defence ministry sources said, according to Reuters. 

Although it is Mr Rajapaksa's official residence, he usually sleeps at a separate house nearby.

Protesters also set fire to Prime Minister Wickremesinghe's private home in an affluent neighbourhood of Colombo.

He had said on Saturday that he was willing to resign to ensure the safety of civilians and to make way for an all-party government, but soon after his announcement videos started circulating of his house up in flames. 

The prime minister lives with his family in the private home and uses his official residence for official business only, according to BBC.