June 10, Monday, 2024

1. The Iranian government has unveiled the list of six people allowed to stand in the presidential election on June 28. Most of the major reformist and moderate applicants were disqualified. The Interior Ministry on Sunday announced the candidate lineup for the election, which was called after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash last month. Eighty people filed for candidacy. The Guardian Council, or a panel of Islamic jurists and others, approved only six of them as candidates after examining their qualifications, such as loyalty to the country’s Islamic establishment.
2. Companies across Japan officially started holding job interviews for university seniors this month. The declining workforce means that potential recruits have lots of options. Among the many firms hiring, those that show concern about social and environmental issues are standing out from the competition. Uchida Keigo has decided to join a Tokyo-based energy firm that promotes carbon neutrality. He turned down a provisional job offer from a major appliance manufacturer.
3. Japan has logged its biggest-ever current-account surplus for the month of April. The record was set as rising overseas interest rates and the weak yen pushed up the interest income companies earn on their bond holdings. The Finance Ministry said on Monday that the surplus was 2.05 trillion yen, or about 13 billion dollars. That is the most for any April since 1985, when comparable data became available. April also marked the 15th straight month of surplus.