1. Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko has won her third term in Sunday’s election. Koike addressed her supporters and cited various challenges Tokyo is facing, such ass soaring prices and the falling birthrate. She has pledged to take action against the latter by expanding free childcare. 2.A left-wing alliance in France has become the largest force in the country’s lower house of parliament, defying pre-election predictions. But no bloc won enough votes to form a majority. The runoff election took place on Sunday following the first round of the election on June 30. President Emmanuel Macron called the snap election as his coalition was dealt a huge defeat by the far-right National Rally party in European Parliament elections in June. 3. Corporate bankruptcies in Japan jumped to the highest in a decade in the first six months of this year. A survey by credit researcher Teikoku Databank shows some failed after being unable to repay interest-free loans taken out during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey says 4,887 companies went under with debts of at least 10 million yen, or 60,000 dollars. That’s up 22 percent from the same period last year.