Prime Minister Takaichi said cutting the number of Diet members is a campaign pledge of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

South Korea’s Customs Service said it detected illegal foreign-exchange transactions worth KRW72 trillion (about $49.2bn) in Jan–Jun across 792 cases, including illicit outbound FX transfers and concealment of offshore assets. Customs said some cases involved exporters taking crypto rather than dollars and failing to repatriate export proceeds; director Lee Jong-wook warned FX-market volatility is a key economic risk and said Customs will deepen cooperation with the Ministry of Economy and Finance and other agencies.

UK CBI retail sales balance for July was -26, the strongest reading since January 2026.