Taro Kono, the minister in charge of Japan's vaccination efforts, is set Friday to announce his bid to succeed Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga as leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, people familiar with his thinking said Thursday.The 58-year-old would be the third lawmaker to declare candidacy in the Sept. 29 race after former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and former communications minister Sanae Takaichi.Kono consistently places highly in opinion polls on who is most fit to become prime minister and had been eyeing a run since Suga abruptly announced his resignation last week ami…READ FULL ARTICLE
