Japan racked up a trade deficit in October for the fourth month in a row, as a weak yen and rising energy prices kept import costs high.

Some have called it the “super year” for elections.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum has wrapped up with a spirit of detente that many fear the annual summit may not see again for four years.

China’s leader Xi Jinping met for the last time with U_S_ President Joe Biden but was already looking ahead to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America first” policies, saying Beijing “is ready to work with a new administration.”.

President Joe Biden praised the cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U_S_ at countering what he described as North Korea’s “dangerous and destabilizing cooperation with Russia.”.

President Joe Biden is beginning a six-day visit to Peru and Brazil for the final major international summits of his presidency.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has survived a runoff vote against the opposition but will face turmoil ahead amid anger over the ruling party’s financial scandals.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has pledged to take tougher measures against misuse of political funds after he was reelected by parliament following a major loss in the polls last month by his governing coalition.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling coalition has lost a majority in the 465-seat lower house in a key parliamentary election Sunday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s ruling party, dogged by corruption scandals and plunging support for his weeks-old government, faces its toughest challenge in decades in Sunday’s parliamentary election.

For many Japanese survivors of the U.S. atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and their relatives, Friday’s awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Japanese organization against nuclear weapons gives them hope for a new momentum to push for a nuclear-free world.

New Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has dissolved the lower house of parliament to set up an Oct. 27 snap election.

New Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has opened his first policy speech in office by expressing deep regrets over the governing party’s slush funds scandal that dogged his predecessor.

U.S. stocks rallied after a surprisingly strong U.S. jobs report raised optimism about the economy.

Crude prices jumped on worries about worsening tensions in the Middle East, while U.S. stocks pulled back further from their records.

Japan’s new Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is pledging to stick to the vital Japan-U.S. alliance while calling for it to be more equitable.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will resign Tuesday, handing over leadership to his successor Shigeru Ishiba, who says he plans to call a snap election for Oct. 27.

Wall Street closed its latest winning month and quarter with more records.

The person chosen to lead Japan’s governing party, and become prime minister next week, is a veteran politician with deep policy experience, a taste for curry and anime — and big challenges ahead of him as he tries to unite a fractious party and hold off an opposition eager to capitalize on recent corruption scandals.

Japan’s governing party has picked former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba as its leader, setting him up to become prime minister next week.

Japan's governing party will pick a new leader Friday who will succeed outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

A record nine Japanese lawmakers have formally entered the race to replace outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida as head of the governing party and leader of the nation, hoping to regain public support for the party following corruption scandals.

Japan will have a new leader after outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s governing Liberal Democratic Party holds a vote on Sept. 27 to choose his replacement.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says China will not be able to isolate Taiwan by preventing U.S. officials from traveling there.

Japan's Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election candidate and Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga attends a debate ahead of the LDP's leadership election, in Tokyo Saturday, Sept. 12, 2020. The party plans a vote on Sept. 14 to choose Shinzo Abe's replacement as party chief. (Charly Triballeau/Pool Photo via AP)TOKYO – Yoshihide Suga is poised to win Japan's ruling party leadership vote on Monday, virtually guaranteeing him parliamentary election as the country's next prime minister. The expected victory in the party vote by Suga, currently the chief Cabinet secretary, all but guarantees his election in a parliamentary vote because of the majority held by the Liberal Democrats' ruling coalition. The voting by nearly 400 ruling party lawmakers begins later Monday, with results expected within hours.

He said the new government will compile a revised defense policy by the end of the year. The ability to carry out preemptive strikes would be a significant shift in the defense policy Japan has followed since the end of World War II. Since taking power in 2012, Abe has expanded Japan’s defense budget and capabilities and has sought to expand its role in international peacekeeping and in the Japan-U.S. security alliance. In 2015, he adopted a new interpretation of the constitution's war-renouncing Article 9 to include the United States in its self defense in a concept of so-called collective self defense. A revision of the defense policy allowing such weapons, however, could be a challenge.

(Kim Kyung-hoon/Pool Photo via AP)TOKYO The official campaigning to lead Japan's ruling party began Tuesday with the longtime right-hand man of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe now seen as a top candidate and his likely successor to lead the government. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yosihide Suga, 71, had formally submitted his candidacy for the Liberal Democratic Party leadership last week. The winner of the in-party vote on Sept. 14 will eventually become Japans next prime minister because of the ruling blocs majority in the parliament. Suga pledged to carry out the challenges left behind by Abe, including measures on the coronavirus, the economic fallout and pursuing Japan-U.S. security alliance. Kishida, who is currently serving the party policy chief, says he seeks to be a leader who listens to the peoples voices more carefully than Abe and prioritize economic policies to address disparities.

Executives of Abes ruling Liberal Democratic Party met Tuesday and decided that the Sept. 14 vote for party leader and with it almost assuredly prime minister will be limited to lawmakers and not broader members of the party. ___FUMIO KISHIDA: Abe's foreign minister from 2012-2017, the 63-year-old Kishida had once been considered the party's preferred choice to become the next prime minister. ___SHIGERU ISHIBA: A former defense minister seen as Abes archrival within the party, the 63-year-old Ishiba is the publics favorite for the next prime minister in media surveys. Ishiba's vocal criticism of Abe, however, has hurt his popularity among ruling party lawmakers. In addition to defense minister, Ishiba has also held top ministry posts in agriculture and local revitalization.