FUMIO KISHIDA

North Korea on Monday fired two suspected ballistic missiles into the sea in its fourth weapons launch this month, South Korea's military said, with the apparent goal of demonstrating its military might amid paused diplomacy with the United States and pandemic border closures. Japan’s Prime Minister’s Office also said it detected a possible ballistic missile launch from North Korea, but didn’t immediately provide more details. Japan’s Coast Guard issued a warning for vessels traveling around Japanese waters to watch out for falling objects, but no immediate damage was reported.

The Japanese minister assigned the task of containing COVID-19 while steering the world’s third largest economy toward growth says Japan must learn to coexist with the coronavirus.

Pyongyang didn't initially comment on the launch but it followed the second test of what it called a hypersonic missile – a claim Seoul cast doubts on.

Japan says it will keep its borders closed to most foreign citizens through February as it attempts to accelerate coronavirus booster shots for elderly people and expand hospital capacity to cope with the rapidly spreading omicron variant.

Japan will keep its borders closed to most foreign citizens through February as it attempts to accelerate coronavirus booster shots for elderly people and expand hospital capacity to cope with the rapidly spreading omicron variant, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday. Japan briefly eased border controls in November after COVID-19 cases rapidly declined, but quickly reinstated a ban on most foreign entrants after the highly transmissible new variant emerged. Kishida said the stringent border controls have helped slow the variant's spread and “bought time” to prepare for an imminent surge.

The prime ministers of Japan and Australia met virtually on Thursday, and signed a reciprocal access agreement between the two countries.

Top U.S. and Japanese officials are highlighting new defense agreements, including a five-year deal on sharing the cost of the American military presence in Japan.

American forces have been criticized due to a spike in cases in areas where they're based in large numbers, including Okinawa and Iwakuni, both in southern Japan.

The leaders of Japan and Australia have signed a “landmark” defense agreement that allows closer cooperation between their militaries and stands as a rebuke to China's growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.

Asian stock markets have followed Wall Street lower after investors saw minutes from a Federal Reserve meeting as a sign the U.S. central bank might hike interest rates faster to cool inflation.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi has asked that the U.S. military in Japan stay inside its bases to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

U.S. military says the launch posed no threat, but "highlights the destabilizing impact" of Kim Jong Un's weapons program, which has neighbor Japan rethinking its defense-only stance.

Australia and Japan will sign a treaty on Thursday to increase defense and security cooperation in a move that has been hailed as “historic” but which might anger China.

Among the space events to watch in the coming year is the collision between a NASA probe and an asteroid in the autumn of 2022. The DART mission. VIDEOGRAPHIC

Tulane University in New Orleans is delaying the start of its spring semester because of the latest surge in coronavirus cases, and another private school says students must get booster shots before returning.

Japan’s Cabinet has approved a record 5.4 trillion yen ($47 billion) defense budget for fiscal 2022 that includes funding for research and development of a new fighter jet and other “game-changing” weapons as Japan bolsters its defense capabilities in response to China’s growing military might and its tensions with Taiwan.

Japan says it won’t send a delegation of ministers to represent the government at the Beijing Games but three Olympic officials will attend.

Japan has confirmed its first known local transmissions of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus in Osaka, a sign it is already making its way in the country.

Scientists have confirmed the existence of the largest bug to ever exist — a millipede that was “as big as a car,” weighed more than 100 pounds and roamed the Earth before dinosaurs.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says his government is accelerating COVID-19 booster shots and securing oral medicines after speaking with Pfizer Inc. CEO Albert Burla.

China has accused the United States of violating the Olympic spirit after the Biden administration announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Games over human rights concerns.

Dozens of Japanese tanks are participating in a major exercise on the northern island of Hokkaido in a display of military power that coincides with a recent escalation of Chinese and Russian military moves around Japanese territory.

The transport ministry has retracted the request after receiving criticism that the travel ban was too strict.

The transport ministry has retracted the request after receiving criticism that the travel ban was too strict.

Japan says it has retracted a ban on new incoming international flight bookings to defend against the new variant of the coronavirus only a day after the policy was announced.

Japan says it has retracted a ban on new incoming international flight bookings to defend against the new variant of the coronavirus only a day after the policy was announced, following criticisms that it was an overreaction. The transport ministry on Wednesday issued a request to international airlines to stop taking new reservations for flights coming into Japan until the end of December as an emergency precaution to defend against the new omicron variant. The ministry said Thursday it has retracted the request after receiving criticisms that the ban was too strict and tantamount to abandoning its own people.

Tourism businesses that were just finding their footing after nearly two years of devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic are being rattled again as countries throw up new barriers to travel in an effort to contain the omicron variant.

Asian shares are mixed as investors continue to cautiously weigh how much damage the new omicron coronavirus variant may unleash on the global economy.

The World Health Organization says the global risk from the omicron variant of the coronavirus is “very high” based on early evidence, and it could lead to surges with “severe consequences.”.

Japan announced Monday it will suspend entry of all foreign visitors from around the world as a new coronavirus variant spreads, prompting an increasing number of countries to tighten their borders. “We are taking the step as an emergency precaution to prevent a worst-case scenario in Japan,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said. The decision means Japan will restore border controls that it eased earlier this month for short-term business visitors, foreign students and workers.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, at his first troop review Saturday, renewed his pledge to consider “all options,” including acquiring enemy base strike capability, and vowed to create a stronger Self-Defense Force to protect the country amid growing threats from China and North Korea. Kishida said the security situation around Japan is rapidly changing and that “the reality is severer than ever,” with North Korea continuing to test-fire ballistic missiles while advancing its capability, and China pursuing a military buildup and increasingly assertive activity in the region.

The leaders of Japan and Vietnam expressed serious concern on Wednesday about the situation in the South China Sea and any unilateral actions aimed at altering the status quo, and agreed to work together to sustain free and open sea lanes as tensions escalate in the region amid China's rise. Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh is the first foreign leader to visit Japan for talks with new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who took office in October. Kishida told Chinh in his opening remarks that “Vietnam is an important partner who holds a key to achieving ‘a free and open Indo-Pacific,’" a vision aimed at countering China's increasingly assertive territorial claims in the disputed region.

Asian stock markets are higher after Wall Street hit a record and Japanese inflation eased.

Stocks closed mostly lower on Wall Street Friday, though gains for several tech companies pushed the Nasdaq composite to another record high and its first close over 16,000 points.

Japan's Cabinet has approved a record 56 trillion yen, or $490 billion stimulus package, including cash handouts and aid to ailing businesses, to help the economy out of the doldrums worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

Asian stock markets are higher as President Joe Biden and China’s Xi Jinping hold a summit meeting by video link.

Japan’s economy shrank at a 3% annual rate in the July-September quarter, as private consumption and auto production took a hit from the ongoing efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic.

One person has died as a result of a two-car accident in Southwest Philadelphia.

Japan’s preparations for the next coronavirus surge include adding thousands more hospital beds to avoid a situation like last summer when COVID-19 patients were forced to stay home, even when they needed supplemental oxygen.

The head of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command has met with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and reaffirmed America’s commitment to achieving a free and open Indo-Pacific despite rising tensions amid China’s increasingly assertive military actions.

Asian shares are trading mixed after a worrisome report on U.S. inflation that slammed into the bond market and knocked stocks lower on Wall Street.

Shares are mostly higher in Asia after Wall Street benchmarks managed to close mostly higher.

Fumio Kishida, who was reelected as Japan’s prime minister after his governing party scored a major victory in key parliamentary elections, says the coronavirus remains the country’s most urgent issue and pledged to take steps to mend the pandemic-battered economy.

Fumio Kishida is set to be reelected as Japan's prime minister after clearing the first major test of his leadership in recent elections.

The head of Japan's largest labor federation says stable work must be the top priority after the pandemic, which has hit women and other vulnerable groups the hardest.

Asian shares are mixed amid cautious trading ahead of a Federal Reserve Open Market Committee meeting.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is heading to the U.N. climate summit saying his country will push strongly for emissions reductions.

Stocks have advanced in Asia, with Tokyo's benchmark up 2.5% after the ruling Liberal Democrats won a stronger than expected majority in an election Sunday.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida says Japan should revitalize its economy through “new capitalism" and many in this country are puzzled over exactly what he has in mind.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s coalition kept a comfortable majority in a parliamentary election despite losing some seats.

Japan’s new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida faces a crucial test in Sunday's national parliamentary elections, which will determine if his government will have enough support to stay in power long enough to repair the pandemic-hit economy, and tackle climate change and China’s rise.

A Group of 20 summit scheduled for this weekend in Rome is the first in-person gathering of leaders of the world’s biggest economies since the COVID-19 pandemic started.

Japan has adopted a new energy policy that promotes nuclear and renewables as sources of clean energy to achieve the country’s pledge of reaching carbon neutrality by 2050.

Asian shares are mixed after a late-in-the-day wave of buying pushed the S&P 500 to a fresh record high.

Low turnout at the COP26 climate summit would also place Britain under the pandemic spotlight once again.

The launch of the missile into the sea came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed an offer to resume talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

The launch of the missile into the sea came hours after the U.S. reaffirmed an offer to resume talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.

South Korea's military says North Korea has fired at least one ballistic missile into the sea that was likely designed to be launched from a submarine.

Almost overnight, Japan has become a stunning, and somewhat mysterious, coronavirus success story.

Japan's new prime minister has visited the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant and said a planned mass disposal of wastewater stored at the complex cannot be delayed, despite concerns from local residents.

Japan's new prime minister on Sunday said the planned mass disposal of treated but still radioactive water stored at the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant cannot be delayed, despite concerns from local residents. Speaking at his first visit to the facility since taking office, Fumio Kishida said his government would work to reassure residents in the prefecture about the technical safety of the wastewater disposal project. The Fukushima Daiichi plant suffered a triple meltdown in 2011 following a massive earthquake and tsunami.

Asian shares are higher after technology companies powered the biggest rally on Wall Street since March.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida dissolved the lower house of parliament. The move paves the way for elections Oct. 31, which will be Japan's first of the pandemic.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has dissolved the lower house of parliament for Japan’s first elections of the pandemic.

Hundreds of supporters of Shiite religious leader Muqtada al-Sadr celebrated Monday night in Baghdad the first results of the Iraqi parliamentary elections, in which al-Sadr emerged as the front-runner.

Stocks edged lower in afternoon trading on Wall Street Monday as communications companies and banks broadly fell.

A spate of Chinese military flights off southwestern Taiwan in recent days has prompted alarm from the island, which Beijing claims as its own, and is increasing tensions in a region already on edge.

In his first policy speech, new Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to strengthen the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic in case of another resurgence and revive its battered economy while bolstering defenses against threats from China and North Korea.

A powerful magnitude 5.9 earthquake has shaken the Tokyo area, injuring more than 30 people and halting trains and subways.

Asian shares are higher, tracking a rally on Wall Street after signs of progress on resolving the standoff in Congress over the debt ceiling.

With record numbers of military flights near Taiwan over the last week, China has been stepping up its harassment of the island it claims as its own, demonstrating a new level of threat as it asserts its territorial ambitions in the region.

Fumio Kishida replaces Yoshihide Suga, who resigned after a year in office as his support plunged over his handling of the pandemic and insistence on holding the Tokyo Olympics as the virus spread.

He's expected to largely keep existing government policies in place – with a top priority almost certainly being the pandemic, which is front and center in Japanese politics.

Fumio Kishida on Wednesday effectively became effectively become Japan's new prime minister after winning the leadership election at Japan's ruling party.

Kishida is the nation's former Foreign Minister and won the Liberal Democratic Party's run-off election by a landslide in the second round.

Kishida is the nation's former Foreign Minister and won the Liberal Democratic Party's run-off election by a landslide in the second round.

Ex-Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will have to tackle COVID-19, a battered economy, a declining population and birthrate, and an increasingly assertive China.

Tokyo residents react after Japan's ruling party elected former foreign minister Fumio Kishida its new leader, setting him on course to become the next prime minister of the world's third-largest economy. Kishida, 64, will be confirmed as the new premier in a vote in parliament on October 4 and will then lead the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) into general elections that must happen by November. The 64-year-old won the ruling party's leadership vote, beating popular vaccine chief Taro Kono to finally clinch a job he has long targeted.

Japan has kicked off official election campaigning for the new head of the governing Liberal Democratic Party, whose winner is almost assured to become the next prime minister

On Friday, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga effectively paved the way for a new leader after announcing he will not be running in the upcoming leadership election.