By MARI YAMAGUCHI

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s embattled governing party now has its new leader, former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a hard-line conservative who is poised to become the country’s first female prime minister.

Related Articles

Fishermen in Trinidad and Tobago fear for their lives and jobs after US strikes in the Caribbean

Ukraine claims it struck Russian ammo plant, oil terminal and weapons depot

Western Balkan leaders reaffirm commitment to EU future

Pivotal talks between Israel and Hamas begin in Egypt on eve of Gaza war anniversary

Venezuela denounces alleged ‘extremist’ plan to attack shuttered US Embassy complex

Takaichi, 64, immediately needs to seek ways to get her long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party to stay in power and regain public support by delivering measures to address inflation and diplomatic challenges such as U.S. President Donald Trump.

A staunch supporter of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe ’s conservative vision, Takaichi is on the verge of losing her party’s long-time coalition partner, the Buddhist-backed dovish centrist Komeito, because of her ultra-conservative politics. Those include a revisionism of wartime history and regular visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, seen as a symbol of militarism.

She faces the dilemma of sticking to her ideology and losing the coalition partner or shifting to the center, which would lose her fans of her hawkish politics.

Parliamentary vote in mid-October, rising prices and Trump

The LDP and opposition parties are currently considering convening the parliament in mid-October to formally elect a new prime minister.

Takaichi is likely to be Japan’s leader because the LDP, even without a majority in either house of parliament following consecutive election losses, is still by far the largest in the lower house, which decides the national leader, and because opposition groups are highly splintered.

She will need to address rising prices to restore support for the struggling party.

She also faces another big test when she hosts a possible summit later this month with Trump as his trip to Asia to attend international conferences is planned.

FILE – Sanae Takaichi, the newly-elected leader of Japan’s ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), gestures as she leaves the party leader’s office after the LDP leadership election in Tokyo Saturday, Oct. 4, 2025. (Yuichi Yamazaki/Pool Photo via AP, File)

In her first press conference Saturday as LDP leader, Takaichi vowed to ensure strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance as essential to her country’s diplomacy and security, while also seeking to expand trilateral partnerships including South Korea, Australia and the Philippines.

Takaichi said she will honor the tariffs and investment agreements between the government of the current prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba and the Trump administration.

Cooperation with opposition parties is vital but risky

One of Takaichi’s most urgent tasks is to secure cooperation from the opposition. The LDP seeks to expand its current coalition with the moderate centrist Komeito to include at least one of the key opposition parties, which are center-right.

But instead of finding a third partner, Takaichi is on the verge of losing Komeito, which is critical of her regular visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and her recent emphasis on stricter measures against the growing foreign population in Japan.

Tetsuo Saito, leader of Komeito, speaks to media after meeting newly-elected leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party Sanae Takaichi, on Oct. 4, 2025, in Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP)

In a rare move that shakes their 26-year-partnership, Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito told Takaichi on Saturday that his party has “big worry and concern” about her positions and would not stay in the coalition unless these positions are dropped.

Top party jobs, kingmaker’s influence and reward for those who voted for her

As new party president, Takaichi’s first job is to decide a lineup of top LDP party posts, which she is expected to announce Tuesday.

Former Prime Minister Taro Aso walks at the headquarters of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, after meeting with newly-elected party leader Sanae Takaichi, on Oct. 5, 2025, in Tokyo. (Kyodo News via AP)

Takaichi has turned to the LDP’s most powerful kingmaker and former prime minister Taro Aso, a conservative who backed her and reportedly influenced Saturday’s party vote. She is expected to appoint him as deputy prime minister and name his brother-in-law and former Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki as party secretary general.

Aso on Monday met with a senior official of the key opposition Democratic Party for the People about possible cooperation. Another opposition party, Japan Innovation Party, or Ishin no Kai, had been open to a coalition under Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who lost to Takaichi in Saturday’s runoff vote, but that is now up in the air.

Political watchers say Takaichi is considering appointing those who voted for her in the runoff as a reward. Among them is Toshimitsu Motegi, who is close to Aso and has served in key ministerial posts including as foreign and trade ministers. He is being considered for the position of top diplomat.

Takaichi has also suggested appointing a number of former Abe faction lawmakers implicated in slush funds and other scandals to senior posts, despite public criticism over the party’s lack of reform measures and subsequent election losses.

Yoshihiko Noda, head of the largest opposition, centrist Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, criticized the idea, calling it “totally unthinkable.”

By ILLIA NOVIKOV

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Long-range Ukrainian drones and missiles hit a major Russian ammunition plant, a key oil terminal and an important weapons depot behind the front line, Ukraine’s president and military said Monday, as Kyiv cranked up pressure on Moscow’s military logistics.

Related Articles

Fishermen in Trinidad and Tobago fear for their lives and jobs after US strikes in the Caribbean

The new leader of Japan’s ruling party, poised to be first female prime minister, faces challenges

Western Balkan leaders reaffirm commitment to EU future

Pivotal talks between Israel and Hamas begin in Egypt on eve of Gaza war anniversary

Venezuela denounces alleged ‘extremist’ plan to attack shuttered US Embassy complex

The Ukrainian General Staff said it struck the Sverdlov ammunition plant in the Nizhny Novgorod region of western Russia overnight, causing multiple explosions and a fire. It said the plant supplies Russian forces with aviation and artillery ordnance, aviation bombs, and anti-aircraft and anti-tank munitions.

Ukraine also hit an oil terminal in Crimea, starting a blaze, and an ammunition depot of Russia’s 18th Combined Arms Army, the General Staff said.

Russian authorities acknowledged a major Ukrainian drone attack over 14 Russian regions, as well as the annexed Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and around the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. But they gave few details beyond claiming that air defenses shot down 251 Ukrainian drones — making it one of the biggest Ukrainian barrages of Russian territory since the war began more than three years ago.

Gleb Nikitin, the governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, said that air defenses fended off an attack by 20 Ukrainian drones on a local industrial zone that includes the ammo plant and that no facilities were damaged.

Ukraine’s long-range attacks on refineries and other oil facilities contributed to Russian fuel shortages at the pump in August.

Ukraine’s own weapons productions grows

Improving domestically produced weapons, especially drones, has been one of Ukrainian authorities’ chief goals as it strives to counter Russian’s invasion and reach deeper into Russia with strikes that put military, political and social pressure on President Vladimir Putin.

Though Russia’s national economy and army are much bigger than Ukraine’s, Kyiv has largely limited Russian battlefield gains to slow and costly progress across the Ukrainian countryside as cutting-edge drone technology makes up in part for its shortage of soldiers.

In this photo taken and distributed by Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, a Russian soldier attends a combat training at one of the training grounds of the Moscow Military District. (Alexander Polikarkin/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)

Uncertain of what Western military support it can count on to thwart Russia’s invasion, Ukraine has swiftly developed its defense manufacturing capacity. It is already sharing its drone expertise with European countries and is discussing possible technology and production cooperation with the United States.

Ukrainian officials have suggested they would like the United States to supply Tomahawk cruise missiles so that more Russian assets in the rear can be targeted. Meantime, Ukraine is increasingly using domestically developed long-range drones, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday, and Ukraine expects to expand such capabilities if it can ensure funding from abroad.

He also indicated that Ukraine had used its own missiles for the strikes on Russian soil.

“The main thing to understand is that in recent days Ukraine has used exclusively Ukrainian-made weapons, not only drones,” Zelenskyy said during a press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof in Kyiv.

“We expect greater capabilities, but they depend on financial resources,” he said.

Many Ukrainian weapons on the front are domestically produced

Ukraine’s mushrooming defense industry could begin exporting surplus weapons production by the end of this year, using the revenue to help buy sophisticated systems it can’t make itself, Zelenskyy said Monday.

Netherland’s Prime Minister Dick Schoof, right, shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

By the end of this year, Ukraine hopes to provide at least half the weapons its troops need on the front line, Zelenskyy told a defense industry forum in Kyiv.

“Already at the front, more than 40% of the weapons used are weapons produced in Ukraine or with Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in a speech.

Ukraine last year produced and delivered 2.4 million shells to the front line, according to the Ukrainian leader.

Ukraine is currently producing 40 Bohdana self-propelled artillery systems a month, Zelenskyy said. By comparison, the production rate in April 2024 stood at 10 units per month.

“The time has come to launch the export of our Ukrainian weapons — those types of weapons that we have in surplus, and therefore can be exported, so that there is funding for those types of weapons that are especially needed for defense,” Zelenskyy said in a speech, possibly referring to American-made Patriot air defense systems.

He said Ukraine already has agreements to start exports to Europe, the United States and the Middle East, and purchases could begin by the end of this year.

Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

By ERION XHABAFTI and LLAZAR SEMINI

GOLEM, Albania (AP) — Leaders of the Western Balkan countries on Monday reaffirmed their commitment to a joint European future, pledging to deepen cooperation and accelerate reforms that would bring the region closer to the European Union.

Related Articles

Fishermen in Trinidad and Tobago fear for their lives and jobs after US strikes in the Caribbean

The new leader of Japan’s ruling party, poised to be first female prime minister, faces challenges

Ukraine claims it struck Russian ammo plant, oil terminal and weapons depot

Pivotal talks between Israel and Hamas begin in Egypt on eve of Gaza war anniversary

Venezuela denounces alleged ‘extremist’ plan to attack shuttered US Embassy complex

The presidents of the Western Balkan nations gathered in Golem, Albania, 30 miles west of the capital of Tirana, in an annual gathering. It is part of a diplomatic initiative launched by EU members Slovenia and Croatia in 2013 to support EU enlargement to the Western Balkans — a region that includes Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Kosovo.

In a joint declaration, the leaders highlighted their “shared vision toward the European perspective of our entire region.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to support European integration and inclusive regional cooperation with the objective of a peaceful, strong, stable, prosperous and united Europe,” it said.

The countries are working to join the EU but are at different stages in their membership path, with Montenegro and Albania ahead and Serbia, Bosnia, Kosovo and North Macedonia lagging behind.

The EU’s openness to accept new members has grown since the all-out war in Ukraine started on Feb. 24, 2022. There are concerns the war in Ukraine and Russia’s deepening confrontation with the West could spill over into a region still scarred by its own conflicts.

The countries welcomed the role of a 6 billion euro growth plan aimed at advancing reforms in the region.

But Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar also urged Brussels to speed up the process, adding that “security and peace in Europe is at stake.”

The largely ceremonial annual gathering was led by Albanian President Bajram Begaj, Pirc Musar and Croatian President Zoran Milanovic. Members of Bosnia’s tripartite presidency and the presidents of Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia also attended.

The initiative was named the Brdo-Brijuni Process after two locations — Brdo pri Kranju in Slovenia and the Brijuni Islands in Croatia — that are symbolic of reconciliation and diplomacy.

It seeks to strengthen political dialogue and promote reconciliation after the wars of the 1990s, with tensions still simmering — for instance, between Serbia and Kosovo.

Semini reported from Tirana, Albania.

By MICHAEL R. BLOOD

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The midterm elections might be a year away, but the fight for control of the U.S. House is underway in California.

Related Articles

Government shutdown threatens food aid program relied on by millions of families

Chicago and Illinois sue to stop Trump’s Guard deployment plan after Portland ruling

Kremlin welcomes Trump’s comments on Putin’s offer to extend the New START nuclear arms pact

Trump says the US has secured $17 trillion in new investments. The real number is likely much less

The Supreme Court will evaluate Trump’s expansive claims of presidential power in its new term

Voting opened statewide Monday on whether to dramatically reshape California’s congressional districts to add as many as five Democrat-held seats in Congress — a possible offset to President Donald Trump’s moves in Texas and elsewhere to help Republicans in the 2026 election.

The outcome of the 70-word, “yes” or “no” question could determine which party wins control of the closely divided House, and whether Democrats will be able to blunt Trump’s power in the second half of his term on issues from immigration to reproductive rights.

The proposal is “a starting point for the 2026 race,” said Democratic consultant Roger Salazar.

“2026 is the whole ball game,” he said.

The national implications of California’s ballot measure are clear in both the money it has attracted and the figures getting involved. Tens of millions of dollars are flowing into the race — including a $5 million donation to opponents from the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC tied to House Speaker Mike Johnson. Former action-movie star and Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has spoken out to oppose it, while former President Barack Obama is in favor, calling it a “smart” approach to counter Republican maneuverings aimed at safeguarding House control.

The election that concludes Nov. 4 will also color the emerging 2028 presidential contest in which Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom — the face of the campaign for the new, jiggered districts — is widely seen as a likely contender.

So goes California, so goes the nation?

“Heaven help us if we lose,” Newsom wrote in a recent fundraising pitch to supporters. “This is an all-hands-on-deck moment for Democrats.”

An election gamble that could check Trump’s power

The unusual special election amounts to a Democratic gambit to blunt Trump’s attempt in Texas to gain five Republican districts ahead of the midterms, a move intended to pad the GOP’s tenuous grip on the House.

The duel between the nation’s two most populous states has spread nationally, with Missouri redrawing House maps that are crafted state by state. Other states could soon follow, while the dispute also has become entangled in the courts.

A major question mark has emerged in Texas, where a panel of federal judges is considering whether the state can use a redrawn congressional map that boosts Republicans.

If the Texas map is blocked even temporarily, it’s not clear how that decision would influence California — if at all — where voting is underway. Newsom has previously indicated that California could keep its current map if other states pull back efforts to remake districts for partisan advantage, but that language was not included in the final version of what’s officially known as Proposition 50.

GOP could be left with just four House seats in California

If approved in California, it’s possible the new political map could slash five Republican-held House seats while bolstering Democratic incumbents in other battleground districts. That could boost the Democratic margin to 48 of California’s 52 congressional seats, up from the 43 seats the party now holds.

Liberal-tilting California has long been a quirk in House elections — the state is heavily Democratic but also is home to a string of some of the most hotly contested congressional districts in the country, a rarity at a time when truly competitive House elections have been dwindling in number across the U.S.

The contours of the race have taken shape, with Newsom framing the contest as a battle to save democracy against all things Trump, while Republicans and their supporters decry the proposal as a blatant power grab intended to make the state’s dominant Democrats even more powerful while discarding House maps developed by an independent commission. Democrats crafted the proposed lines behind closed doors.

Republicans hold a 219-213 majority in the U.S. House, with three vacancies.

New maps are typically drawn once a decade after the census is conducted. Many states, including Texas, give legislators the power to draw maps. California is among states that rely on an independent commission that is supposed to be nonpartisan — the Democratic ballot proposal would shelve that group’s work and postpone its operation until the next census.

Creative boundary lines create districts to favor Democrats

In some cases, the recast districts would slice across California, in one case uniting rural, conservative-leaning northern California with Marin County, a famously liberal coastal stronghold north of San Francisco. In others, district lines are left unchanged or have only minor adjustments.

With rural and farming areas in some cases being combined in new districts with populous cities, there is “worry about us losing our voice,” said John Chandler, a partner in almond-and-peach grower Chandler Farms in the state’s Central Valley farm belt. “It hurts us,” Chandler said during an online event organized by proposition opponents.

Who will show up and vote?

Democrats come to the contest with significant advantages — they outnumber registered Republicans in the state by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, and a Republican candidate hasn’t won a statewide election in nearly two decades.

Still, ballot questions can be unpredictable. Voters are in a grumpy mood nationally and hold mixed views of both political parties.

It’s difficult to determine precisely who might show up in an election with no candidate on the statewide ballot — only a question involving a constitutional amendment on the arcane subject of redistricting, or the realignment of House district boundaries. And campaigns are competing for attention in a nation of nonstop distraction, from wars abroad to the political stalemate in Washington.

Supporters and opponents are running a cascade of ads in the state’s big media markets. Trump is trying to “steal congressional seats and rig the 2026 election,” one ad from supporters warns. Opponents are spotlighting a recent appearance by Schwarzenegger, who in one ad clenches his fist and says, “Democracy — we’ve got to protect it and we’ve got to go and fight for it.”

In the state’s Central Valley, Kelsey Hinton is working to mobilize infrequent Latino voters hitched to hectic jobs and child care who are often overlooked by major campaigns. Her group, the Community Water Center Action Fund, dispatches canvassers to knock on doors to explain the stakes in the election.

Operating separately from Newsom’s campaign, and backed by funding from a left-leaning political group known as the Progressive Era Issues Committee, they hope to boost voter participation in an area where turnout can be among the sparsest in the state.

What are they finding? “People don’t even know there is an election,” Hinton said.