By MARI YAMAGUCHI

TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Wednesday vowed to remain in power to oversee the implementation of a new Japan-U.S. tariff agreement, despite media speculation and growing calls for him to resign after a historic defeat of his governing party.

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Ishiba met with heavyweights from his Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, and former Prime Ministers Taro Aso, Fumio Kishida and Yoshihide Suga at party headquarters.

He told reporters afterward that they didn’t discuss his resignation or a new party leadership contest, but only the election results, voters’ dissatisfaction and the urgent need to avoid party discord.

Despite his business-as-usual demeanor, Ishiba is under increasing pressure to bow out after the LDP and junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in Sunday’s election in the 248-member upper house, the smaller and less powerful of Japan’s two-chamber parliament, shaking his grip on power.

It came after a loss in the more powerful lower house in October, and so his coalition now lacks a majority in both houses of parliament, making it even more difficult for his government to pass policies and worsening Japan’s political instability.

Ishiba says he intends to stay on to tackle pressing challenges, including tariff talks with the U.S., so as not to create a political vacuum despite calls from inside and outside his party for a quick resignation.

Ishiba “keeps saying he is staying on. What was the public’s verdict in the election all about?” said Yuichiro Tamaki, head of the surging Democratic Party for the People, or DPP.

At the LDP, a group of younger lawmakers led by Yasutaka Nakasone started a petition drive seeking Ishiba’s early resignation and renewal of party leadership.

“We all have a sense of crisis and think the election results were ultimatum from the voters,” he said.

Japanese media reported that Ishiba is expected to soon announce plans to step down in August.

The conservative Yomiuri newspaper said in an extra edition on Wednesday that Ishiba had decided to announce his resignation by the end of July after receiving a detailed report from his chief trade negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, on the impact of the U.S. tariffs on the Japanese economy, paving the way for a new party leader.

Ishiba denied the report and said that he wants to focus on the U.S. trade deal, which covers more than 4,000 goods affecting many Japanese producers and industries. He welcomed the new agreement, which places tariffs at 15% on Japanese cars and other goods imported into the U.S. from Japan, down from the initial 25%.

Still, local media are already speculating about possible successors. Among them are ultraconservative former Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, who lost to Ishiba in September. Another conservative ex-minister, Takayuki Kobayashi, and Agriculture Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, the son of former popular Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, are also seen as potential challengers.

In Sunday’s election, voters frustrated with price increases exceeding the pace of wage hikes, especially younger people who have long felt ignored by the ruling government’s focus on senior voters, rapidly turned to the emerging conservative DPP and right-wing populist Sanseito party.

None of the opposition parties have shown interest in forming a full-fledged alliance with the governing coalition, but they have said they are open to cooperating on policy.

People expressed mixed reaction to Ishiba, as his days seem to be numbered.

Kentaro Nakamura, 53, said that he thought it’s time for Ishiba to go, because he lacked consistency and did poorly in the election.

“The (election) result was so bad and I thought it would not be appropriate for him to stay on,” Nakamura said. “I thought it was just a matter of time.”

But Isamu Kawana, a Tokyo resident in his 70s, was more sympathetic and said if it wasn’t Ishiba who was elected prime minister last year, the result would have been the same.

“I think he got the short end of the stick,” Kawana said.

Reeno Hashimoto contributed to this report.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A brown bear attacked a woman as she hiked a popular trail in a hillside neighborhood in Anchorage, Alaska, and officials are still looking for the animal, state police said.

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State troopers used a helicopter to take the woman from the Basher Trail to a hospital, police spokesman Christopher Barraza said. Her injuries aren’t considered life-threatening, he said.

The woman, who has not been identified, called 911 at around 3 p.m. Tuesday and told the dispatcher that she had been mauled by a bear about 2 miles into the trail, in Stuckagain Heights, Barraza said. She told officials she couldn’t walk.

The trail is in the Chugach Mountains, which sit along Anchorage’s eastern border.

The woman spoke with officials by phone for about an hour, telling them the area she was in as they used drones to try to find her, Barraza said. She told them the bear ran off after it mauled her and that she wasn’t able to see which direction it headed.

The Alaska Department of Fish and Game blocked off the area and is searching for the bear, Barraza said.

Anchorage, which is by far Alaska’s biggest city, is home to about 290,000 people. Nearly 350 black bears, 65 brown bears and 1,600 moose also live there.

“We’re advising everybody to make sure they go prepared when they go to do hikes and trails,” Barraza said. “Make sure you know what to do when you see a bear, carry your bear spray, stuff like that.”

The fire department wrote on Facebook that hikers should temporarily avoid the trails around the Stuckagain Heights area.

By NADIA LATHAN, Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A review by Texas lawmakers into the catastrophic July 4 floods has no intention of second-guessing decisions by local officials or assigning blame over the tragedy that killed at least 136 people, a top Republican leading the effort said Wednesday.

“Our select committee will not armchair quarterback,” Republican Sen. Charles Perry said, and would instead seek to draw lessons on flood prevention and preparedness.

FILE – Members of a search and rescue team embrace as they visit a memorial wall for flood victims, Sunday, July 13, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Local officials have faced scrutiny over why more warnings weren’t sent to residents in harm’s way along the Guadalupe River. State and county emergency response officials are scheduled to testify, but no officials from Kerr County, the area most hard-hit by the floods. Perry, the committee chair, said this would avoid pulling them away from their work.

In addition to those deadly floods in the Texas Hill Country, the other major issue on the agenda for this summer’s 30-day special session is a partisan redrawing of U.S. House maps, which aims to give Republicans more winnable seats in the 2026 elections.

The session is already off to a combative start. Democrats want to address flood relief and new flood warning systems before taking votes on new congressional maps sought by President Donald Trump. They have not ruled out a walkout in a bid to derail the redistricting, which they have slammed as a partisan power grab.

FILE – State troopers keep watch over the Rotunda at the Texas Capitol, July 21, 2025, in Austin. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, file)

The head of Texas emergency management department, Nim Kidd, confirmed Wednesday that the number of deaths was 136, up from 135, after Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said a missing woman’s body had been found.

Two people remain missing, a man and a girl from Camp Mystic, according to Abbott. At one point, county officials said more than 170 people were unaccounted for, but ultimately found that most were safe.

Twenty-seven campers and counselors, most of them children, were killed at the all-girls Christian summer camp in Kerr County, which does not have a warning system along the river after several missed opportunities by state and local agencies to finance one.

Lawmakers have filed bills to improve early warning systems and emergency communications and to provide relief funding. Legislators are scheduled to visit Kerrville on July 31 to hear from residents.

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Democrats have left open the possibility of filibusters or walking out in the coming weeks to block the proposed congressional map redraw. On Monday, most of the party’s members in the House signed a letter to the speaker stating that they would not engage in any work before addressing flood relief.

But Democrats have few paths to resistance as the minority party in both chambers. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has threatened to arrest those who attempt to walk out, on top of the $500 daily fines lawmakers face for breaking a quorum.

Lathan is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

By KELVIN CHAN

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s antitrust watchdog has proposed labeling Google’s and Apple’s mobile ecosystems with “strategic market status,” which would mandate changes at the Big Tech companies to improve competition.

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The Competition and Markets Authority’s announcement Wednesday follows separate investigations it opened at the start of the year into Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, using newly acquired digital market regulations designed to protect consumers and businesses from unfair practices by Big Tech companies.

The watchdog said Apple and Google hold an “effective duopoly,” with 90-100% of mobile devices in Britain running on either mobile platform. Its investigation found a range of concerns affecting businesses and consumers such as unpredictable app reviews, inconsistent app store search rankings and commissions on in-app purchases of as much as 30%.

The CMA also unveiled separate “roadmaps” for each company outlining possible measures to improve competition, including “fair and transparent” app reviews and app store rankings to give British app developers “certainty.”

The watchdog also recommends letting app developers “steer” users to channels outside of app stores where users can make purchases, mirroring similar efforts by the European Union.

Google called the watchdog’s decision “disappointing and unwarranted,” and said Android has saved app developers money because they didn’t have to adapt to different operating models for each smartphone.

It’s “crucial that any new regulation is evidence-based, proportionate and does not become a roadblock to growth in the U.K.,” the company’s senior director of competition, Oliver Bethell, said.

Apple said it was worried the CMA’s moves could pose increase risks for users and jeopardize the U.K.’s “developer economy.”

“We’re concerned the rules the U.K. is now considering would undermine the privacy and security protections that our users have come to expect, hamper our ability to innovate, and force us to give away our technology for free to foreign competitors,” Apple said in a statement. “We will continue to engage with the regulator to make sure they fully understand these risks.”

The regulator is seeking feedback on its proposal and has until Oct. 22 to make a final decision.