During a news conference at the United States Embassy in Tokyo, Chicago Cubs pitcher Shota Imanaga was asked what he'd say to countryman Roki Sasaki to convince him to join his team.

Nagasaki has marked the 79th anniversary of its atomic bombing at the end of World War II at a ceremony eclipsed by the absence of the American ambassador and other Western envoys in response to the Japanese city’s refusal to invite Israel.

The U.S. ambassador to Japan has decided to skip this year's atomic bombing memorial service in Nagasaki after Israel was not invited.

The nation’s third-largest city is preparing for its first school board elections and the slate of potential candidates includes progressive activists, an afterschool squash program leader and a Grammy-winning rapper.

A U.S. Navy strike group’s flagship aircraft carrier has left its Japanese home port, wrapping up nearly nine years of deployment in the Indo-Pacific, where it served a key role in the U.S. effort to bolster defense ties with Japan and other partners in the region.

Onetime union organizer Brandon Johnson took office as Chicago’s mayor a year ago promising “bold” action as one of the country’s most progressive leaders.

Two Japanese navy helicopters carrying eight crew members have crashed in the Pacific Ocean south of Tokyo during nighttime training in a possible collision, leaving one dead.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has begun his much-anticipated visit to Washington.

Japan has signed a deal with the United States to purchase up to 400 Tomahawk cruise missiles as part of its ongoing military buildup in response to increased regional threats.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has praised Japan’s contribution to their military alliance, particularly a decision to allow Japanese-made Patriot guided missiles to be shipped to the United States to make up for its decreasing inventory.

Japanese authorities say they have handed over pieces of the wreckage from an U.S. Air Force Osprey that crashed off southwestern Japan to the U.S. military, as the search continued for seven missing servicemembers.

Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, says the U.S. is welcomed in the Indo-Pacific and should do more to counter China's influence there.

U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel has visited a city in Fukushima, where he ate a seafood lunch with the mayor, talked to fishermen and stocked up on local produce to show they are safe after the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the sea.

Hiroshima and Pearl Harbor, two symbols of World War II animosity between Japan and the United States, are now promoting peace and friendship through a sister park arrangement.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin has said while visiting Tokyo that he hopes to forge “trusted supply chain relationships” with U.S. allies and friends to create supply chains that are not China-dependent.

Chicago is holding a mayoral election, but it will likely take a runoff before a winner is declared.

Chicago voters have denied Mayor Lori Lightfoot a second term.

China says it will enact measures against U.S. entities related to the downing of a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the American East Coast.

As the United States and Japan further strengthen their military alliance, they’ve turned to farmers markets to foster friendlier ties between American military bases and their Japanese neighbors.

Vice President Kamala Harris has highlighted a new U.S. law boosting support for computer chip manufacturing as she met with Japanese technology executives on Wednesday.

The U.S. ambassador in Tokyo says his government is working with Japan and other likeminded countries to counter Chinese attempts to use its economic might to force political change around the world.

President Joe Biden is off to South Korea and Japan on a six-day trip aimed at building rapport with the Asian nations’ leaders.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki has urged Japan’s central government to do more to reduce the U.S. military presence in the southern island group as it marked the 50th anniversary of its return to Japanese rule.

For decades, Black residents have been leaving some of the nation's largest cities while suburbs have seen Black population growth.

Japan has decided to divert some of its gas reserves to Europe amid growing concern over disruptions of supplies due to the Ukraine crisis.

The former Chicago police officer who was convicted in the shooting death of Black teenager Laquan McDonald has been released from prison after serving less than half of his sentence.

The imminent release from prison of the former Chicago police officer who shot Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014, killing the Black teenager, is a reminder for some of what they say is an unfair criminal justice system.

The NAACP is urging Attorney General Merrick Garland to bring federal civil rights charges against the white Chicago police officer who fatally shot Black teenager Laquan McDonald.

The white Chicago police officer convicted in the 2014 shooting death of Black teenager Laquan McDonald is days away from walking out of prison after just over three years behind bars.

The Senate has confirmed more than 30 ambassadors and other Biden administration nominees after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer agreed to schedule a vote on sanctions on the company behind the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that will deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.

The jury's guilty verdict that Jussie Smollett faked a racist and homophobic attack isn’t the end of legal proceedings for the former “Empire” actor or others.

A man who worked with Jussie Smollett says the former “Empire” actor recruited him and his brother to fake a homophobic and racist attack.

The defense for former Nissan executive Greg Kelly has argued there is no evidence or motives linking him to alleged under-reporting of his ex-boss Carlos Ghosn’s compensation.

The fatal police shooting of a Black teen in Chicago seven years ago is looming large over former Mayor Rahm Emanuel as he hopes to win Senate confirmation as ambassador to Japan.

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says he did nothing improper but still fell short in his handling of the fatal police shooting of a Black teenage seven years ago in the city.

President Joe Biden is nominating former senior State Department official Nicholas Burns to serve as his ambassador to China and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as his envoy to Japan.

President Joe Biden is giving serious consideration to nominating Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of President John F.

President Joe Biden is expected to announce former senior State Department official Nicholas Burns to serve as his ambassador to China and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to be his ambassador to India.

President Joe Biden is expected to nominate former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Japan.

President Joe Biden is facing a fresh challenge to his oft-repeated commitment to diversity in his administration: assembling a diplomatic corps that gives a nod to key political allies and donors while staying true to a campaign pledge to appoint ambassadors who look like America.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg, President-elect Joe Biden's nominee to be transportation secretary reacts to his nomination as Biden looks on during a news conference at The Queen theater in Wilmington, Del., Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. – President-elect Joe Biden has introduced his one-time Democratic primary rival Pete Buttigieg as his nominee for transportation secretary, saying the 38-year-old can be “a new voice" in the fight against economic inequality, institutional racism and climate change. Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, would be the first openly gay person confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet position. Emanuel was mentioned as a potential candidate for several Biden Cabinet posts but drew strong backlash from progressives. Biden’s selection of Buttigieg for transportation secretary drew praise from LGBTQ rights groups.

FILE - In this April 29, 2019 file photo, then Democratic presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg, from South Bend, Indiana, listens during a lunch meeting with civil rights leader Rev. President-elect Joe Biden is expected to pick former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg to head the transportation department. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, Pool)President-elect Joe Biden nominated his former rival Pete Buttigieg as secretary of transportation on Tuesday and intends to choose former Michigan Gov. All three will be central to Biden’s plan to remake the country’s automobiles and transportation systems to quickly cut climate-damaging petroleum emissions. Biden’s plan includes overhauling the nation’s transportation and power sectors and buildings to eliminate fossil fuel emissions by 2050.

President-elect Joe Biden speaks at a drive-in rally for Georgia Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):7:55 p.m.President-elect Joe Biden has formally announced former rival Pete Buttigieg as his pick to be secretary of transportation. ___1:30 p.m.President-elect Joe Biden says he’s spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell after the Electoral College affirmed his victory Monday. ___8:40 a.m.Two foreign leaders who had not congratulated President-elect Joe Biden have now done so. ___7:30 a.m.Top U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris should be vaccinated for COVID-19 as soon as possible.

President-elect Joe Biden is nominating former President Barack Obama's White House chief of staff Denis McDonough as secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs. Increasingly deep into the process of selecting Cabinet members and other senior staff, the incoming Biden administration has a distinctly Obama feel. There's Denis McDonough, former President Barack Obama's chief of staff who Biden announced on Thursday would be nominated as the secretary of veterans affairs. Susan Rice, Obama's former U.N. ambassador and national security adviser, was named the director of Biden's White House Domestic Policy Council. Jeff Zients, who did stints as acting Office of Management and Budget director and a top economic adviser in the Obama White House, will return as Biden’s coronavirus response coordinator.

WASHINGTON – Rahm Emanuel’s chances of landing a top Cabinet post in Joe Biden's administration appear increasingly unlikely after the former Chicago mayor emerged as a source of controversy for the president-elect, who had been considering Emanuel for transportation secretary, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. Al Sharpton raised similar concerns during a meeting with Biden and other civil rights leaders, the person said. The person was not authorized to publicly discuss private deliberations and spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity. An announcement on transportation secretary is not believed to be imminent. Two other high profile Obama-era alumni were announced Thursday as joining the Biden administration — Denis McDonough as veterans' affairs secretary and Susan Rice to head the Domestic Policy Council.

Two Democratic women are contenders to be President-elect Joe Biden's secretary of agriculture. Vilsack spent eight years as head of the U.S. Department of Agriculture during the Obama administration and served two terms as Iowa governor. A longtime member of the House Agriculture Committee and a fierce advocate for food stamps, Fudge was originally discussed to become agriculture secretary. After two terms, Vilsack ran a 10-week campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination before withdrawing and throwing his support to Hillary Clinton, even as Biden remained among the field. Politico first reported the news of Fudge’s selection, while Axios was first to report Vilsack as agriculture secretary.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden is facing escalating pressure from competing factions within his own party as he finalizes his choice for secretary of defense. And facing massive governing challenges once he takes office on Jan. 20, Biden can perhaps least afford to lose the backing of the Democratic Party’s fiery progressive base. Nearly 100 House Democrats belong to the Progressive Caucus, which may wield significant influence over Biden's policy agenda as Democrats cling to their narrowest House majority in a century. Flournoy, meanwhile, had been seen as the leading candidate for defense secretary under a Democratic president since Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign. Biden has promised both to fight for big, bold policy changes and to compromise with Republicans.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden is facing escalating pressure from competing factions within his own party as he finalizes his choice for secretary of defense. And facing massive governing challenges once he takes office on Jan. 20, Biden can perhaps least afford to lose the backing of the Democratic Party’s fiery progressive base. Nearly 100 House Democrats belong to the Progressive Caucus, which may wield significant influence over Biden's policy agenda as Democrats cling to their narrowest House majority in a century. Flournoy, meanwhile, had been seen as the leading candidate for defense secretary under a Democratic president since Hillary Clinton’s failed 2016 campaign. Biden has promised both to fight for big, bold policy changes and to compromise with Republicans.

(AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):2:10 p.m. The committee raising money for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration will take contributions from individual donors of as much as $500,000 and from corporations of as much as $1 million. The contribution limits for Biden are far lower than those of President Donald Trump in 2017. Neera Tanden would help prepare Biden’s federal budgets as director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. Biden also introduced Neera Tanden as his choice to run the White House budget office.

CHICAGO – President-elect Joe Biden is considering former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a substantial and somewhat divisive figure in Democratic Party politics, to serve as his transportation secretary. Progressive leaders, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have been especially vocal in criticizing the prospect of Emanuel joining the Cabinet. “The administration needs people like Rahm who know how to get things done.”Some of the city’s Black elected officials are also vouching for him. Emanuel said he did not see the grisly video until it was set to be made public in November 2015. During his time as mayor, Chicago saw $11 billion in airfield, terminal and infrastructure investments at the city's airports.

If Trump wins, Republicans win the Senate," said Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and chief of staff to President Barack Obama. Florida, a state that voted for Trump, voted for the minimum wage. Illinois, a state that voted for Biden, voted down a progressive income tax. “It’s clear there was more voter frustration with Trump than with the ideology of the Republican Party,” said Mike Murphy, a strategist to several Republican presidential campaigns who broke with his party over Trump. “Trump lifted Republican candidates by vastly boosting turnout in areas of Republican strength," said David Axelrod, former senior adviser Obama.

Authorities have said they found a gun at the scene, but they acknowledge that the officers who shot him were not wearing cameras. After Allen was shot on Sunday, activists immediately seized on the news that the officers were not wearing body cameras. These details are uncorroborated, partially because CPD also claims there is no body camera footage available for this interaction, the group said. Questions about the lack of body cameras extend beyond activist groups. Chicago police have also used body camera footage to show that officers acted properly, possibly heading off the kind of rampage that unfolded this week.