The approval clears a final set of hurdles for Japan's postwar arms sales and facilitate its future sale of weapons such as a next-generation fighter jet and combat drones.

The Japanese government has warned of a slightly heightened risk of a megaquake in the next week after a strong 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the country’s northeastern coast on Monday, triggering a tsunami warning,

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 struck off Japan's northern coast, prompting a temporary tsunami alert across the region.

Japan has endorsed scrapping a ban on lethal weapons exports, a major change of its postwar pacifist policy as the country seeks to build up its arms industry and deepen cooperation with defense partners.

Earlier tsunami warnings for Japan have now been downgraded after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck off the country's north-east coast As soon as the alert went off, everyone ran one person in Hokkaido tells the BBC So far,

Japan could soon sell weapons overseas, including fighter jets, in a shift from its decades-old pacifist policy.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made an offering to a shrine seen by Japan’s neighbors as glorifying its wartime past, in a move that stops short of a visit but may still anger China and other neighboring nations.

Japan on Tuesday unveiled its biggest overhaul of defence export rules in decades, scrapping restrictions on overseas arms sales and opening the way for exports of warships, missiles and other weapons.