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.

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.

By Tim Kelly TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - 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,

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi reversed limits on arms exports as Japan faces rising threats from China and unpredictability from its main ally, the United States.

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.

In a break from post-war pacifism, Japan has scrapped its ban on arms exports to make way for overseas sales of fighter aircraft, missiles, and warships. Facing an increasingly assertive China and an unreliable United States,

A major, 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the northeast coast of Japan on Monday, according to the United States Geological Survey. The Japan Meteorological Agency reported the quake had a magnitude of 7.

While immediate damage appears limited, the bigger question now is whether this quake could be a precursor to something larger.