Suga becomes Japan PM, forms continuity Cabinet as Abe era ends

TOKYO - Yoshihide Suga took office as Japan's first new prime minister in nearly eight years on Wednesday, forming a Cabinet of familiar faces to stay the course set by his predecessor Shinzo Abe.The former chief Cabinet secretary comes to the top job at a time when the country is grappling with an economy battered by the novel coronavirus, while longer-term challenges include the country's falling birth rate and simmering tensions with Asian neighbors."During such a national crisis, a political vacuum must be avoided at all costs," Suga said at his first press conference as prime minister…READ FULL ARTICLE