TOKYO — Japan’s newly elected prime minister pledged Tuesday night to stick to the vital Japan-U.S. alliance amid growing tension in the region while calling for it to be more equitable. This comes as he tries to boost a slow economy and regain public trust ahead of a national election this month.

Shigeru Ishiba was chosen last week as head of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, a ticket to the top job as his party’s coalition controls parliament. He succeeds Fumio Kishida, who stepped down earlier Tuesday after scandals dogged his government.

Ishiba, who was always viewed as an outsider by his party, immediately formed his Cabinet with a strong emphasis on defense and several security experts on board. With only a couple of female ministers, the majority, including Ishiba, are unaffiliated with factions led and controlled by party heavyweights, and none are from former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s powerful group linked to damaging misconduct.

Speaking to reporters, Ishiba called for stronger military cooperation with like-minded partners. He has been vocal about his wish to form a NATO-like alliance in the region.

He said one of his policy’s main goals was “to protect Japan” as “the security environment surrounding us is the toughest since the end of World War II,” adding that he will adhere to the Japan-U.S. alliance as “the linchpin” in bolstering his country’s defense and diplomacy.

Ishiba renewed his proposal of a more equal Japan-U.S. security alliance, including joint management of U.S. bases in Japan and having Japanese Self Defense Force bases in the United States, which would require a revision of the bilateral status of forces agreement, a move seen as a big challenge. He says the current bilateral alliance is “asymmetrical.”

On Monday, Ishiba said he would call for a snap election on Oct. 27 and that former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi would head the party’s election task force. On Tuesday, he said he intended to dissolve the lower house on Oct. 9 in preparation for the balloting, adding that his new administration needed to have “the people’s verdict” as soon as possible.

Carter turns 100: Longtime friends, family and fans of Jimmy Carter milled around his Georgia hometown to celebrate his 100th birthday Tuesday, the first time an American president has lived a full century and the latest milestone in a life that took the Depression-era farmer’s son to the White House and across the world as a Nobel Peace Prize- winning humanitarian and advocate for democracy.

James Earl Carter Jr. was born Oct. 1, 1924, in Plains, where he lives in the same one-story home he and wife Rosalynn built in the early 1960s, before his first election to the Georgia state Senate. The former first lady, also from Plains, died last November at age 96.

The 39th president has been in home hospice care for the past 19 months. He was last seen publicly in a reclining wheelchair to attend his wife’s funeral.

About 25 family members filled his home Tuesday, enjoying cupcakes on the front lawn while antique World War II planes flew over in his honor. At night, they planned to watch the vice presidential debate.

Chip Carter said his father’s next goal is to make it to Election Day: “He’s plugged in. I asked him two months ago if he was trying to live to be 100, and he said, No, I’m trying to live to vote for Kamala Harris.”

President Joe Biden, the first sitting senator to endorse Carter’s 1976 campaign, praised his longtime friend for an “unwavering belief in the power of human goodness.”

Communism milestone: China is marking the 75th year of Communist Party rule as economic challenges and security threats linger over the massive state.

No festivities were announced for the occasion Tuesday, save for a flag-raising ceremony at Tiananmen Square, with an honor guard marching from the entrance of the sprawling palace that in past centuries was the home of Chinese emperors. The entirely state-controlled media ran constant reports on China’s economic progress and social stability, with no mention of challenges ranging from a declining birth rate to the disruption in supply chains that has harmed the largely export-driven economy.

Commemorations were also held in the former British colony of Hong Kong and Portugal’s former territory of Macao, both of which returned to Chinese sovereignty in the late 1990s in a key indication of Beijing’s determination to overcome what it has called a “century of humiliation.”

The world’s second-largest economy has struggled to regain momentum after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Party leader and head of state Xi Jinping has largely avoided overseas travel since the pandemic, while continuing with his purges of top officials considered insufficiently loyal or being suspected of corruption or personal indiscretions.

Swiss children attacked: A man attacked and injured three 5-year-old boys Tuesday as they were heading to a day care center in Zurich, Swiss police said. The suspect was arrested.

Officers were alerted to the incident in the Oerlikon district of Switzerland’s biggest city shortly after midday. Police said the children were on their way to the day care center with a woman who works for the facility when the man suddenly stabbed them.

The employee and an unidentified man quickly overwhelmed the assailant and held him until police arrived.

Police said the suspect is a 23- year-old Chinese national; no details were given on a possible motive for the attack.

The boys were taken to hospitals, one with serious injuries and two others with injuries of medium severity, police said.