Elaine Kurtenbach

Japan’s Cabinet approved 3.5 trillion yen ($29 billion) in fresh stimulus Saturday for the ailing economy, pledging to get growth back on track and restore the country’s precarious public finances.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is counting on a landslide victory in parliamentary elections Sunday that will likely return his ruling coalition to power with an even bigger majority, empowering him to pursue an ambitious agenda of political and economic reforms.

Japan reported Monday that its economy contracted at a real annual rate of 1.6 percent in July-September, in a second straight quarterly decline that returned the country to recession.

Japan’s central bank surprised the financial world and pleased investors Friday by intensifying its purchases of government bonds and other assets to try to revive a chronically anemic economy.

Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists appeared divided after some agreed to remove some barriers blocking roads and sidewalks ahead of a Monday deadline set by the government and scale back their protests, while others refused to budge.