Shinzo Abe

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe demanded Jan. 20 that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) immediately free two Japanese hostages unharmed after the jihadists posted a video threat to kill them.
      

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) threatened to kill two Japanese hostages unless Tokyo pays a $200 million ransom within 72 hours, in a video posted on jihadist websites on Jan. 20.
      
In the footage, a black-clad militant brandishing a knife addresses the camera in English, standing between two hostages wearing orange jumpsuits.
      

Israel is lobbying member-states of the International Criminal Court to cut funding for the tribunal in response to its launch of an inquiry into possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories, officials said on Jan. 18.
   

Japan's parliament on Dec. 24 re-elected Shinzo Abe as prime minister with an overwhelming majority following the conservative leader's mid-December election triumph.

The powerful lower house voted for the 60-year-old Abe with 328 votes against 73 for acting opposition leader Katsuya Okada.        

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Dec. 15 vowed he would try to persuade a sceptical public of the need to revise Japan's pacifist constitution, the day after scoring a thumping election victory.
      
The premier, who was re-elected by a landslide in Sunday's polls, pledged to pursue his nationalist agenda while promising to follow through on much-needed economic reforms.

Exit polls predict an electoral victory for the Liberal Democratic Party of the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the early parliamentary elections that took place in the country on Sunday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won comfortable re-election Sunday in a snap poll he had billed as a referendum on his economic policies after early success faded into a recession.
      

Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe dissolved parliament on November 21, making the way for an early election in mid-December.

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Japan and China have taken the "first step" on the road to improving badly strained relations, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Nov. 10 after a half-hour summit with President Xi Jinping in Beijing.
      

Japan's new trade minister said on Thursday a political support group spent money at a racy bar, a blow for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe after his cabinet suffered two high-profile resignations over separate funding scandals.