Japan leadership race starts after PM quits
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Japan's finance minister became the first to launch a bid to lead the country on Thursday as the ruling party scrambled to avoid a policy vacuum after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's shock resignation.
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TOKYO -- Japan's likely next premier, outspoken conservative Shinzo Abe, pressed for summits with China and South Korea yesterday after being tapped to head the country's ruling party in a vote heralding a swing to the right.
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The contest to succeed Shinzo Abe as Japan&#39;s next prime minister was thrown wide open Friday as dovish ruling party veteran Yasuo Fukuda announced he would run in what has turned into a two-way race.
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Japanese PM Shinzo Abe is to reshuffle his Cabinet, in a bid to shore up support for his government.
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A dovish former Cabinet secretary said Friday he would run to replace hospitalized Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as the ruling party faced rising pressure to call early elections.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe abruptly announced his resignation on Wednesday after a year in power dogged by scandals, an election rout and a crisis over Japan's support for U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.
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Shinzo Abe, the front-runner to become Japan's new prime minister, called Friday for his country to build a stronger military as a deterrent and to push ahead with economic reforms as candidates launched their campaigns to lead the governing party.
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Japan's Shinzo Abe pledged on Friday to  be bold in diplomacy and press on with economic reform as he  formally launched his campaign to become the next prime  minister -- a contest he appears to have won hands down  already.
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Japan's Prime Minister is losing traction on affairs close to voters, polls say
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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe began the toughest battle of his political life in a parliament session that opened on Monday after staking his job on extending Japan's naval mission in support of U.S.-led operations in Afghanistan.
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TOKYO - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose year-old government has suffered a string of damaging scandals and a humiliating electoral defeat, has told ruling party leaders he intends to resign, an official said today.
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Japan's prime minister-to-be Yasuo Fukuda selected his party lieutenants on Monday as he headed for battles with a combative opposition and calls for an early general election after his predecessor's hapless year in office.
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Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi replaced key ministers and ruling party leaders in a shuffle Monday aimed at solidifying his power and building momentum for his troubled reforms program.
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Campaigning began on Thursday for a Japanese upper house election on July 29 that could cost Prime Minister Shinzo Abe his job and usher in a period of policy stagnation if his ruling bloc loses big.
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The three candidates seeking to become Japan's next leader began all-out campaigning with a policy debate Saturday, and the hawkish front-runner Shinzo Abe won Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's endorsement.
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Japan's governing party elects Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe as next leader, and possibly prime minister.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's backers are trying to set the stage for him to keep his job if his ruling bloc gets trounced in a parliamentary election on Sunday, but analysts wonder whether the strategy will work.