Japan refuses hostage-takers&#39; demands
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Japan Wednesday refused to withdraw its forces from Iraq despite the threat by Islamic militants to execute a Japanese hostage if the troops remain.
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Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe refused to back down Monday in a row over whether the military used Asian women as sex slaves during World War II, repeating that there was no evidence of coercion.
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Earlier Tuesday Japan&#39;s Justice Ministry rejected his demand to stay in the country, saying no justification had been found to grant him protection as a political refugee.
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Japan has been appealing for international help to secure the release of a Japanese man kidnapped by Islamic militants in Iraq and threatened with death.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday he won't withdraw troops from Iraq despite information a Japanese man has been taken hostage there, Kyodo News reported.
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TOKYO - Japan sought international help Wednesday to secure the release of a Japanese man taken hostage in Iraq and pledged to do its utmost to gain his freedom after refusing to bow to the kidnappers&#39; threat to behead him unless Japan withdraws its
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Japan&#39;s prime minister, a staunch US ally in Iraq, refused on Wednesday to withdraw Japan&#39;s troops from the country, taking a tough stance in the face of demands by militants threatening to behead a Japanese hostage unless the soldiers leave.
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Japan insisted on Wednesday that it would not bow to the demands of Islamic militants in Iraq who threatened to behead a young Japanese drifter unless Tokyo pulled its troops from the country within 48 hours.
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Japan says it will not rush to impose sanctions after North Korea withdraws from nuclear talks "indefinitely".
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The British and Iraqi governments said on Thursday they would not bow to the demands of militants threatening to kill a British captive, despite a video message from the hostage pleading for his life.
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Japan&#39;s Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura has urged the captors of Shosei Koda in Iraq to set him free. In an interview to Aljazeera&#39;s correspondent in Tokyo on Wednesday, he said, &quot;Koda is a civilian who
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Japanese leaders struggled on Thursday to make contact with Islamic militants in Iraq who took a Japanese traveler hostage as the 48-hour deadline approached for the young man's threatened beheading. Tokyo stood firm in its refusal to meet the kidnappers' demand to withdraw troops from Iraq.
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Japan insisted it would not bow to the demands of Islamic militants in Iraq who have threatened to behead a Japanese man unless Tokyo orders its forces out of the country within 48 hours.
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Japan's government was still in the dark  about a Japanese held hostage in Iraq on Thursday, less than 24  hours before a deadline set by his captors, who have threatened  to behead the young man unless Japan withdraws its troops.
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The Islamic militant group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi reportedly claims to have taken a Japanese citizen hostage in Iraq. In a video shown on the Internet, the group threatens to execute him if Tokyo does not withdraw its troops from Iraq in 48 hours.
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TOKYO : Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has vowed not to pull out its troops in Iraq, despite reports that another of its national has been taken hostage.
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Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi says Japan won&#39;t yield to terrorism by withdrawing its troops from Iraq, in response to reports an Iraqi group kidnapped a Japanese