Japanese hostage&#39;s parents ask for his release
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Masumi Koda, father of Shosei Koda, identified as the Japanese man taken hostage and threatened to be beheaded by al-Qaeda-linked militants in Iraq, speaks to reporters with his weeping wife Setsuko outside their home in Nogata, southern Japan October 27
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Japan sought international help on  Thursday for a Japanese man held hostage in Iraq, with less  than 24 hours to go for a deadline set by his captors to behead  him unless Tokyo pulled out its troops.
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Japan sought international help on  Thursday for a Japanese man held hostage in Iraq, with less  than 24 hours to go for a deadline set by his captors to behead  him unless Tokyo withdraws its troops.
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Japan sought international and Iraqi help for a Japanese man held hostage in Iraq on Thursday, less than 24 hours before a deadline set by his captors to behead him unless Japan withdraws its troops.
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The families of five Britons kidnapped in Iraq in May appealed Thursday to their captors for their release, as Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he was &quot;deeply concerned&quot; for them.
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Get INQ7 breaking news on your Smart mobile phone in the Philippines. Send INQ7 BREAKING to 386. TOKYO, Japan -- Japan said Saturday a body resembling that of a 24-year-old Japanese hostage
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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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Japan has made last-ditch efforts to secure the release of a Japanese hostage facing execution in Iraq. A Japanese government official says efforts are still being made to free Shosei Koda, 24, but there have been no reports of any progress.
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AMMAN, Jordan -- A top diplomat from Tokyo met with Jordanian and Iraqi officials in Amman on Thursday in the hope of obtaining the release of a Japanese hostage held in Iraq, hours before a deadline for his killing expires.
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Japan raced against the clock yesterday to free a young Japanese hostage in Iraq but had little reason for hope less than a day before the deadline set by al-Qaida-linked militants for his killing.
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Anguished relatives begged for the lives of an American and a Briton kidnapped in Iraq as the deadline passed Tuesday for another hostage to be beheaded by terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
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THEY have been riven with terror as the world watches the plight of Ken Bigley. But yesterday his family came together to reach out to his captors with emotional pleas for mercy.
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A video tape posted on the Internet shows British hostage Kenneth Bigley making a final appeal to the British Government to meet his captors&#39; demands before he was beheaded by a militant group in Iraq.
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Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has appealed for the release of the British hostage in Iraq Ken Bigley.
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Japanese officials tried Thursday to contact the Iraqi militants holding a Japanese hostage, as the 48-hour deadline for his threatened execution approached.
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Japan&#39;s prime minister today refused to bend to demands by militants who have taken a Japanese civilian hostage in Iraq and threatened to behead him unless Tokyo withdraws its soldiers.
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The family of a British hostage captured in Iraq has appealed to the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, to intervene to try to save his life.