Mr Abe had called an early election for an increased mandate to deal with “crises” facing Japan, including the threat from Pyongyang.

Local media report Mr Abe’s ruling coalition has retained its two-thirds majority in parliament.

This paves the way for Mr Abe to amend Japan’s post-war pacifist constitution.

The prime minister has previously called for the existence of the country’s armed forces to be formalised, a controversial move which he says is needed to strengthen Japan’s defence but which critics say is a step towards re-militarisation.

Speaking after the exit polls, Mr Abe said: “As I promised in the election, my imminent task is to firmly deal with North Korea…. For that, strong diplomacy is required.”

The BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Tokyo says Mr Abe’s victory is partly thanks to Pyongyang’s actions.

Just two months ago his popularity was plummeting as he was caught up in two messy political scandals, says our correspondent, but he enjoyed a sudden recovery after North Korea fired two missiles over the Japanese island of Hokkaido in recent months.

Local news outlets reported that Mr Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) coalition with the Komeito party has won 312 of the 465 seats in the lower house of Japan’s parliamentary Diet – which gives them the power to table a revision to the constitution.

Mr Abe had previously announced he wanted to revise a clause which renounces war, known as Article 9, to formally recognise Japan’s military, which is known as the “self-defence forces”.

He said he was ditching a previously-set deadline of 2020 to achieve the revision so that he would have more time to “gain support from as many people as possible” for the highly contentious task.

Even if an amendment to the constitution is passed and approved by both houses in the Diet – which Mr Abe’s coalition controls – it still needs to be put to a public vote in a referendum.

Mr Abe two years ago successfully managed to push for a re-interpretation of the constitution to allow troops to fight overseas under certain circumstances, which attracted widespread protests.

Our correspondent says Mr Abe’s victory is also in large part due to the chaos of Japan’s opposition parties.

In the lead-up to the snap election, all eyes were on the recently-formed conservative Party of Hope led by the charismatic Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike, with some speculating that it would make significant gains.

But in the end it was overtaken by the centre-left Constitutional Democratic Party which emerged as the biggest opposition party, and which opposes Mr Abe’s plan to amend Article 9.

Ms Koike, who was in Paris for a business trip during the election, told reporters she was personally taking responsibility for the result. Japanese media quoted her as saying her “words and deeds” had caused “displeasure” to voters.

A win in the election also raises Mr Abe’s chances of securing a third three-year-term as leader of the LDP when the party votes next September.

That would give him the opportunity to become Japan’s longest serving prime minister, having been elected in 2012.

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Source: BBC

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The poll, announced on Monday and which comes a year early, will take place on 22 October.

Mr Abe is seeking a fresh mandate amid a rebound in his approval ratings and the ongoing North Korea nuclear crisis.

The right-wing hawk became prime minister in 2012, and his Liberal Democrat Party (LDP) leads a ruling coalition that controls the Diet.

Mr Abe suffered a drop in popularity earlier this year over allegations of cronyism.

But he’s seen fresh support after North Korea fired two ballistic missiles over Japan, which Mr Abe took a strong stance against.

His call for a snap election was seen as taking advantage of a weak opposition, and the LDP is still leading in opinion polls.

But he now faces a new contender in the form of the fledgling conservative Party of Hope, which was only formally unveiled on Wednesday and has already begun attracting some support.

It is led by the popular Yuriko Koike, Tokyo’s first female governor and a former television news anchor.

Several lawmakers from the main opposition Democratic Party, which has been struggling, have already defected to the Party of Hope.

On Thursday, the Democratic Party’s leader proposed to his members a de facto merger where all their candidates would run under the Party of Hope’s banner, in order to present a united challenge to Mr Abe and the LDP.

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Source: BBC

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Mr Abe said he was seeking a fresh mandate to overcome “a national crisis” amid rising threats from North Korea.

His decision comes amid rebounding approval ratings after a record low over the summer and with the opposition largely in disarray.

Mr Abe did not set a date for the vote but Japanese media suggest it will be on 22 October.

Mr Abe’s support has surged as rising tensions with North Korea have overshadowed criticism of alleged cronyism.

The prime minister also announced a 2tn yen ($17.8bn, £13.2bn) stimulus package on education and social spending.

In a press conference on Monday evening, he said the fresh stimulus was needed for programmes to prepare Japan for the future.

He also said he would continue on his path of fiscal reform and would use the revenue from the recently introduced sales tax to balance the budget and reduce debt.

Why snap elections?

Analysts see the early vote as his way to seize the resurgent support and exploit the current weakness of the opposition.

For months, Mr Abe’s popular support has been badly hit by a string of scandals and unpopular policies.

In July, his ratings had dropped to less than 30% but then recovered to above 50% in September.

He denies allegations of cronyism and on Monday said dissolving the lower house was not an attempt at avoiding those allegations.

Mr Abe is also is trying to push through a controversial shift in Japan’s post-war pacifist defence policy, calling for formal recognition of the military in the constitution.

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Soure: BBC

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Mr Abe described the 90-minute meeting in Trump Tower, New York, as “candid”, with a “warm atmosphere”.

Some of Mr Trump’s campaign rhetoric cast doubt over long-standing US alliances, including with Japan.

The meeting was Mr Trump’s first face-to-face with a world leader since winning the presidential election.

The US and Japan have been key allies since the end of World War Two, when the US helped Japan rebuild its economy.

The president-elect has vowed to scrap the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, which Mr Abe strenuously supports as a means of countering China’s growing economic strength.

Mr Trump has also said Japan needs to pay more to maintain US troops on its soil, and has floated the idea that Japan and South Korea should develop their own nuclear weapons to counter the threat from North Korean missiles.

The meeting was reportedly arranged when Mr Abe rang the president-elect to congratulate him, mentioning that he would be passing through New York on the way to an Asia-Pacific trade summit in Peru.

Speaking after the meeting, Mr Abe said: “We were able to have a very candid talk over a substantial amount of time. We held it in a very warm atmosphere.

“I do believe that without confidence between the two nations the alliance would never function in the future and as the outcome of today’s discussion I am convinced Mr Trump is a leader in whom I can have great confidence in.”

What Trump victory means for the world

The Japanese leader gave few details of the meeting but added the two agreed to meet again for deeper talks on a wider range of issues.

Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner, who have emerged as key advisers to Mr Trump since his surprise election victory, also met Mr Abe at Trump Tower.

Media speculation over her role has included the possibility of her becoming ambassador to Japan.

In the days since the election, Mr Trump has been speaking to dozens of world leaders as well as possible cabinet appointees from his home and office inside the Manhattan skyscraper.

In other developments:

• Retired Lt Gen Michael Flynn has been offered the job of national security adviser, US media reports
• Visitors to Trump Tower on Thursday included former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, a potential contender to lead the State Department
• Republican ex-presidential candidate Mitt Romney will meet Mr Trump this weekend, according to US media
• Mr Trump will embark on a “victory tour” to “states that we won and the swing states we flipped over”, according to Trump campaign’s advance team director George Gigicos

Elsewhere, vice president-elect and Trump transition lead Mike Pence has said he is confident Donald Trump’s administration can work with Democrats.

Emerging from meetings with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, Mr Pence said he looks “forward to finding ways that we can find common ground and move the country forward”.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has urged his successor to stand up to Russia if it deviates from US “values and international norms”.

Speaking after talks with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Mr Obama said he hoped Mr Trump would “not simply take a realpolitik approach” to dealing with Russia.

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Source: BBC

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U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council that the plane was “likely downed by a surface-to-air missile … operated from a separatist-held location in eastern Ukraine.”

If pro-Russian separatists are responsible for shooting down the plane with a missile, investigators can’t rule out the possibility that Russia offered help to operate the system, she said.

Power also said Russia should take steps to cool tensions in Ukraine.

“Russia can end this war,” she said. “Russia must end this war.”

The United States and Ukraine are committed to a diplomatic solution to the crisis in eastern Ukraine, she said, but if Russia continues to choose escalation, additional sanctions will follow.

Separatist leaders also boasted on social media about shooting down the plane and later deleted those references, she said.

On board were 298 people, none of whom survived the crash, she said. Three were infants.

A preliminary classified U.S. intelligence analysis has concluded that the missile that hit Flight 17 most likely was fired by pro-Russian separatists inside eastern Ukraine, according to a U.S. defense official with direct access to the latest information.

The official declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the information.

Power had tough words for Russia, saying it had not lived up to its commitments to ease tensions and halt the flow of weapons over the border to the rebels in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk earlier blasted the “terrorists” he blamed for shooting down Flight 17 over Ukraine a day earlier, with 298 people aboard.

He called on all governments to back the investigation and “to support the Ukrainian government to bring to justice all these bastards who committed this international crime.”

Russia, Ukraine trade accusations

Since the Malaysia Airlines jet fell from the sky above eastern Ukraine on Thursday, Russia and Ukraine — which routinely uses the word “terrorists” to describe pro-Russian rebels — have traded blame and accusations.

“Terrorists have killed almost 300 persons with one shot,” Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Thursday. “Among them are women, children, citizens of different countries of the world.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed the finger back at Ukraine, blaming its recent tough military operations against separatists for the volatility in the region.

But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin rejected that claim, telling CNN it was up to Russia to stop the flow of heavy weaponry across Ukraine’s eastern border and push the separatists to embrace a cease-fire.

He also dismissed any suggestion that Ukrainian forces may have been involved in Thursday’s tragedy.

“There was no way our forces could be engaged in any way in this incident,” Klimkin said, adding that Ukraine did not have any military assets in the area that could have shot down MH17.

Klimkin says Ukraine intercepted telephone calls between “terrorists” at the time the plane was shot down.

Yatsenyuk called for a U.N. Security Council meeting to be held and for all nations to do everything they could to stop what he said was not now just a war in Ukraine or Europe, but a “war against the world.”

Meanwhile, international inspectors headed to the crash site Friday tasked with finding the plane’s flight data recorders, which may lie amid the human remains and debris strewn across fields near the town of Torez.

Ukrainian government officials said 181 bodies had been found.

The latest information from Malaysia Airlines indicates that the Netherlands has suffered the harshest blow, with at least 189 of its citizens among those killed.

Experts have voiced concern that the crash site has not been properly secured, making the recovery of bodies and collection of evidence difficult.

Monitors head to crash site

A group of monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is on its way to the crash site near Torez, in rebel territory in the Donetsk region.

Michael Bociurkiw, who was traveling with about 30 colleagues, told CNN the OSCE had been given assurances by separatist leaders that they would be able to pass through rebel-held checkpoints.

OSCE monitors in eastern Ukraine to observe the civil conflict have previously been taken hostage by separatist groups.

There have been conflicting reports over whether the plane’s data recorders have already been recovered by rescue workers or separatists. Ukrainian officials have suggested separatists may seek to take them to Moscow.

An adviser to Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs Anton Geraschenko was quoted by Ukraine’s Interfax news agency Friday as saying that the missile launcher used to down the Malaysian plane is already in Russia and will be destroyed.

The “Buk” launcher, as well as the flight data recorders from MH17, were handed over to Russian agents across the border at a checkpoint in the Luhansk area overnight, Geraschenko claimed, citing Ukrainian intelligence sources.

Ukraine’s state security chief has also accused two Russian military intelligence officers of involvement in Thursday’s events. Valentyn Nalyvaichenko said he based his allegation on intercepts of phone conversations between Russian officers, saying the conversation implicates the pro-Russian side.

CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of the recording.

Ukrainian officials reported earlier this week that two Ukrainian military aircraft had been shot down in the country’s east. They accused a Russian fighter of shooting down a Ukrainian jet Wednesday and said Russian weapons had been used against an An-26 military transport plane Monday.

In an exclusive interview with the state-run Russia 24 TV channel, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russia would “insist on the most objective, most open and independent investigation” into what happened to Flight 17.

“We’re ready to make our own contribution, but certainly we believe the initiative must be undertaken by the authorities of the country on which territory this tragedy occurred,” he said.

“With regard to the claims raised by Kiev, that it was almost us who did it: In fact I haven’t heard any truthful statements from Kiev over the past few months.”

‘Outrage against human decency’

If the pro-Russian separatists did shoot down Flight 17, headed to the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur from Amsterdam, the jet’s passengers and crew are innocent casualties in Ukraine’s separatist armed crisis.

The passengers and crew hailed from all over the world, including Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Germany and Canada. No survivors have been found.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai offered his condolences Friday to the families affected and said Malaysia would support them. The full passenger list will be released once all the next-of-kin have been contacted, he said.

If reports that the jet was shot down are confirmed, “it would contravene international law and be an outrage against human decency,” the minister said, speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

He defended the routing of the Malaysia Airlines plane over a conflict area, saying other carriers were sending their aircraft through the same airspace above Ukraine in the hours before MH17 came down.

“Following this incident, Malaysia Airlines now avoids Ukrainian airspace entirely, flying farther south over Turkey,” a statement from the airline said.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Infrastructure announced Friday that the airspace over Donetsk, Luhansk and part of Kharkiv where separatists are operating had been closed indefinitely.

Three months ago, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration prohibited U.S. airlines from flying in areas some way south of where Flight 17 crashed Thursday.

The Boeing 777 jet had a “clean maintenance record,” and its last maintenance check was on July 11, Malaysia Airlines Regional Senior Vice President Huib Gorter told reporters at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam on Friday. The plane was manufactured in 1997, and it had 17 years of service, he said.

Malaysia’s transport minister said Ukraine would lead the investigation.

Who was on the plane?

The 15 crew members on Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 were all Malaysian nationals, officials said.

Malaysia Airlines also gave a breakdown of the known nationalities of the 283 passengers: 189 were Dutch, 29 were Malaysian, 27 were Australian, 12 were Indonesian, nine were from the United Kingdom, four were from Germany, four were from Belgium, three were from the Philippines, one was Canadian and one was from New Zealand.

Authorities were still trying to determine the nationalities of the other four people on board, it said.

The International AIDS Society said in a statement that “a number” of its members were on the plane on the way to a conference in Melbourne, Australia.

“At this incredibly sad and sensitive time, the IAS stands with our international family and sends condolences to the loved ones of those who have been lost to this tragedy,” the statement said.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, who knew some of those on board through the work of his foundation, told CNN that news of the crash was “awful.”

‘Blown out of the sky’

Leaders and diplomats from around the world have called for investigators to be given unobstructed access to the disputed region.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said Ukraine’s President had accepted an offer of U.S. experts to help investigate the crash.

The plane was apparently shot down,”not an accident, blown out of the sky,” Biden said Thursday.

“It is critical that there be a full, credible, and unimpeded international investigation as quickly as possible,” the White House said in a statement.

The Obama administration believes Ukraine did not have the capability in the region — let alone the motivation — to shoot down the plane, a U.S. official told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

But the White House placed some blame on Russia and warned that evidence must not be tampered with.

“While we do not yet have all the facts, we do know that this incident occurred in the context of a crisis in Ukraine that is fueled by Russian support for the separatists, including through arms, materiel and training,” it said in a statement.

But defense expert and retired Brig. Gen. Kevin Ryan said Ukraine and Russia both have the missile capability to shoot down such an aircraft at such an altitude.

Russia-Ukraine dispute

Tensions have been high between Ukraine and Russia since street protests forced former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February. Russia subsequently annexed Ukraine’s southeastern Crimea region, and a pro-Russian separatist rebellion has been raging in Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Ukraine’s government has accused Russia of allowing weapons and military equipment, including tanks, to cross the border illegally into the hands of pro-Russian separatists.

Merkel stressed Friday that Russia must do more to ease the crisis in Ukraine.

“Russia is largely responsible for what’s happening in the Ukraine now, and I would make an appeal — that the Russian President and the Russian government should make a contribution so that a political solution can be found,” she said.

European Union leaders agreed this week to expand sanctions against individuals and entities in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, with details to be decided by the end of the month. Expanded U.S. sanctions were also announced in Washington.

Airline’s troubles

Thursday’s crash marks the second time this year that Malaysia Airlines has faced an incident involving a downed plane.

On March 8, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared with 239 people on board. Searchers have found no trace of the Boeing 777 or its passengers despite extensive search efforts.

Flight 370 probably flew into the southern Indian Ocean on autopilot with an unresponsive crew, Australian authorities said last month.

A new underwater search is expected to begin in August. It will be broadly in an area where planes and vessels had already looked for debris on the surface of the water.

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Source: CNN

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So far six Malaysian families and one Chinese family have received the money, and insurers are assessing the claims of 40 more Chinese families.

Relatives of all 239 missing passengers can claim up to $175,000 each.

Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace of the plane has been found.

Malaysian deputy foreign minister Hamzah Zainudin stressed that the government has not yet declared the plane lost.

“When we talk about the full payment, we have to wait until we announce the issue on the tragedy MH370 is over,” he said.

Malaysia Airlines’ insurer, a consortium led by Germany’s Allianz, is making the payments.

Many of the relatives also refuse to accept that their relatives may be dead.

A group of families has joined together to raise $5m (£2.9m) to investigate the plane’s disappearance and encourage anyone who might have information to come forward.

A massive search operation conducted in seas hundreds of miles from any land has failed to find any debris from the plane.

Experts are continuing to survey the sea floor and are bringing in specialist equipment.

They believe the jet ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles north-west of the Australian city of Perth.

Source: BBC

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