Japan appeals for hostage release, British troop transfer starts ...
68117
Efforts to rescue a Japanese hostage in Iraq continued Wednesday with a call from Japan&#39;s foreign minister on the abductors to free the young man while the British hostage in
662131
A group led by al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi threatened to behead a Japanese hostage in Iraq if Tokyo did not withdraw its troops, but Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Japan&#39;s contingent would stay put.
676847
TOKYO - The beheading of a Japanese hostage and the closely fought US presidential election have injected new caution into Tokyoâs deliberations on whether to extend its historic troop dispatch to Iraq.
622668
Japan scrambled Wednesday to win the release a 24-year old Japanese man taken hostage by Islamic militants in Iraq, dispatching high level diplomats to the middle east and launching an appeal for his freedom on Arabic television.
348689
Japan&#39;s Prime Minister, Junichiro Koizumi, has called for the release of of a Japanese tourist taken hostage in Iraq but says Japan will not &quot;bend to terror.
85533
Japan Wednesday refused to withdraw its forces from Iraq despite the threat by Islamic militants to execute a Japanese hostage if the troops remain.
258994
said, in a move that may raise hopes for the release of a British hostage. soldiers, could be freed as part of a review of her detention.
239672
BEIJING (Kyodo) Japan pressed North Korea on Sunday to provide fuller accounts of 10 Japanese who Tokyo says were abducted by Pyongyang agents, but the North did not provide new information as they wrapped up two days of talks, Japan&#39;s chief delegate said
111403
Al Qaeda ally Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's  militant group threatened to behead a Japanese hostage it said  worked with Japan's forces in Iraq if Tokyo did not withdraw  its troops from the country within 48 hours.
660332
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.
126634
: A British hostage in Iraq appealed to Tony Blair to help free him in a new videotape aired today that left his family relieved Kenneth Bigley was alive but appalled to see him caged and in distress.
753486
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.
599897
DUBAI/LONDON  - A British hostage in Iraq appealed  to Tony Blair to help free him in a new videotape aired on  Wednesday that left his family relieved Kenneth Bigley was  alive but appalled to see him caged and in distress.
388381
Japan has sent two diplomats to a forensic medical facility in Iraq to see if a head and body found in Baghdad was that of a Japanese man taken hostage.
362787
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said Wednesday Japanese troops would not pull out of Iraq, rejecting a demand by Islamic militants claiming to have taken a Japanese hostage.
463738
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.
70141
TOKYO - Japan insisted yesterday it would not bow to the demands of militants in Iraq who threatened to behead a young Japanese unless Tokyo pulls its troops from the country within 48 hours.