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(AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) As we reported, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, 67, was shot in the back during a campaign speech in Nara, Japan ahead of the coming upper house elections. He was later pronounced dead at the hospital. The shooter didn’t flee and was captured at the scene. He has been identified as Tetsuya Yamagami, a local man in his forties, who appears to have assassinated the former prime minister with what looks like a homemade weapon. The shooting occurred about 11:30 a.m. local time in Nara, 10:30 p.m. on the East coast in Washington, D.C. As we’ve...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Friday’s shocking assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in one of the world’s safest country stunned the world and drew condemnation, with Iran calling it an “act of terrorism” and Spain slamming the “cowardly attack.” (snip) “We are shocked and saddened to hear about the violent attack against former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe,” the White House said in a statement. “We are closely monitoring the reports and keeping our thoughts with his family and the people of Japan.” (snip) Other former world leaders also condemned the appalling attack on Abe, who was...

Japanese police officials have identified Tetsuya Yamagami, a resident of Japan’s Nara city in his 40s, as the person who attacked Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe. Yamagami attacked Abe with a shotgun while he was delivering a speech near the Yamato-Saidaiji Station in Nara City. Abe fell to the ground and was bleeding from the chest as per photos shared by Japanese news agencies. Abe was campaigning for the upcoming Upper House elections. Yamagami was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder and was brought to Nara Nishi police station. The police also confiscated the gun and the confiscated gun...

ABC News partner NHK reported that Abe was bleeding when he collapsed. Abe's heart is in a "stopped condition," ABC News has learned, and there are no vital signs.

Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo collapsed in the western city of Nara at around 11: 30 a.m. Abe was making a speech on the street. An NHK reporter says Abe was bleeding. The reporter heard what sounded like a gun going off. Former Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo collapsed during a speech in the city of Nara, in western Japan. Initial reports say he may have been injured. An NHK reporter on site heard something that sounded like a gunshot, and saw Abe bleeding.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to resign for health reasons, local media reported Friday. Abe plans to step down to deal with a health problem, national broadcaster NHK reported citing sources close to the prime minister. Kyodo News also reported that Abe plans to resign, citing a source from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Abe had been scheduled to hold a press conference at 5 p.m. local time. CNBC has not independently confirmed the reports. Stocks in Japan briefly fell after the reports.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a monthlong state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures on Tuesday to ramp up defenses against the spread of the coronavirus as the number of infections surges. But the move came in the form of a stay-at-home request — not an order — and violators will not be penalized. The COVID-19 outbreak is now rampant and rapidly spreading, threatening people’s health, their daily lives and the economy, Abe said. The state of emergency, which is until May 6, will only permit Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and heads of the six other prefectures...

MÉRIDA, Mexico – The Nobel Prize Committee is just weeks away from announcing its 2019 recipient, months after it surfaced that multiple people nominated President Trump for the esteemed prize. “I believe that much more can and should happen. So far, superficial messages have been sent to the world but real progress, one doesn’t see it,” said former President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos, who won the award in 2016 for orchestrating a historic peace agreement with the country’s violent revel group, known as FARC, following decades of conflict. “We need to see more complete progress.” However, he acknowledged the...

President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump attend a reception at the residence of Ambassador William F. Hagerty, U.S. Ambassador to Japan. [Note: see the Japanese guest to understand how twitchy Ambassador Hagerty is.] Accompanying the President and First Lady are: chief of staff Mr. Mick Mulvaney, USTR Robert Lighthizer and Asst to President Mr. Rob Blair (helps Mulvaney). The funniest thing about this video is how President Trump (not a politician) is sizing up the room based on executive business acumen; and simultaneously the room is sizing up Donald Trump based on his status as President Trump. Japanese...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have communicated several times over the past few months and are seeking to schedule a meeting between the two later this year, a new report says. One option on the table is for Abe to travel to Pyongyang in August, but another possibility is for Abe and Kim to meet during the Eastern Economic Forum in September if Kim decided to attend, according to the Yomiuri newspaper. The report comes after a Tuesday summit between the U.S. and North Korea, where President Trump and Kim signed a joint...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel shared a picture on her official Instagram account that shows her staring down President Donald Trump during the G-7 Summit in Canada this weekend. True to form, online commenters have since turned the photo into a humorous caption contest. Merkel—or an aide that runs her account—shared the picture on Saturday, as Trump was preparing to depart early from the meeting in Montréal, Quebec ahead of a high-stakes Singapore meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The photo depicts Trump sitting behind a table with his arms crossed, while stony-faced aides and leaders look in his direction....

Abe pushes Trump's focus to N. Korea missiles, U.S. military presence By Ko Hirano, KYODO NEWS - Apr 20, 2018 - 15:25 | All, World Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's reassurance that Japan and the United States are "very unified" on North Korea, concerns persist that Pyongyang may refuse to rid itself of medium-range missiles and that Washington might agree to wind back its military presence on the Korean Peninsula at the behest of the North's leader Kim Jong Un. During two-day talks through Wednesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Palm Beach, Florida, Trump pledged to continue levying...

Japan’s prime minister says his country has entered into a pact with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to boost economic and political ties with the three former Soviet republics. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Latvian Prime Minister Maris Kucinskis said after meeting on Saturday that information technology, transportation and medicine are areas where Japan sees the most potential in the Baltic countries. …

President Trump and Japan Prime Minister Abe carried on a tradition of feeding carp at a Koi pond in Tokyo when CNN and the mainstream media decided to twist the narrative to make Trump appear like a buffoon. CNN ran the headline, “Trump feeds fish, winds up pouring entire box of food into Koi pond,” with a misleading tweet from reporter Veronica Rocha only showing Trump dumping the entire box of food. Her footage is conveniently edited to skip Abe doing the same thing. Abe dumped his entire box into the pond and Trump followed while the Prime Minister smiled....

Russia’s Gazprom PJSC isn’t confident in Japan’s future as a growing natural gas user, which may damp prospects of a proposed pipeline between the countries as Premier Shinzo Abe travels to Moscow later this month. [snip] Abe, seeking to deepen economic ties with Russia in an effort to resolve a 70-year-old dispute over islands off Hokkaido, is set to visit Moscow on April 27. Russian gas supplies to Japan, including the possible pipeline between the nations, could be discussed during the visit, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper reported last month. [snip] Russia has turned to Asia as a growth market for its...

House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) is asking the White House to provide his panel with details about how sensitive information was handled during a weekend meeting at President Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort. In a letter to White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Chaffetz requested detailed explanations of the Trump administration's security protocols at the Florida estate, including what documents were present at Saturday's powwow and how the administration vetted club guests. The request came after it was revealed that Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a meeting in plain sight on Saturday to discuss North Korea's...

Japanese polling firms found solid support for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Florida this past weekend to spend time with his American counterpart, President Donald Trump, though far-left politicians condemned expanding U.S.-Japan ties. The newswire service Kyodo published a poll following Abe’s return to Japan finding that 70 percent of Japanese respondents were “satisfied” with Abe’s visit to the White House and Trump’s estate in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. The New York Times adds that the Kyodo poll found approval of Abe’s work as prime minister generally to be 62 percent, a slight uptick from a month earlier. The Japanese broadcaster...

Donald Trump likes to golf. He owns golf courses around the world, after all. Donald Trump does not like the media. We know this because he talks about it, he tweets about it, and he likely dreams about it. This weekend, the president took another break from Washington, D.C. and headed south to Mar-a-Lago. On Saturday, Trump suited up to play a round of golf with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. [Snip] But what to do with the press while you’re teeing off? Trump's press corps has been placed in a basement suite at Jupiter golf club. Black plastic over...

The president and first lady Melania Trump hosted a delegation dinner with Abe and his wife on Saturday night at his Mar-a-Lago estate. At the time Trump ignored a shouted question about the North Korea launch. Focusing on the positive, he said the Abe visit had been "very, very good" and that he and the Japanese leader "got to know each other very, very well" over their two days of meals, meetings and golfing. Trump and Abe, both frequent golfers, left Mar-a-Lago early Saturday morning and headed north to one of Trump's golf courses in Jupiter, Florida. Reporters and photographers...

President Trump and Prime Minister Abe will be speaking from Trump's estate Mar a Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, about the North Korea ballistic missile test. They were supposed to speak at 10:15 p.m. but are running late.