Lawyers

• Japan ruling bloc signs off on security legislation, public split

  Japanese ruling party officials signed off on Monday on bills to implement a drastic change in security policy that would expand the role of the nation's military in the U.S.-Japan alliance and allow it to fight abroad for the first time since World War Two.

• PM Abe's party eyes revision of Japan pacifist constitution by late 2018

  Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling party wants to revise Japan's constitution by late 2018 to remove constraints on his defense strategy, a key party lawmaker said, an ambitious target since the charter has not been changed since Americans drafted it after World War Two.

• Japan eyes MI6-style spy agency as it seeks to shed pacifist past

  Japan is looking into creating an overseas intelligence agency possibly modeled on Britain's MI6 spy service, ruling party lawmakers say, 70 years after Allied victors dismantled Japan's fearsome military intelligence apparatus following World War Two.

• Two Japan ministers latest to deny illegal funding

  Two Japanese ministers denied wrongdoing on Friday after media said they appeared to have received improper funding, the latest embarrassment for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, three of whose ministers have quit over scandals since October.

• Japan opposition, too weak to take power, aims to dim Abe's luster

  Japan's main opposition party, its image still tarnished two years after losing power, isn't even pretending to have a shot at ousting Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's coalition in a Dec. 14 election. It does hope to give him a black eye, though.

• Low voter turnout could erode Japan PM Abe's call for fresh mandate

  Japanese voters, puzzled as to why Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is calling an election now and unimpressed by opposition alternatives, may shun a Dec. 14 election in record numbers.

• Japan opposition DPJ takes aim at Abe govt scandals, Abenomics

  Japan's main opposition party vowed on Tuesday to pursue Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over a string of cabinet funding scandals that have dented his popularity ratings, and attacked his signature "Abenomics" economic revival recipe as a failure.

• Japan PM Abe sends offering to Yasukuni Shrine for war dead

  Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to Tokyo's controversial Yasukuni Shrine on Friday, a move that might complicate his push for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping to improve frayed ties between the world's second- and third-biggest economies.