Japan’s Abe re-elected PM after big election win

Japan’s Shinzo Abe was re-elected prime minister on Wednesday after his ruling bloc’s big election win last month and days before U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit, expected to be dominated by concerns over a volatile North Korea.

Abe, 63, took office in December 2012 promising to reboot the stale economy and bolster defense. His Liberal Democratic Party-led coalition retained its two-thirds “super majority” in parliament’s lower house in the Oct. 22 election, re-energizing his push to revise the post-war, pacifist constitution.

Abe was expected to reappoint current cabinet ministers and instruct them to compile an extra budget for the year to March 31, 2018 focusing on child care and boosting productivity. Source: Reuters