Kyodo news summary -4-

TOKYO, Sept. 9 Kyodo

---------- Abe vows pressure on N. Korea to return abductees, bold diplomacy

TOKYO - Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, tipped to be Japan's next premier, vowed Saturday to put pressure on North Korea for the return of all Japanese it has abducted and to engage in more assertive diplomacy if he becomes prime minister later this month.

''I will go all out to resolve the abduction issue,'' Abe said in the first street campaigning ahead of the ruling party's Sept. 20 presidential election. ''I will never, ever give up on Ms. Megumi Yokota and the other abductees.''

---------- Taiwan protesters launch mass rallies against President Chen

TAIPEI - (EDS: UPDATING)

An estimated 100,000 people from across Taiwan on Saturday joined mass protests in front of the presidential office designed to oust President Chen Shui-bian over a string of corruption scandals besetting his inner circle.

---------- 2 soldiers killed, 15 injured in fresh fighting in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO - Two soldiers were killed and 15 injured when Sri Lanka's army launched a fresh military offensive against Tamil rebels in the north of the country on Saturday, a military source said.

The offensive was launched on Jaffna Peninsula, where the army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealm have been exchanging fire for the last couple of days.

---------- Western social history expert Kinya Abe dies at 71

TOKYO - Leading researcher of Western social history and former Hitotsubashi University President Kinya Abe died of acute heart failure at a Tokyo hospital on Monday, his family said Saturday. He was 71.

A native of Tokyo, Abe served as a professor at universities including state-run Hitotsubashi. He became president of Hitotsubashi in 1992 and later became professor emeritus there.

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