Hiroshige Seko

Police dragged away elderly protesters trying to block work on a contentious US airbase in Okinawa today as Japan's government resumed building even though the Okinawa governor had revoked a work permit for the site.

Japan' deputy foreign minister has said negotiations with the Islamic State group threatening to execute a Jordanian pilot and a Japanese journalist have become "deadlocked," local media reported on Saturday.

Police dragged away elderly protesters trying to block work on a contentious US airbase in Okinawa today as Japan's government resumed building even though the Okinawa governor had revoked a work permit for the site.

Japan' deputy foreign minister has said negotiations with the Islamic State group threatening to execute a Jordanian pilot and a Japanese journalist have become "deadlocked," local media reported on Saturday.