Japan's Abe claims victory in parliamentary vote

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe claimed victory Sunday for his ruling coalition in parliamentary elections, which came despite lukewarm public support for his economic policies and wariness over amending the country's pacifist constitution. Abe, in power since late 2012, has yet to achieve a strong recovery in the world's third-largest economy through unconventional measures centred on massive easy money and other steps -- so-called Abenomics. Voters have also expressed misgivings about his cherished dream of making changes to the country's constitution, imposed by the United States after Japan's defeat in World War II and which prohibits it from waging war.