Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has demanded the Islamic State group immediately release two hostages. Images of the hostages appear in a new video from the militant group. The video also showed an English-speaking militant holding a knife. He identified the two hostages as Kenji Goto and Haruna Yakawa. The militant criticized Japan for, what he called, its “foolish” support for Western military efforts against the Islamic State. He threatened to execute them if Japan does not pay the group $200 million.
Japanese forces are not part of the United States-led coalition against the Islamic State. Coalition forces have carried out more than 1,700 airstrikes against Islamic State targets since August.
Last Saturday, Mr. Abe promised to give $200 million in non-military aid to countries fighting the militant group.
Obama to deliver State of the Union address
In the United States, President Barack Obama is preparing for his State of theUnion speech to Congress Tuesday night. Mr. Obama will call for raisingtaxes on profits individuals make from selling investments such as stocks,bonds and property. The president wants to use the money collected to helpreduce taxes for middle class Americans and for proposals such as freecommunity college classes. The Republican Party now holds a majority ofseats in both the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives. Republicanlawmakers have already rejected many of Mr. Obama’s proposals.
This report was based on stories from VOA’s News Division. George Growwrote this story for VOA Learning English. Ritter was the editor.