Japanese MPs have backed Finance Minister Naoto Kan (pictured) to succeed outgoing premier Yukio Hatoyama, who quit this week after an unhappy eight-month spell in power. Kan will lead the ruling Democratic Party of Japan in a critical July poll.
Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama Tuesday abandoned a plan to relocate the Futenma US marine base off the island of Okinawa, calling on local people to accept that at least some aspects of the unpopular base "would have to stay".
Japan officially ended its naval refuelling mission that supported coalition ships mobilised in the Afghanistan war since 2001. Tokyo pledged instead to step up reconstruction aid to the war-ravaged country.
Japan's Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama came under fire on Thursday over a funding scandal involving one of his aides but offered to step down if the public demanded his resignation.
Deflation-hit Japan has announced a new stimulus plan worth an estimated 184 billion euros in an effort to support the economy, which risks hitting recession again.
Japan's newly appointed centre-left prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, has handed the job of supervising the country's financial services industry to veteran politician Shizuka Kamei, who has labeled US-style globalisation "the law of the jungle".
Yukio Hatoyama's landmark victory in Japan's general election is the subject of much talk online. Also in today's review of the Web: a recent spurt of violence in Uganda prompts concern.
Japan's new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama (photo), took power on Wednesday after his centre-left Democratic Party of Japan unseated the ruling conservatives in August 30 legislative elections for the first time in close to 50 years.
Conditions faced by Japan's death row inmates are pushing them to insanity, says human rights group Amnesty International, citing that prisoners and their families have no knowledge of when their execution will take place.
Yukio Hatoyama, who will take power as Japan's prime minister next week, explained he aims to cuts the country's greenhouse gas emissions by 25 % by 2020. Japan is the fifth largest emitter of greenhouse gases.
