The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Japan PM faces party rebellion as no-confidence vote looms
- Japan PM faces party rebellion as no-confidence vote looms
- Bolivia says Iranian minister to leave immediately
| Japan PM faces party rebellion as no-confidence vote looms Posted: 31 May 2011 08:28 PM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan faces a rebellion in his party, media said on Wednesday, that while not enough to unseat him in a no-confidence motion will weaken his struggle to cope with the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.
Analysts have said Kan should survive the vote in parliament, expected to be on Thursday, but that he would still face big hurdles pushing policies through a divided parliament, including an extra budget to pay for rebuilding after the deadly March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Adoption of the motion would force Kan either to resign with his cabinet or call a snap lower house poll. While he has refused to rule out the latter, analysts say holding an election would be tough while part of the country is still trying to recover from the nuclear and natural disasters. Rivals in Kan's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), many of whom back scandal-tainted powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa want the premier to quit before the vote. That could clear the way for a new leader who could form a coalition with the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party to break a parliamentary logjam. The Asahi newspaper said more than 50 backers of Ozawa, who has been charged over a funding scandal, planned to vote in favour of the no-confidence motion. That would fall short of the more than 70 DPJ votes needed to pass the motion in the 480 member lower house, where the Democrats have 305 seats. OLIVE BRANCH Kan, who took office last year as Japan's fifth premier in as many years, is struggling to control the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima atomic plant, pay for rebuilding the northeast region devastated by the tsunami, and craft tax reforms to pay for rising social security costs. "It doesn't look as if the prime minister will resign," the Yomiuri newspaper quoted Ozawa as telling a close source. "If we go on this way, Japan will be done for. I will act together with my comrades." Kan was set to meet younger lawmakers from both the LDP and DPJ before facing off with his main opposition rival in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday. He appeared to hold out an olive branch to his critics by suggesting a parliament session set to end on June 22 could be extended. Kan made the remark in a session of the upper house, adding he would positively consider submitting a second extra budget for the current fiscal year. The opposition and DPJ critics want the session extended in order to deal with a second extra budget to fund the next phase of rebuilding from the tsunami in what will be Japan's biggest reconstruction project since the early post-World War Two era. The government also needs to get parliament to enact a bill enabling the issuance of fresh bonds to finance 44 percent of the $1 trillion budget for the fiscal year already begun in April. Kan's cabinet is also trying to finalise this month proposals for social security and tax reforms -- including a likely doubling of the 5 percent sales tax in stages by 2015. (Additional reporting by Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Edmund Klamann) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Japan PM faces party rebellion as no-confidence vote looms Posted: 31 May 2011 07:57 PM PDT TOKYO (Reuters) - Dozens of Japanese ruling party rebels plan to vote for a no-confidence motion against unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan, media said on Wednesday, short of the number needed to oust the leader but enough to split the party and weaken his clout as he struggles with the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.
Analysts have said Kan would likely survive the vote, which looked set to take place on Thursday, but he would still face big hurdles pushing policies through a divided parliament, including an extra budget to pay for rebuilding after a deadly March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Adoption of the motion would force Kan either to resign with his cabinet or call a snap lower house poll. While he has refused to rule out the latter, analysts say holding an election would be tough while part of the country is still trying to recover from the nuclear and natural disasters. Rivals in Kan's Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), many of whom back scandal-tainted powerbroker Ichiro Ozawa -- a veteran strategist known for shaking things up -- want the premier to quit before the vote. That could clear the way for a new leader who could form a coalition with the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party to break a parliamentary logjam. But media reports said Kan had brushed off a demand to quit in talks on Tuesday with his predecessor Yukio Hatoyama, who himself resigned abruptly just a year ago. OLIVE BRANCH Kan, who took office last year as Japan's fifth premier in as many years, is struggling to control the crisis at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima atomic plant, pay for rebuilding the northeast region devastated by the tsunami, and craft tax reforms to pay for rising social security costs. The Asahi newspaper said more than 50 backers of Ozawa, who has been charged over a funding scandal, planned to vote in favour of the no-confidence motion. That would fall short of the more than 70 DPJ votes needed to pass the motion in the 480 member lower house, where the Democrats have 305 seats. "It doesn't look as if the prime minister will resign," the Yomiuri newspaper quoted Ozawa as telling a close source. "If we go on this way, Japan will be done for. I will act together with my comrades." Kan, who was set to meet younger lawmakers from both the LDP and DPJ before facing off with his main opposition rival in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday, appeared to hold out an olive branch to his critics by suggesting a parliament session set to end on June 22 could be extended, media reports said. The opposition and DPJ critics want the session extended in order to deal with a second extra budget to fund the next phase of rebuilding from the tsunami in what will be Japan's biggest reconstruction project since the early post-World War Two era. The government also needs to get parliament to enact a bill enabling the issuance of fresh bonds to finance 44 percent of the $1 trillion budget for the fiscal year already begun in April. Kan's cabinet is also trying to finalise this month proposals for social security and tax reforms -- including a likely doubling of the 5 percent sales tax in stages by 2015. (Additional reporting by Yoko Nishikawa; Editing by Edmund Klamann) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. | ||
| Bolivia says Iranian minister to leave immediately Posted: 31 May 2011 07:57 PM PDT LA PAZ/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Bolivia said on Tuesday it had taken steps to ensure that Iran's defense minister, who is accused by Argentina of planning the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center that killed 85 people, leaves Bolivia immediately. The statement came in a letter from Bolivia's foreign minister to his counterpart in Argentina, which said the Iranian minister, Ahmad Vahidi, was in Bolivia at the invitation of the country's Defense Ministry.
In the letter Bolivia apologized for the invitation, which it called "a grave incident", and assured Argentina that Vahidi would not be in the country for long. "As a result of this lamentable situation ... the government of Bolivia has taken the corresponding provisions to see to it that Ahmad Vahidi immediately leaves Bolivian territory," said the letter, which was released in Buenos Aires by the Argentine government. Sources in Bolivia's government, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that Vahidi left Bolivia late on Tuesday. Vahidi is among the senior Iranian officials accused by Argentine prosecutors of being behind the attack that leveled the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) building in Buenos Aires. Iran denies any links to the bombing. "Unfortunately (the Bolivian Defense Ministry) did not know about the background of the case," the letter said. Nor did the ministry coordinate the invitation with the rest of Bolivia's government, it said. Vahidi enjoys diplomatic immunity, which complicates efforts to bring him to trial although in 2007 Interpol notified law enforcement bodies in other countries of an Argentine arrest warrant against him. Bolivia's leftist president, Evo Morales, has close ties with Argentine leader Cristina Fernandez, who last year proposed that a third country be nominated by Tehran to host the trial of those accused of being involved in the bombing. Iran rejected the idea, saying none of its citizens were involved. Iran's state news agency IRNA said Vahidi had visited Mauritania and held talks with the African state's president before traveling to Bolivia. Guillermo Borges, the AMIA's current president, called Vahidi's visit to Bolivia "a provocation." The letter said that Bolivia hopes the incident will not affect the "excellent" diplomatic relationship between it and Argentina. (Reporting by Carlos A. Quiroga and Hugh Bronstein; editing by Mohammad Zargham) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by USA Best Price. |
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