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JAPAN: Lawmakers vote to extend

Japan extended its parliamentary session yesterday as the government came under US pressure to extend an anti-terror naval mission in the Indian Ocean.

The vote came while US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates was visiting Tokyo and ahead of Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's expected visit to Washington next week.

The lower house of the Diet voted to stay in session until Dec. 15 instead of adjourning today.

The vote comes during a political battle over Japan's mission in the Indian Ocean in support of US-led troops fighting in Afghanistan. The mission was halted on Nov. 1 when the opposition blocked it in parliament.

Fukuda's government is struggling to win parliamentary approval of the extension of an Indian Ocean refueling mission.

Fukuda's Liberal Democratic Party has enough votes in the powerful lower house to override a veto by the upper house, which is controlled by the opposition.

A lower house committee is scheduled to vote on the measure on Monday, with a vote in the full chamber scheduled on Tuesday, Kyodo News agency and other media reported yesterday. The upper house was expected to begin deliberation on Wednesday, the media said.
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