Asia, Prime Minister | featured news

As Mr. Kan confirmed his intention to resign, the race to pick Japan’s sixth leader in five years was up in the air on Friday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Saturday it will take decades to clean up and decommission the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant after the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl.

Many hope today's election will bring an end to years of unrest between two political factions whose differences led to deadly protests last year.

Embattled Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan -- in danger of losing a no-confidence vote in parliament on Thursday -- will offer to resign later this year after dealing with a nuclear crisis and other urgent matters related to the massive March earthquake and tsunami, domestic media reported.

Singapore's first prime minister and founding father of the modern city-state, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, said he will leave the government cabinet to make way for a younger generation of leadership.

Japan's nuclear crisis is slowly stabilizing and the country must now focus on repairing the damage wrought by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the northeast coast a month ago, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said.

Syria's president appointed a new prime minister Sunday, state television reported, as angry protesters gathered for the funeral processions of four demonstrators killed on Friday.

Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara told a news conference on Sunday he would resign following criticism for accepting political donations from a foreign national, the latest blow to unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan's troubled government.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao has told his Japanese counterpart Naoto Kan that a disputed stretch of islands in the East China Sea belonged to China, state media said.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan rejected China’s demand that Tokyo apologize for the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain.