Japan's PM survives no-confidence motion

Japan's new centre-left Prime Minister Naoto Kan easily survived a no-confidence motion Yesterday and dismissed opposition calls for snap elections for the powerful lower house of parliament.
The conservative opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) submitted the motion after Kan took over as leader of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) last week, arguing that the new prime minister had no popular mandate.
But Kan, who has been riding high in opinion polls, brushed aside opposition calls for the holding of lower house elections in tandem with a scheduled vote for the upper house on July 11.