NUSA DUA, Indonesia, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Japanese Prime
Minister Yoshihiko Noda said on Saturday Asia needs to consider
further steps to avoid a financial crisis as the euro zone’s
debt problems could spill into the region.

While Asia has become more resilient due to its economic
management since the region’s own financial crisis in 1997/98,
it is not immune to Europe’s problems, Noda said.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – Japan told Myanmar on Friday that it wants to soon start working-level talks that could lead to the resumption of full-fledged development aid, following reforms in the long-isolated country.

However, Japan also urged Myanmar to release more political prisoners to continue a series of changes since the army nominally handed over power in March to civilians after the first elections in two decades.

Nusa Dua (Reuters) – Japan on Friday pledged assistance to Southeast Asia’s infrastructure projects worth $25 billion and called for a multilateral forum to discuss maritime cooperation across Asia, in an implicit challenge to China’s clout in the region.

Japan, worried about its declining regional and global role, wants to deepen ties with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as China, which surpassed Japan as the world’s No.2 economy, becomes a vital player in the region.

NUSA DUA, Indonesia (Reuters) – The foreign minister of Thailand encouraged the United States and Europe to relax sanctions on Myanmar to reflect the isolated country’s progress in reforms, offering support to its neighbor under pressure to improve human rights conditions.

The United States and Europe have applauded a recent freeing of political prisoners in Myanmar but say they want more reforms before considering lifting sanctions imposed in response to decades of human rights abuses in the former British colony, also known as Burma.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s fractious ruling party resumed its bickering on Friday after Prime Minister Naoto Kan hinted he wanted to keep his job into the new year, angering rivals who had voted down a no-confidence motion in return for a promise he’d quit.

The squabbling will likely further hamper efforts by Kan, who took office a year ago as Japan’s fifth premier in as many years, to tackle steps needed to rein in massive public debt while engineering growth in the fast-aging country.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday survived a no-confidence vote by offering to resign once he has overcome the worst of the country’s nuclear crisis, a last-minute deal with ruling party rebels who had threatened to turf him from office.

Kan’s offer to step down, probably in the autumn, buys him time to prepare an extra budget to fund the rebuilding cost of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, but it does nothing to resolve the country’s political and policy paralysis.

TOKYO (Reuters) – 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.

Even if Kan — Japan’s fifth premier in as many years — survives, a growing split within the ruling party would further handicap efforts to push policies through parliament, including politically sensitive tax reforms.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan’s survival hung in the balance ahead of a no-confidence vote on Thursday, threatening political chaos as the government grapples with a nuclear crisis and huge public debt.

Even if Kan — Japan’s fifth premier in as many years — survives, a growing split within the ruling party will further handicap efforts to push policies through parliament, including politically sensitive tax reforms.

TOKYO (Reuters) – A former Japanese prime minister joined the swelling ranks of ruling party rebels trying to oust leader Naoto Kan, raising the risk that a no-confidence vote will pass in parliament on Thursday, forcing him to quit.

Japan’s fifth premier in as many years, Kan has come under fire for his handling of the nuclear crisis triggered by the March 11 earthquake, the world’s worst in quarter of a century.

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese ruling party rebels on Wednesday claimed to have enough votes to back a no-confidence vote against embattled Prime Minister Naoto Kan but analysts said he would probably survive, albeit weakened and with a deeply divided party.

Japan’s fifth premier in as many years, Kan has struggled to deal with the world’s worst nuclear crisis in 25 years and to push through policies to resolve deep-seated economic woes, with one ratings agency saying the intense political feuding could help force a downgrade in the country’s sovereign debt.