BREAKING NEWS

Japan coalition ally head Kamei: declined vice PM offer

TOKYO - The head of a coalition partner to Japan's ruling party said on Monday he had declined a request from Prime Minister Naoto Kan to become vice premier, and that he would become "a special aide".
"The prime minister asked me to lend him a hand as a special aide when I turned down his request to become the vice prime minister," Shizuka Kamei, the head of the People's New Party, told reporters.