ONE NEWS

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 TOKYO: Political leaders took to the streets Tuesday as campaigning kicked off in one of the most hotly contested elections Japan has seen in more than a decade, a race in which the party that has ruled the country for most of the past 55 years is considered a distant underdog.The elections for the lower house of parliament, to be held Aug. 30, will be a big test of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party and could cost them control over the government and lead to the selection of opposition chief Yukio Hatoyama as Japan's next prime minister.The Liberal Democrats have governed Japan alone or in a coalition arrangement for all of the past 55 years, except for a 10-month respite in the early 1990s."We will press ahead," Prime Minister Taro Aso said in his kickoff speech before a swarm of voters who braved the summer sun in a Tokyo neighborhood. "We are not finished with our efforts to see economic recovery. Recovery is our foremost priori...

Sunday, August 09, 2009 TOKYO: A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Japan Sunday, the US Geological Survey said.The quake was felt from central to northern Japan, including Tokyo, at 19:56 (1056 GMT), the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The quake rocked buildings in the Japanese capital, but no damage was immediately reported in the city.Some local trains experienced moderate delays, East Japan Railway Co. said.The US agency estimated the quake to be extremely deep at 303 kilometers or 188 miles.