Tokyo - The Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Yoshiro Mori, was re-elected yesterday and announced a "renewal" cabinet to keep the economy's slow recovery on track.
Analysts said it was too soon to predict the prime minister would lose his job in the coming months. But he is fresh from an election setback and faces a more confident opposition, criticism over a new scandal and a controversial corporate bailout. The unpopular Mr Mori could face tough going once a July 21st-23rd G8 summit has passed.
After he was re-elected as prime minister in parliament in the afternoon, Mr Mori kept the Finance Minister, Mr Kiichi Miyazawa, the Economic Planning Minister, Mr Taichi Sakaiya and the Foreign Minister, Mr Yohei Kono on board, as expected, to handle the summit.