Fukuda calls for upper house vote on refueling bill by Dec 15

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda called on the opposition-dominated House of Councillors committee Tuesday to vote on a bill to resume Japan's antiterrorism refueling mission in the Indian Ocean by Dec 15, the last day of the current parliamentary session, despite the slim chance of its enactment.
"The period of the session is limited but...I want the upper house to reach a conclusion through thorough deliberations," Fukuda told a session of the upper house committee on foreign affairs and defense where substantial debates on the bill started the same day.