Beijing  - Japanese Prime Minister  arrived in China Wednesday for two days of talks that were expected to focus on issues including the global financial crisis and North Korea.

Aso was scheduled to meet Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said before the visit.

Tokyo  - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday told visiting Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari that stability in Pakistan is important for stability in south-western Asia.

"The stable development of Pakistan will directly lead to the stability of the entire region," the Kyoto News Agency quoted Aso as telling Zardari during a meeting at the premier's office in Tokyo.

Tokyo-Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso pledged his government's full support for Tokyo's bid to host the 2016 Games as a delegation from the International Olympics Committee began an inspection Thursday.

"It is my earnest desire to invite young Olympians from around the world to Tokyo to experience what I felt and learned as a young athlete," Aso told the 13-member IOC evaluation team.

Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday ordered the government to draw up a supplemental budget by mid-April to finance fresh economic measures.

The new stimulus package, to be implemented over several years, would fund "drastic steps to boost domestic demand and create jobs."

To finance the stimulus package, Aso indicated that he may issue deficit-covering bonds in addition to reserves in the special account for fiscal investment and lending, as well as construction bonds.

Tokyo - The Japanese parliament on Friday passed a record 88.5-trillion-yen (902.74 billion dollars) budget for fiscal 2009.

With the budget passed, Prime Minister Taro Aso was expected to order the government next week to compile an extra budget for economic stimulus measures for the year that starts on April 1.

The upper house earlier Friday voted down the budget, which includes 1 trillion yen in special emergency reserves, because the opposition holds the majority of the House of Councillors.

But the more powerful lower house, which approved the budget last month, takes precedence on budgetary decisions, according to the constitution.

Tokyo  - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is enjoying a boost in public support as opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa is dragged down by a scandal over party funding, media reports said Thursday.

The support rate for Aso's administration increased 7.7 percentage points to 23.7 per cent from early March, according to a survey by the Kyodo News Agency.

It once tanked to single-digits, going as low as 9.7 per cent in February.