Japan's PM Kan survives no-confidence vote

 TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Thursday survived a no-confidence motion brought by the conservative opposition after he pledged to step down once the country has recovered from the March 11 quake.

The motion against Kan, brought in the lower house of the Diet legislature by the main conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and two small parties, was defeated by a margin of 152 against 293.

Kan's archrival within the governing centre-left Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), Ichiro Ozawa, abstained from the vote, while scores of lawmakers loyal to Ozawa also either failed to cast a ballot or supported the premier.