Fukuda govt. set on passing terror law

TOKYO, Jan. 10 (UPI) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda's government is set on getting the anti-terrorism refueling mission bill passed despite its defeat in the upper house.

Under a special legislative provision, Fukuda's coalition government planned Friday to get the measure enacted into law using its comfortable majority in the lower house, Kyodo news service reported.

The upper house, which is controlled by the opposition, defeated the measure Thursday, setting the scene for the Friday legislative battle.

The bill is the first since 1951 to be subjected to the special provision through which it would become law after being approved twice in the lower house.

Immediately after the measure becomes law, the government plans to resume in weeks the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Indian Ocean refueling mission for U.S.-led anti-terrorism operations in and near Afghanistan, the report said.

For Fukuda, the refueling mission is vital to strengthen Japan's ties with the United States. The mission was terminated last November after the government failed to win parliamentary approval to extend it.