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TOKYO (AP) - The United States and Britain Thursday urged Japan to renew a mission to refuel coalition ships in the Indian Ocean as fierce opposition in parliament dimmed prospects of securing an extension before the deployment expires next month.
Japanese officials have acknowledged that a bill to extend the mission is unlikely to gain approval by Japan's divided parliament, or Diet, before the Nov. 1 deadline — and that a gap in Japan's activities is inevitable.
"We would hope that the mission can be continuously undertaken," U.S. Ambassador to Japan Thomas Schieffer told reporters Thursday after meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura.
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