Japan PM's deal on sales tax may cost him his job

Japan's embattled Prime Minister, Yoshihiko Noda, is likely to call a snap election for November, despite the likelihood that his party will suffer a drubbing, party members said yesterday.

Mr Noda, who took office last September as Japan's sixth prime minister in five years, scored a rare policy victory this month when parliament passed a law to double the sales tax to curb public debt. But he had to pledge to call an election "soon" to gain opposition backing in a divided parliament.