BBC News Online: World: Asia-Pacific

Former Japanese PM Sousuke Uno dead

A former Japanese prime minister, Sosuke Uno, whose term of office was one of the shortest on record, has died in Moriyama, western Japan.

Mr Uno -- whowas seventy-five -- had been suffering from cancer.

He was appointed prime minister in 1989 after Noboru Takeshita stepped down as a result of a bribery scandal.

Mr Uno found himself in political trouble shortly afterwards over a sex scandal involving a geisha girl.

He resigned after just sixty-nine days in office.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service