Doctor Fukuda, the agency's top flu expert, says the virus continues to spread in North America.

VOA: special.2009.06.10

Nobutaka Machimura, the leader of the biggest faction, who had served for a month as Mr Abe's foreign minister, becomes Mr Fukuda's chief cabinet secretary and in effect government gatekeeper.

ECONOMIST: Japan's new prime minister

Yet Mr Fukuda's survival hangs on people taking seriously his promise to face down pork-barrel interests.

ECONOMIST: Back from the brink, but still beleaguered

Mr Fukuda's approval ratings are now even lower in some polls than the low point of his predecessor, Shinzo Abe.

ECONOMIST: Back from the brink, but still beleaguered