Former Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa, who resigned from his post after appearing intoxicated at a news conference earlier this year, was found dead in his home Sunday, police told CNN. Tokyo police found Nakagawa, 56, lying face down on a bed on the second-floor of his home, Kyodo reported. Nakagawa submitted his resignation February 17, just three days after he appeared intoxicated at the G7 news conference in Rome, Italy. Japan's prime minister quickly appointed Kaoru Yosano, the economics ...

Sarah Palin's not a quitter, she wants the public to know. "I am not a quitter. I am a fighter," Palin told CNN on Monday while on a family fishing trip, on the heels of her Friday bombshell announcement that she was resigning as Alaska's governor. Palin did her interview standing on the shores of Dillingham, Alaska, wearing hip waders. She granted 10-minute interviews to CNN and three other news networks Monday. She resigned because of the tremendous pressure, time ...

The FBI, in a rare response to rampant rumors on the Internet, said it is not investigating Alaska Gov. Sara Palin on public corruption charges. "Normally, we don't confirm or deny those kind of allegations out there. But, by not doing so, it just casts her in a very bad light," said FBI Special Agent Eric Gonzalez, who confirmed for CNN the statement he made to the Anchorage Daily News. "There is just no truth to those rumors ...

Jenny Sanford said Thursday that her husband Mark Sanford's political career is "not a concern of mine" and that she'd be just fine -- regardless of whether their marriage survives. She would not speculate whether her husband would resign as South Carolina governor. "His career is not a concern of mine," she told reporters as she departed the family's vacation home in Sullivans Island, South Carolina. "He's going to have to worry about that. I'm worried about my family and ...

Anti-secrecy campaigners have criticized a decision by UK lawmakers to censor a report on their expenses claims, some of which was leaked earlier amid huge public outcry. The online publication on Thursday is the result of a newspaper filing a freedom of information request to see the claims by MPs, but some of the information is blacked out. The redaction prompted criticism from campaigners seeking transparancy. "A great deal of information has been censored so today's move will do nothing ...

Michael Martin, forced to resign as Speaker of the British parliament, has become the highest profile victim of the expenses scandal which has dominated public life in Britain now for nearly two weeks. Martin has suffered because as Speaker he not only chaired debates in the Commons chamber but was in effect parliament's chief executive. In that role he was responsible for the Fees Office. The poor policing by that office of the expenses system has led to public outrage, ...

The pastor of a non-denominational church in Argyle, Texas, passed around the collection plate to his congregants earlier this year -- and asked them to take money from it. Martin said lawmakers had let the public down "very badly indeed," adding: "To the extent that I have contributed, I am profoundly sorry," said Martin. The Speaker traditionally chairs debates and ensures protocol is followed in the main legislative chamber of the UK parliament. No Speaker has been forced out of ...

Michael Martin, the speaker of the House of Commons, rebuffed calls from lawmakers for his resignation Monday amid widespread public anger about improper expense claims by UK members of parliament. Martin said lawmakers had let the public down "very badly indeed," adding: "To the extent that I have contributed, I am profoundly sorry," said Martin. The Speaker traditionally chairs debates and ensures protocol is followed in the main legislative chamber of the UK parliament. No Speaker has been forced out ...

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is set to reclaim a second term with a resounding mandate for his Congress party. Singh, seen as architect of India's economic reforms in the 1990s, will be the second Indian prime minister since Jawaharlal Nehru in the 1960s to hold the post twice after a full five-year term. His Congress party, headed by Italian-born Sonia Gandhi, alone won 205 of 543 boroughs of the federal parliament -- its best performance since 1991 in a ...

President Obama has accepted the resignation of Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office responsible for the controversial low-altitude flyover of New York by a 747 plane used as Air Force One, the White House said Friday. The photo shoot, which President Obama said he was "furious" with, happened on April 27. The image of a low-flying plane accompanied by an F-16 fighter jet sent some New Yorkers into the streets and into a panic -- ...