Japanese companies in the Middle East stepped up emergency plans Tuesday after U.S. President George W. Bush told Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave the country within 48 hours or face war.
Marubeni Corp., which had the families of its employees working in Qatar leave for Japan on Monday, held an emergency meeting to cope with the latest development.
"The situation has changed dramatically now that the time frame of 48 hours has been given," a Marubeni spokesman said. "We'll consider evacuating our employees (from the Middle East) based on information we can get here from inside Japan and from the region as well."