Japan's PM dissolves parliament

Japan's cabinet has approved plans to dissolve parliament, paving the way for what's expected to be a watershed election at the end of August.

Opinion polls suggest that the governing Liberal Democratic Party is likely to be defeated for only the second time in more than half a century.

Japan has been suffering its worst recession since the end of the Second World War and the prime minister, is deeply unpopular.

The BBC's Roland Buerk reports.