TOKYO – Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama says he is resigning.

Hatoyama told a news conference broadcast nationwide on Wednesday that he will step down over his broken campaign promise to move a U.S. Marine base off the southern island of Okinawa.

After eight months in office, the embattled prime minister has faced growing pressure from within his own party to resign ahead of July elections.

His approval ratings have plummeted over the bungling of handling the Marine Air Station Futenma, reinforcing his public image as an indecisive leader.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

TOKYO (AP) — Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama has said he intends to resign.

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JERUSALEM – Israel and Egypt signaled a temporary easing of the Gaza Strip blockade following harsh international condemnation of the deadly Israeli raid on an aid flotilla en route to the sealed-off Palestinian territory.

Egypt said it was freely opening its border with Gaza for the first time in more than a year to allow in humanitarian aid, setting off a mad rush to the crossing by thousands of residents, while an Israeli official said there is an “ongoing dialogue” with the international community on how to expand the amount of goods entering the area.

At the same time, Israel began expelling some of the nearly 700 activists it rounded up in the naval raid, and strongly rejected criticism that its tactics were heavy-handed. The government said late Tuesday it would deport almost all of them within the next two days, but about 50 would be held for investigation into their part in the violence at sea.

A group of 124 activists from nations without diplomatic relations with Israel was deported to Jordan before sunrise Wednesday, Israeli officials said.

Israel pledged to halt a new attempt by pro-Palestinian groups to sail more ships into Gaza, and claimed some of the arrested activists carried weapons and large quantities of cash, raising questions about whether they were mercenaries.

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SEOUL (Reuters) –
South Koreans voted in regional elections on Wednesday, a barometer of support for President Lee Myung-bak as he tries to push through business-friendly reforms, with the North Korea standoff a key campaign issue.

Campaigning for the polls to choose nearly 4,000 mayors, governors and local government representatives has been overshadowed by the sinking of a South Korean warship, which Seoul has blamed on the North, fuelling blistering rhetoric on both sides, including threats of war.

Lee’s uncompromising stand on the sinking has seen him and his Grand National Party (GNP) bounce back in opinion polls from a voter backlash after a decision to scrap a plan to shift a large part of the government from Seoul.

“When the elections are over, we need to accomplish the modernization of social systems needed to be a first-rate nation,” Lee told a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

GNP candidates in the key capital region races, including the governor for the Gyeonggi province and mayor for the giant port city of Incheon, have shown double-digit leads over Democratic Party opponents.

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