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Japan's prime minister Yukio Hatoyama resigns: Yukio Hatoyama steps down over failure to honour election promises including relocation of Okinawa's US air base (Justin McCurry, 6/02/10, guardian.co.uk)

Japan's prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, today said he would resign just eight months after he took office, after failing to honour election promises to bring sweeping change to domestic policy and fundamentally alter the country's relations with the US.

The world's second biggest economy faces yet another period of uncertainty after Hatoyama, whose Democratic party won by a landslide last year, became Japan's fourth prime minister in as many years to step down after a year or less in power.

In a further blow to the Democrats five weeks before upper house elections, Ichiro Ozawa, the architect of last year's election victory, will also step down amid a political funding scandal.