Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says he is ready to dissolve parliament by Friday if Japan's main opposition party agrees to key electoral reforms. Noda made the pledge during a heated parliamentary exchange Wednesday with Liberal Democratic Party chief Shinzo Abe. The LDP has been pushing Noda to make good on a promise to call elections soon, but he has said lawmakers must first carry out reforms needed to make the election constitutional. The reforms would include shrinking the size of the lower house of parliament. Noda said the legislature would also have to approve an urgently needed deficit financing bill. (full story)