World News from the BBC.
Polls open shortly in Japan in elections to the upper house of parliament. Opinion surveys suggest the governing Democratic Party (DPJ) may lose its majority which would
constrain
its reform agenda. The Prime Minister Naoto Kan has denied reports that he is about to increase the country's sales tax, something correspondents describe as a taboo in Japanese politics. His party swept to power last year, ending half a century of conservative rule. It has since lost much of its popularity.
The governing body of the Church of England has narrowly rejected a compromise on the issue of ordaining women bishops. Proposals supported by the spiritual head of the church, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu would have given traditionalist parishes exemption from serving under a woman bishop. Robert Pigott reports from the synod in York.
With liberal Anglicans impatient to promote women to the most senior positions in the church's leadership but traditionalists insisting they will not serve under them, the issue has produced an increasingly serious split in the church. Archbishop Rowan Williams put his personal backing behind a plan that would have allowed traditionalist parishes and dioceses headed by women bishops access to male alternatives. Dr Williams said it was necessary to preserve unity. The vote could
barely
have been closer. Most of the synod voted