Japan's parties seek to end playing chicken on fiscal cliff edge

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan looks poised to avoid falling off its own version of a 'fiscal cliff' after the main opposition party signalled it will no longer hold a critical deficit financing bill hostage to its push for an early election.

The government has warned that without the bill needed to borrow nearly $480 billion and cover some 40 percent of budget spending, it will run out of cash by the end of this month just as the economy stands at risk of sliding into recession.