NHK gave top play to a report that Prime Minister Abe is expected to officially announce this evening his intention to dissolve the Lower House on Sept. 28. TBS and TV Asahi led with reports on a new party to be formed by an associate of Tokyo Governor Koike. NTV and Fuji TV led with reports that a panel fell off a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines plane in flight and hit a car in Osaka on Saturday, saying that there were no injuries. 

Major front-page items in national dailies included the imminent launch of a new political party, the North Korean foreign minister’s speech at the UN on Saturday, and the German national election on Sunday in which Chancellor Merkel appears to have clinched a fourth term.