JAPAN

Hurricane Rina is currently a category 2 storm, but it will intensify to category 3 Wednesday as it heads towards Cancun, Mexico. With winds currently breaking 110 miles per hour, Rina's projected path takes it over the Yucatan state, where residents have stocked up on supplies and close resort towns and fishing villages.

Fujitsu Ltd <6702.T> said its quarterly operating profit fell 35 percent, dragged down by losses in its devices business, sluggish IT spending in Japan and a strong yen, but it stuck to its full-year profit forecast on hopes for a pickup in IT spending in the October-March period.

Lenovo Group Ltd, the world's No.2 PC maker, said on Wednesday that it expected some constraints on hard disk drive supplies through the first quarter of next year after severe floods in Thailand crimped global supply.

Japan's scandal-hit Olympus Corp said its chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa has stepped down due to a series of media reports on the company's problems and a plunge in its share price.

China said on Wednesday it will launch within weeks its first spacecraft capable of docking with a module it put into orbit last month, in what will mark a crucial test of its growing space programme.

Olympus Corp Chairman and President Tsuyoshi Kikukawa stepped down on Wednesday in response to a widening scandal over dubious acquisition deals, as sources said Japan's securities watchdog was looking into the 92-year-old firm's past dealings.

Olympus Corp announced on Wednesday that its chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa had stepped down over media reports of a widening scandal, as sources said Japan's main securities watchdog was looking into the 92-year-old firm's dubious acquisition deals.

Japanese media interest has been muted, regulators are mostly mum and many politicians seem unaware anything is amiss.

The Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner took its first paying passengers aloft on Wednesday, showing off a carbon-composite design its maker says is lighter, more economical to fly and more comfortable than its metal rivals currently plying the airways.

The Bank of Japan is likely to debate easing monetary policy further at a meeting on Thursday after the yen rose to a record high and doubts mounted over whether Europe can forge a clear plan to tackle the euro zone debt crisis, sources said.

Olympus Corp announced Wednesday that its chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa had stepped down over media reports of a widening scandal, as sources said Japan's main securities watchdog was looking into the 92-year-old firm's dubious acquisition deals.

Chotubhai Raghani's fields in a dry, salty strip of Indian coastline on the Arabian Sea never yielded much wheat but he feels like a lucky man now he's started selling them at a juicy markup.

Japan's scandal-hit Olympus Corp said its chairman and president Tsuyoshi Kikukawa has stepped down due to a series of media reports on the company's problems and a plunge in its share price.

European stock index futures fell on Wednesday, after Asian shares traded lower for most part on growing concerns that the outcome from a key meeting of European policymakers to contain the debt crisis may fall short of expectations.

The Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner takes its first paying passengers aloft on Wednesday, showing off a carbon-composite design its maker says is lighter, more economical to fly and more comfortable than its metal rivals currently plying the airways.

Japan's main securities watchdog is looking into past Olympus M&A deals, focusing on whether the company made appropriate financial disclosures about them, two sources familiar with the matter said.

Asian shares declined on Wednesday ahead of a key meeting of European policymakers later in the session, with concerns heightening that the outcome to contain Europe's sovereign debt crisis could fall short of expectations.

Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ) reported a 14.2 percent increase in third quarter earnings, due to ongoing cost cutting measures. Because of historically strong yen and lower production activities, the company lowered its full year 2011 outlook.

Japanese media interest has been muted, regulators are mostly mum and many politicians seem unaware that anything is amiss.

Turkey clung to hopes on Wednesday of finding survivors under rubble three days after a powerful earthquake killed at least 459 people, and the government finally requested foreign help to shelter thousands of homeless families.

Asian shares declined Wednesday ahead of a key meeting of European policymakers later in the session, as investors feared the effort to contain Europe's sovereign debt crisis could fall short.