JAPAN

Toyota Motor Corp promised a quality shake-up and apologized for safety mistakes that it blamed on rapid growth.

Top executives at Toyota Motor Corp promised a quality shake-up on Tuesday as the Obama administration said it would hold the carmaker's chief to a pledge to address safety issues after massive recalls.

The House Oversight Committee has released the opening statement for the committee's Wednesday's hearing that features Toyota President and CEO Ako Toyoda. The follow is the full text:

Manami Hino's may not be the fastest bobsleigh racing down Whistler's track on Tuesday but if medals were awarded for artistic impression it would win gold.

Most athletes at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver are looking at financial gains for bringing home a gold medal but South Korean figure skater Kim Yuna could sustain huge losses if she does not.

The Japanese unit of Wal-Mart Stores said on Tuesday that it would actively seek opportunities for mergers and acquisitions as a way to grow.

As the saying goes, money isn't everything, but it certainly means more to people now than before the global financial crisis, and especially in China, Japan and South Korea.

A top Toyota Motor Corp U.S. executive promised a quality shake-up on Tuesday as the Obama administration said it would hold the carmaker's head to a pledge to address safety issues after massive recalls.

Toyota Motor Corp's woes deepened ahead of its testimony to Congress as it revealed it faces a U.S. criminal probe into the handling of its massive safety recalls, while Japan voiced concern over the economic impact of the automakers' problems.

Toyota Motor Corp's woes deepened ahead of its testimony to Congress as it revealed it faces a U.S. criminal probe into the handling of its massive safety recalls, while Japan voiced concern over the economic impact of the automakers' problems.

Toyota Motor Corp's woes deepened ahead of its testimony to Congress as it revealed it faces a U.S. criminal probe into the handling of its massive safety recalls, while Japan voiced concern over the economic impact of the automakers' problems.

Most Asian stock markets recouped early losses on Tuesday while the dollar was trapped in a tight range as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to shed light on how soon key U.S. interest rates may start to rise.

Asian shares turned lower on Tuesday and the dollar was trapped in a tight range as investors waited for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke to shed light on how soon key interest rates may start to rise.

Dai-ichi Mutual Life Insurance, Japan's second-largest life insurer, said on Monday it would sell about 1.07 trillion yen ($11.7 billion) worth of shares in the country's biggest initial public offering in more than a decade.

U.S. industrial group United Technologies won European Union regulatory approval on Monday to buy the security business of General Electric, boosting its operations in the domestic market.

World crude steel production for the 66 countries reporting to the World Steel Association (worldsteel) was 109 million metric tons (mmt) in January. This is 25.5% higher than January 2009.China's crude steel production for January 2010 was 48.7 mmt, an increase of 18.2% on January 2009. Japan produced 8.7 mmt of crude steel in January 2010, up 36.8% compared to the same month last year. South Korea showed an increase of 32.4% from January 2009, producing 4.5 mmt of crude steel in January 2010.

Kenya's only ski racer, Philip Boit, is back home without participating in his planned last Winter Olympics after falling ill in the United States.

Mazda Motor Corp said it would not launch a special marketing campaign to draw customers away from Toyota Motor, shunning a strategy used by other car makers keen to capitalize on Toyota's recall woes.

Japan's Finance Minister Naoto Kan reiterated his desire to target inflation, setting up a clash with the Bank of Japan over how best to pull the country out of deflation.

The head of Dutch ABP, the world's third-largest sovereign pension fund, has resigned over an investigation into a failed savings bank where he once sat on the board, ANP-Reuters said.

Yevgeny Plushenko accused his rivals of not moving with the times but Evan Lysacek cracked the code to the new scoring system to win Olympic gold and show it was the Russian who was stuck in the past.