JAPAN

Shares in LG.Philips LCD Co Ltd surged on Friday on market talk Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial was buying a stake in the South Korean flat screen maker, but both firms poured cold water on the talk.

Nintendo Co Ltd said it aims to launch its Wii game console in China and South Korea next year, helping accelerate its break-neck growth and cement its recent lead over Sony Corp and Microsoft Corp.

Investors bet on Friday on a U.S. interest rate cut to spur slowing economic growth, lifting most world stock markets and dragging the dollar to record lows, but the price of oil hit an all-time high, adding more strains.

Asian stocks rose to an all-time high on Friday thanks to upbeat earnings from blue-chip firms such as Sony and Honda Motor, while a rally in oil prices to a record high above $91 a barrel fuelled gains in energy shares.

Japan's largest language school franchise filed for court protection from creditors as its debt swelled to nearly 50 billion yen.

Sony Corp said Thursday that its net profit for the second quarter soared on turnaround in its electronics operations.

Japan's Nintendo Co Ltd nearly tripled its first-half profit and boosted its annual earnings outlook on Thursday as its popular Wii and DS game machines outsell rival Sony Corp's PlayStation.

Honda Motor Co posted a forecast-beating 63 percent jump in quarterly earnings as strong sales of its new CR-V crossover made up for higher raw material costs, and it raised its full-year net profit forecast on a lower tax rate. Honda's factories are running at full capacity around the world -- including in Japan despite weak sales at home -- thanks to brisk demand for exports to North America and Europe.

Asian indexes were mixed Thursday, with financials dropping in Japan after Mizuho Financial Group reported losses related to U.S. subprime markets, while South Korean shares jumped on Samsung Securities a day after the brokerage firm announced strong earnings.

Studying abroad has been accepted by more and more Chinese students and parents according to a new study.

The Ministry of Finance (MOF) in Japan announced on Wednesday that Japanese exports to the U.S. dropped 9.2 percent to 1.42 trillion yen in September, showing the first decline in five months.

Honda Motor Co will start to sell hybrid cars in big volumes beyond 2010, a top executive said on Wednesday, while repeating the automaker's target for sales of 4.5 million cars in 2009/10.

Daiwa Securities Group, Japan's No. 2 brokerage, is set to post sluggish results for the July-September quarter as volatile financial markets hit trading profits and the flow of equity deals dried up.

Nissan Motor Co on Wednesday took the wraps off its GT-R sports car, a cult classic in Japan that it has remodelled in the hope that a muscle car will rebuild its flagging sales around the world.

China launched its first moon orbiter on Wednesday accompanied by a blaze of live-to-air patriotic propaganda celebrating the country's space ambitions and technological prowess.

It's soft, it glows and if it's in a crash, nothing will get badly dented -- maybe. Honda Motor Co's new Puyo concept car has no sharp edges and is covered in soft silicone so it can absorb the force of light collisions.

Japan's Nikkei 225 average rose 0.7% to 16,563.51, aided by a higher close on Wall Street for the second straight day, while the broader Topix index advanced 1% to 1,585.86.

Hitachi one of the leading global electronics company is pulling out of the business for selling personal computers.

Zurich Life Insurance Co. have agreed to jointly create a life insurance company with Nissen Holdings Co., a major mail-order firm , in Japan around 2009.

South Korean plasma screen screen maker Samsung SDI said on Tuesday it had swung to a net loss in the third quarter, but forecast better results for the current quarter on surging demand for flat panels.

The head of the International Monetary Fund on Monday warned that an "earthquake" in credit markets may have been so severe the global economy tips into recession, ending a five-year boom.