JAPAN

Ifbot, the resident robot at a Japanese nursing home, can converse, sing, express emotions and give trivia quizzes to seniors to help with their mental agility. Yet the pale-green gizmo has spent much of the past two years languishing in a corner alone.

Whoever becomes prime minister of Japan next week after Shinzo Abe's shock resignation will inherit an unpopular administration and face pressure to boost rural spending to revive support, despite high government debt.

Taiwan's Arima Computer said on Thursday it has signed a letter of intent with Flextronics to sell its notebook PC and server operations to Flextronics for US$191.5 million.

Sony Corp said on Thursday it would postpone the launch of the Home virtual community service for its PlayStation 3 game console to early next year, the latest setback in its videogame battle with Microsoft Corp and Nintendo Co Ltd.

Japanese electronics maker Sharp will buy about $357 million worth of new shares from Pioneer Corp and work with its loss-making rival in developing DVD players, car electronics and displays.

The dollar sank to a 15-year low against major currencies on Thursday while the euro rose above $1.40 for the first time as the impact of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest rate cut continued to sweep across markets.

Sony Corp's game unit said it was fairly confident of doubling shipments of PlayStation 3 game consoles to 11 million in the year to March, and may buy more software firms to boost demand for its console.

KDDI Corp., Japan’s second biggest telecommunications operator, announced on Tuesday that it would inject capital into a WiMAX wireless broadband project, teaming up with local partners and Intel Corp.

Japan's Fujifilm Holdings Corp said on Wednesday it plans to shift its remaining digital camera production to China and cut an unspecified number of jobs as it restructures its struggling camera operations.

It was decided on Tuesday that a new Premier of Japan will be nominated and a new cabinet to be formed next Tuesday, according to statements released by the government today.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc's Japanese unit, Seiyu Ltd, boosted its annual loss forecast by 76 percent due to a charge to cut about 7 percent of its work force as it battles sluggish sales.

Yasuo Fukuda appeared on Tuesday to be a shoo-in to become Japan's next prime minister but his rival, hawkish former foreign minister Taro Aso, vowed to battle on against all odds.

A U.S. federal judge tossed out a lawsuit by California's attorney general on Monday seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from six automakers for damaging the state with climate-changing greenhouse gases.

Hartford Financial Services Group Inc will start selling life and retirement products to small business owners who already buy its commercial insurance, and on Monday named the former head of its Japanese unit to run the operation.

Female consumers are spurring much-needed growth in Chinese consumption and helping offset the country's high savings rate, a source of tension with its trading partners.

Asian and European stocks fell on Monday while sterling hit a one-year low as concerns over financing for banks grew after UK mortgage lender Northern Rock tapped the Bank of England for an emergency loan last week.

Japan's Daihatsu Motor Co Ltd said on Friday it has developed a technology to make fuel cells without platinum, the precious metal used in the electrolyte process in existing hydrogen-based fuel cells.

Sixteen nations signed a U.S.-initiated pact on Sunday to help meet soaring world energy demand over coming decades by developing nuclear technology less prone to diversion into atomic bomb-making.

A fast car with a James Bond image held onto its place atop a list of the coolest brands in Britain in a newly released survey on Thursday.

Tokyo must keep a thaw in ties with China on track, the frontrunner to be Japan's next prime minister said on Sunday, while urging Beijing to better explain its ballooning military spending.

The toll from a severe earthquake on Indonesia's Sumatra island last week has risen to 23 dead and 88 injured, an official said on Sunday, and the area is likely to experience further significant aftershocks.