Tokyo - Stocks opened lower Tuesday in Tokyo as overnight losses on Wall Street spurred concerns over the world recession.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 82.17 points, or 0.96 per cent, to 8,440.41.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 2.23 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 848.26.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 96.42-47 yen, down from Monday's 5 pm quote of 97.10-12 yen.

San Francisco  - Jerry Yang, who helped kick start the internet revolution as co-founder of web portal Yahoo, is stepping down as the company's chief executive.

The announcement by the ailing internet giant came after months of falling revenue, fierce proxy battles and a series of botched negotiations that scuttled what now seems to have been an exceedingly generous buyout offer from Microsoft.

Yahoo said that the search for a successor had already started and that Yang will leave after his replacement is found.

Wellington  - New Zealand is experiencing a baby boom with a birth rate of 2.2 babies per woman in the 12 months ending September 30, the highest level of fertility for 17 years, according to official figures released Tuesday.

A total of 64,540 babies were born in the 12 months, the biggest number in a September year since 1962, when the population was 2.5 million, Statistics New Zealand reported.

With a population of 4.3 million today, the current birth rate is about half the peak of 4.3 births per woman recorded in 1961.

Sydney  - Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman walk the red carpet Tuesday at the Sydney premiere of a film they made together in the red dust of the Outback.

Directed by Baz Luhrmann, Australia has been praised by one critic as a love letter to the landscape that "has international blockbuster written all over it."

The 100-million-US-dollar extravaganza is set in World War II, with Kidman playing a pale-faced English aristocrat bowled over by Jackman's sun-kissed cattle drover.

It's the most expensive film ever made in Australia and carries the torch for a tourism industry shaken by bookings cancelled in the wake of the global financial crisis.

Washington  - US president-elect Barack Obama on Monday returned telephone calls to foreign leaders who had called after the November 4 elections to congratulate him for his victory.

Obama spoke with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and Turkish President Abdullah Gul, his transition team said.

Since the election, Obama has contacted more than a dozen leaders to thank them for congratulatory phone calls.

Washington  - The United States was cautiously optimistic that an agreement establishing the legal basis for US troops in Iraq will be approved by the Parliament in Baghdad, with the White House saying challenges remain in finalizing the deal.

"We're nearly there, but there are a couple more hurdles that we have to get through," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Monday, a day after Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Cabinet approved the agreement.