Tokyo - Never before has the Japanese economy been buffeted so severely by financial sources outside the country.

Foreign investors fled the world's second largest economy on Friday in panic, triggering the biggest daily losses percentage-wise since the Black Monday crash in October 1987.

The technology-heavy benchmark Nikkei 225 index nosedived 881.06 points, or 9.62 per cent, closing at 8,276.43, the lowest in more than five years.

"Investor sentiment froze into pure horror," one trader said.

Tokyo - Stocks in Tokyo ended Friday trading lower, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunging below the psychologically significant mark of 9,000 points for the first time in more than five years.

The key Nikkei index plunged 881.06 points, or 9.62 per cent, to close at 8,276.43.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also dropped 64.25 points, or 7.09 per cent, to 840.86.

For the week, Nikkei fell 24.33 per cent, and the Topix also declined almost 20 per cent.

Tokyo - Japan extended sanctions against North Korea Friday, banning port calls of North Korean-registered vessels and all imports of goods from the country for another six months, local media reported.

The sanctions, which were to expire on Monday, were extended due to the lack of progress in North Korea's denuclearization and the lack of resolution over its abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s, Kyodo news agency reported.

Approved by the Cabinet on Friday morning, Japan will also continue to deny entry to all North Korean nationals, except for those who are residents of Japan, and prohibit the export of luxury goods to North Korea.

Tokyo - Yamato Life Insurance Co became the first Japanese financial firm Friday to fail due to losses linked to the global financial crisis, a media report said.

The medium-sized firm filed for bankruptcy protection Friday in Tokyo, reported Kyodo news agency.

The insurance firm incurred debts of 269.5 billion yen (2.68 billion dollars) from losses from investments in subprime mortgages-related bonds and other securities as their prices plunged amid the US financial crisis, the officials said.

Tokyo - A solid waste disposal facility was Friday emitting smoke at a nuclear power station in Tokai, Ibaraki province, but no radioactive leakage, injuries or environmental damage have been repor

Tokyo - Stocks in Tokyo continued their downward course on Friday, with the Nikkei plunging below the psychologically significant mark of 9,000 points, for the first time in more than five years.

Minutes after trading started, the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell 279.20 points, or 3.05 per cent, to 8,878.29.

This was a reaction to US stocks plummeting again on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropping below 9,000 points for the first time in five years, as a series of US and global efforts to tackle the financial crisis have failed to calm investors.