Tokyo  - Japan's Supreme Court on Friday rejected an appeal by a homeless man and ruled that he cannot register a public park as his address.

A homeless man who lives in a tent at a park in western Japanese city of Osaka had appealed the January 2007 ruling of Osaka High Court that rejected his claim to register a park as his home address.

The high court overturned the district court's decision and refused to recognize the park usable as a personal address "based upon sound social norms," Kyodo News Agency reports said.

Yuji Yamauchi, 58, has lived in the park since 1998 and tried to convince the local government that the city-managed space was his personal address. But the city refused to accept it.

Tokyo - Japanese securities house Nomura Holdings Inc has reached a basic agreement to purchase Indian units of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Japan's Nikkei business daily said Friday.

The Nikkei reported that Nomura, Japan s biggest securities firm, would take over the information technology development and back-office operations of Lehman Brothers as well as more than 2,000 employees in India.

Tokyo - Japanese securities house Nomura Holdings Inc has reached a basic agreement to purchase Indian units of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc, Japan's Nikkei business daily said Friday.

The Nikkei reported that Nomura, Japan s biggest securities firm, would take over the information technology development and back-office operations of Lehman Brothers as well as more than 2,000 employees in India.

Tokyo - Japan's key Nikkei 225 Stock Average fell below the 11,000-point-mark Friday hitting the lowest since May 2005 following overnight plunges on the Wall Street.

The benchmark Nikkei index ended the morning trading at 10,996.98, down 157.78 points, or 1.41 per cent.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also fell 25.09 points, or 2.33 per cent, to 1,051.88.

Tokyo - Japanese stocks fell Thursday as investors sold mainly export-oriented issues while uncertainties spread over the US government's bail-out package that passed the Senate earlier in the day.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average sank 213.5 points, or 1.88 per cent, to close at 11,154.76.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also sagged 24.16 points, or 2.19 per cent, to 1,076.97.

Tokyo - As the world is dragged into a financial crisis ignited by the US subprime loan problem, economists are reminded of the banking crisis that hit Japan, beginning in the late 1980s, triggered by the burst of the country's real estate bubble.

But analysts in Japan remain optimistic about the US situation, saying that the US may not have to repeat Japan's suffering if it acts swiftly and appropriately.

The United States is passing through a similar period as Japan did 20 years ago, they said. Back then, Japan's asset-inflated economy collapsed, balance sheets turned unstable, and it became difficult for the financial system to recover without public funding.