Tokyo - Anxiety over inflation and an economic slowdown in the United States dragged Tokyo stocks down Friday. 

Singapore - China and Japan share first place as Asia's best investment destinations for foreign firms, a published study said on Friday.

Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will try to resolve a key territorial dispute, the top government spokesman said Thursday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Nobutaka Machimura said he hoped the next week's meeting would serve as "an important catalyst" to resolving the longstanding dispute over four islands.

Although the Russian president recognizes the difficulty over resolving the dispute, Japan welcomes his intention to resolve the issue over the Kuril Islands, Machimura said.

"We hope to advance mutual efforts to find some common ground by using our wisdom while President Medvedev is in office, and the Fukuda Cabinet will also do its best to work on it," he said at a press conference.

Washington - A pair of climbers from Lafayette, California, in the United States and Hidaka in Japan have climbed the 3,000-foot vertical face of El Capitan peak in record time, beating a record s

Tokyo - Another smokers' paradise in Asia is disappearing as Japanese smokers face ever more restrictions in the nation's effort to join the global anti-smoking campaign. 

Tokyo - Tokyo stock