TOKYO, Nov. 28 - Finnish phone maker Nokia, facing a tough market in Japan, will pull out of that country except to market its high-end Vertu, Forbes reported Thursday.

Nokia's Vertu phones, which cost up to $10,000, are handcrafted and feature precious metals, the financial magazine reported.

"There is definitely a market in Japan for Vertu," analyst Carolina Milanesi at Gartner Research was quoted as saying. She also approved of Nokia's decision, given the weak market share for its other phones.

TOKYO, Nov. 28  -- Japan, saying the Iraqi situation is improving, announced Friday it will end its military airlift mission in Iraq by year's end.

"The situation in Iraq is improving and Iraq has become able to reconstruct itself on its own by the Iraqi people under a democratic government,'' Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada told reporters.

He said Japan's air self-defense force mission had helped in improving the Iraqi situation, Kyodo news service reported. The mission began about five years ago to help in the reconstruction of the war-torn country, the news agency said.

CNN reported the announcement is part of an effort to withdraw Japan's 210 military personnel.

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks ended Friday trading higher as investors remained positive about the outlook of a series of economic measures across the world.

Tokyo - Japan's industrial output dropped in October because of slow overseas demand for cars and high-tech devices amid the global financial turmoil as consumer prices rose for the 13th-consecutive month, leading Japanese to cut spending, government reports said Friday.

Tokyo  - The Japanese government on Friday decided to begin a complete withdrawal of its military from Iraq by the end of December, media reports said.

The pullout order was to be announced later in the afternoon as Prime Minister Taro Aso and his cabinet agreed on the withdrawal at a morning meeting.

The government decided to end its airlift assistance because Iraq's political and security situation has improved, the Kyodo News Agency reported, citing government officials.

Tokyo  - Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose in a morning of mixed trading Friday, but its gains were capped by a gloomy economic outlook.

The Nikkei rose 47.7 points, or 0.57 per cent, to 8,421.09, but the broader Topix index of all first-section issues dipped 0.21 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 828.82.

Increases were limited after Japan's home electronics company Panasonic Corp slashed its earnings projections for the current fiscal year, which ends March 31.