Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp on Thursday sharply lowered its earnings projections for the current fiscal year because of a rising yen and slowing auto demand in the United States and Europe amid the global financial crisis.

Japan's leading automaker expected operating income of 600 billion yen (6 billion dollars) for the year that ends March 31, down 62.5 per cent from its initial projection in May.

The figure would also represent a fall of 73.6 per cent from the operating income earned the previous fiscal year.

Tokyo - Japan's stock market ended 6 per cent lower Thursday as renewed economic concerns wiped away gains brought a day earlier by Senator Barack Obama's victory in the US presidential election.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 622.1 points, or 6.53 per cent, to close at 8,899.14.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues also lost 57.61 points, or 5.96 per cent, to 909.3.

On currency markets at midday (0300 GMT), the dollar traded at 98.07-12 yen, down from Wednesday's 5 pm quote of 99.37-38 yen.

Tokyo - A 9-year-old boy drove a car about 3 kilometres without supervision in central Japan, practicing the skills he learned from a video game, because he wanted to visit his grandmother, media reports said Thursday.

Police in Gifu prefecture took him into custody at a parking lot Monday after they received a call about a car moving without a driver.

The elementary-school-aged driver was not visible through the car window because he is about 135 centimetres tall, the Kyodo News Agency said.

Toky