Tokyo - Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) on Monday said it expected a net loss of 280 billion yen (2.6 billion dollars) due to surging oil prices and costs of procurement from other power suppliers.

The company's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power station, which is the world's largest by output capacity, has been suspended since an earthquake hit central Niigata province on July 16 last year.

The company said its net loss would be a record 76.24 billion yen for the three months through June 30, compared to a profit of 31.07 billion yen during the same period a year before, the company said.

But TEPCO's revenue was expected to rise 3.4 per cent to 6.05 trillion yen from an initial projection of 5.85 trillion yen.

Tokyo - Toyota Motor Corp said Monday that it has revised downward its global sales projection for 2008 by 350,000 units to 9.5 million.

Japan's top automaker revised the projection to 9.5 million from an initial target of 9.85 million due to a sales decline in the United States.

The Toyota's figure includes sales of Daihatsu Motor Co and Hino Motors Ltd.

Tokyo - More than 50,000 people had to leave their homes in central and western Japan Monday due to heavy rain and flooding, media reports said.

A 53-year-old man in the central city of Kanazawa was rescued two hours after his car was buried in mud. He suffered broken bones, the Jiji Press news agency said.

Heavy rain in Kanazawa forced more than 20,000 households to evacuate to nearby schools and public halls.

Landslides blocked roads in central Niigata province, while cars were submerged in water in the western city Kyotango.

Tokyo - Japanese farmers expressed concern as the government is poised to accept a compromise proposed at World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations that require developed nations to cut tariffs on key farm products, media reports said Monday.

"I'm worried what will become of Japanese agriculture if cheap imported farm products are coming," an official of the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives was quoted as saying by the Kyodo News agency.

Lowering tariffs would be "a matter of life or death" for some farmers in Japan, a farmer in Okinawa prefecture told the agency.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened higher Monday on overnight gains in the US market and a weaker yen.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 71.07 points, or 0.53 per cent, to 13,405.83.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 6.38 points, or 0.49 per cent, to 1,304.66.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 107.85-90 yen, up from Friday's 5 pm quote of 106.78-80 yen. A weaker yen helps boost Japanese companies' earnings overseas.

Tokyo - Three people died Saturday in Japan due to extreme temperatures, media reports