Tokyo  - Japan on Monday decided to upgrade health inspections on travellers returning from Mexico to prevent swine flu outbreaks in the nation while pushing to develop vaccines to prevent an epidemic.

As Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso ordered his cabinet ministers at a crisis meeting held Monday to ensure public safety, the Health Ministry vowed to begin developing vaccines against swine influenza.

Tokyo  - While the Tokyo market ended Monday morning trading higher, tracking Wall Street's rises before the weekend, gains were capped due to concern over the spead of Mexico's swine flu outbreak.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 68.64 points, or 0.79 per cent, to 8,776.63.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also up 8.88 points, or 1.07 per cent, at 838.93.

The market sentiment was boosted in Tokyo after US carmaker Ford Motor Co reported better-than-expected earnings.

Tokyo - Japan began checking temperatures of passengers arriving from Mexico Saturday after a swine influenza outbreak killed more than 60 people in Mexico and infected at least eight in the United States. The Japanese government on Saturday began tightening health checks on travellers entering the country through Narita and Kansai airports directly from Mexico or via the United States.

Tokyo  - Japan's Narita Airport began checking temperatures of passengers arriving mainly from Mexico Saturday after a swine influenza outbreak killed at least 20 people, media reports said.

The quarantine office's thermographic imaging device detected no signs of infection on 177 passengers and crew members who arrived at Narita Saturday morning from Mexico, Jiji Press quoted airport authorities as saying.

Tokyo - Japan's largest brokerage house, Nomura Holings Inc, incurred a record net loss for fiscal 2008 that ended March 31, the firm said Friday.

The record loss amounted to 709.44 billion yen (7.24 billion dollars) after the firm was hit hard by the global financial turmoil and the burden of taking over part of the US investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc in September last year.

Nomura also posted a net loss of 67.85 billion yen in fiscal 2007.

Tokyo- Tokyo stocks closed lower Friday as investors sold shares to lock in profits while waiting for earnings reports to be released by Japanese firms.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average dropped 139.02 points, or 1.57 per cent, to close at 8,707.99.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was also down 9.45 points, or 1.13 per cent, at 830.05.

For the week, Nikkei fell 2.24 per cent, and Topix also dipped 1.84 per cent.