Tokyo - Ivan Basso returned from a doping ban by coming third in the Japan Cup race which saw an Italian podium sweep led by Damiano Cunego.

Tokyo - A Japanese woman was arrested for cold-blooded murder of her husband - in cyberspace.

According to a report by the Yomiuri Shinbum newspaper on Saturday, the 43-year-old from Miyazaki prefecture in southern Japan, was outraged that her virtual husband divorced her character in the online game Maple Story.

Gamers in the virtual role-play enter social relationships with other characters and fight against virtual enemies. The woman married her game partner, but the man, a company employee from Sapparo in northern Japan divorced her again subsequently.

Police said the woman, identified as Mayumi Tomari, illicitly obtained the man's password and ID and terminated his online existence.

Tokyo - Asian stocks, led by Tokyo and Seoul, plummeted for a third-straight day Friday on fears of a worldwide recession, defying an overnight rise on Wall Street.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average lost nearly 10 per cent of its value, tumbling below 8,000 for the first time since May 2003, on indications the global financial crisis was beginning to hit the nation's exporters.

Tokyo - Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average on Friday lost nearly 10 per cent of its value, tumbling below 8,000 for the first time since May 2003, on indications the global financial crisis was beginning to hit the nation's exporters.

The Nikkei shed 811.9 points, or 9.6 per cent, to close at 7,649.08.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues plunged 65.59 points, or 7.52 per cent, to 806.11.

The tumble was led by Sony Corp, whose shares plunged 14 per cent one day after the world's second-largest electronics company warned its profits this year were expected to drop nearly 60 per cent compared with last year.

Tokyo , Oct 22 : Japan today appeared non-committal on civil nuclear cooperation with India even as the two countries agreed that atomic power could play an important role as a sustainable and non-polluting source of energy in meeting the growing global demands.

Tokyo - Japanese electronics company NEC Corp lowered its earnings estimates for the full year through March as slowing markets caused sluggish sales of its computers and mobile phones.