Tokyo  - Business confidence among Japan's largest manufacturers fell the most in 34 years, the Bank of Japan's quarterly Tankan survey revealed Monday.

An index that measures confidence among the largest makers of cars and electronics dropped to minus 24 from minus three, according to the survey. The decrease of 21 points is the largest since February 1975, but analysts said it was expected.

This indicates that many companies are likely to slash more jobs and drastically lower spending, which will push the economy into a deeper recession.

Tokyo - Mexican club Pachuca rallied from 2-0 down to beat Al Ahly of Egypt 4-2 in extra time on Saturday for a place in the Club World Cup semi-finals.

There they meet South American champions Liga de Quito of Ecuador on Wednesday.

Pachuca fell behind in the 28th minute from an own goal by Fausto Pinto and were down 2-0 on the stroke of halftime when Flavio fired high into the net on the counter in Tokyo's Olympic stadium.

But Pachuca's dominance throughout the match then showed, and they levelled matters from curling free-kicks by second-half substitute Luis Montes in the 47th and Christian Gimenez in the 73rd.

Tokyo - Japan and South Korea pledged greater cooperation to overcome the global financial crisis ahead of a summit with China in the Japanese city of Fukuoka on Saturday.

Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso announced a 23- trillion-yen (255-billion-dollar) assistance package for the country's economy on Friday, while warning of a sharpening of the country's recession and a possible re-emergence of deflation.

Consumer confidence in the world's second-largest economy fell to a record low in November, and unemployment is rising at its fastest rate since the "lost decade" of deflation in the 1990s.

The current series of measures is partly aimed at shoring up the status of the approximately one-third of Japanese workers with temporary or part-time contracts.

Seoul - South Korea's central bank said on Friday that it has arranged new deals to expand its bilateral currency swap facilities with Japan and China.

Under the new won-yen swap deals, South Korea can secure access to a total of 30 billion US dollars in a credit line from the Bank of Japan (BOJ).

South Korea can access about 28 billion US dollars in credit from the People's Bank of China.

Under a May 2005 arrangements already in place, South Korea can access a 13-billion-US-dollar credit line from the BOJ and 4 billion US dollars from the People's Bank of China.

Tokyo - Japan's lower house on Friday voted in favour of a one-year extension to the Japanese military's logistical support mission for the US-led anti-insurgency fight in Afghanistan.

Japan refuels US ships and other navy vessels in the Indian Ocean, but is banned from direct military participation by its pacifist constitution.

The vote overruled an earlier decision by the upper house, which is controlled by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP), against an extension of the mission, which runs out on January 15. 2009.

The more powerful lower house, where the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Taro Aso holds a solid majority, is empowered by the constitution to overturn upper house decisions.