Tokyo  - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso is enjoying a boost in public support as opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa is dragged down by a scandal over party funding, media reports said Thursday.

The support rate for Aso's administration increased 7.7 percentage points to 23.7 per cent from early March, according to a survey by the Kyodo News Agency.

It once tanked to single-digits, going as low as 9.7 per cent in February.

Tokyo  - In the West, most people his age enjoy their well-deserved retirement. But 80-year-old Kazuo Kashio has no time for that.

"I have to continue for now, until the prospects for our company improve again," the president of Japanese electronics company Casio Computer Co says.

Kashio has been on the helm of the company, which he founded together with his three brothers in 1957, for more than 20 years.

Tokyo  - Tokyo stocks ended Thursday morning trading higher on a more positive outlook of the US economy.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 43.1 points, or 0.51 per cent, to 8,523.09.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues was up 1.26 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 819.75.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 97.75-80 yen, up from Wednesday's 5 pm quote of 97.71-74 yen.

Washington  - The space shuttle Discovery undocked Wednesday from the International Space Station to head back to Earth after a week on a milestone construction mission that has doubled the capacity of the orbiting laboratory.

The mission astronauts installed a fourth set of solar panels, completing the power plant needed to double the station's electrical generating capacity. The power allows the station to sustain six long-term residents instead of the current crew of three, and more occupants could arrive as early as May.

Washington  - Discovery astronauts were preparing to undock from the space station later Wednesday to head back to Earth after completing a milestone mission that has doubled the station's capacity.

The mission astronauts installed the fourth and final set of solar panels needed to double power capacity at the station so it can hold six instead of the current three long-term residents - possibly as early as May.

Hanoi - Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Vietnam will launch an aircraft component assembly factory in Vietnam in June, local media reported Wednesday.

The state-run newspaper Lao Dong quoted Stanley A Deal, Boeing's deputy chairman of Asia-Pacific sales, as saying the factory would produce wing flaps for Boeing 737 aircraft.

The company is a subsidiary of Japan's Mitsubishi corporation.

The 7-million-dollar factory, located 15 kilometres north of Hanoi, has been under construction since January 2008.