Tokyo - The Tokyo market soared nearly 5 per cent to close Tuesday trading as investors returned to buy back battered shares after the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average hit a three-month low the previous day.

The Nikkei index surged 378.93 points, or 4.93 per cent, to 8,061.07, and the broader Topix index of all first section issues also rose 37.21 points, or 4.84 per cent, to 805.49.

On currency markets at midday (0300 GMT), the dollar traded at 89.70-75 yen, up from Monday's 5 pm quote of 88.61-64 yen.

Tokyo  - Stocks ended Tuesday morning trading higher in Tokyo as investors bought back battered shares after the benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average hit a three-month low the previous day.

The Nikkei index ended morning trading up 267.93 points, or 3.49 per cent, at 7,950.07, and the broader Topix index of all first section issues also rose 26.59 points, or 3.46 per cent, to 794.87.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar was quoted at 89.25-30 yen, up from Monday's 5 pm quote of 88.61-64 yen.

Sydney  - Australia and Japan are in talks that would see more whales killed in the North Pacific in return for fewer being taken in the Antarctic, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Tuesday.

The negotiations, held under the auspices of the International Whaling Commission (IWC), are at a preliminary stage, he told national broadcaster ABC.

"It's quite clear from reports that we've seen coming out of the IWC that suggestions of this nature have been made at officials' level," Smith said.

Tokyo - Tokyo stocks opened with little action Monday as cautious investors retreated to the sidelines ahead of upcoming corporate earnings reports by major Japanese companies.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Average inched up 11.72 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 7,756.97.

But the broader Topix index of all first section issues dipped 1.13 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 772.42.

On currency markets at 9 am (0000 GMT), the dollar traded at 88.40-45 yen, up from Friday's 5 pm quote of 88.32-35 yen.

Tokyo - Historic change is possible in Japan in 2009, as for the first time in more than half a century a single opposition party gained enough support to unseat the ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).

According to polls released on Monday, support for LDP Prime Minster Taro Aso dropped to 19 per cent, while 76 per cent reject his government.

Tokyo - At first, they blackmailed their victim. Again and again, four high school students sent text messages to their classmate, demanding hundreds of thousands of yen.

Then they posted a nude photograph of the 18-year-old boy online, complete with phone number and email, leading to more text messages on his mobile phone and humiliation.

In the end, the student saw only one solution to end his torment - and jumped to his death from the roof of his school in Kobe, central Japan, in late 2007, a case that shocked the Japanese public.