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.

Tokyo  - Stocks in Japan dropped in early trading Friday, dragged down by opposition to the US car industry bail-out plan by conservative lawmakers in the US Senate.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average was down 110.31 points, or 1.27 per cent, to 8,610 at mid-trading, also affected by the yen strengthening against the dollar.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues declined by 6.06 points, or 0.71 per cent, to 843,19.

London, December 11 : Japanese scientists have created a device that may one day make thoughts and dreams during the sleep appear on a computer screen.

Those behind the technology have revealed that, presently, it can process thoughts and dreams to produce simple images from the brain.

They insist that their work has opened the doors for the ability to unlock people''s dreams and other brain processes.

"It was the first time in the world that it was possible to visualise what people see directly from the brain activity,” the Telegraph quoted a spokesman at ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories as saying.

Tokyo - Humanoid robot guides are being used at a shopping mall in the Japanese city of Osaka to give consumers "a helping hand".

Standing 114 centimetres tall, "Robovie II" whirrs up to customers with tips on where to shop. It can tell from the way they walk whether shoppers have gone astray or are hesitant about entering a particular store, said Takaati Akimoto. He heads the ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories in Seika, which developed the droid.

Tokyo  - Japan's Nikkei index slid in early trading Thursday as rising commodity prices dimmed earnings prospects of Japanese companies, while the Topix index gained some ground.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average was down 68.97 points, or 0.79 per cent, at mid-trading, also driven down by emerging opposition in the US Senate to the rescue deal for US carmakers.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues rose 1.98 points, or 0.24 per cent to 836.53.