Tokyo - Asian stockmarkets surged Monday on renewed optimism related to large-scale economic stimulus plans by the United States and China.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average closed up 411.54 points, or 5.2 per cent, to 8,329.05, the biggest gain in almost two weeks, carrying over Friday's positive sentiment on Wall Street.

Investors speculated that US demand was to rebound soon, after president-elect Barack Obama pledged the biggest public works programme in more than 50 years.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues rose 26.06 points, or 3.32 per cent, to 812.08.

Tokyo - Japan on Monday lodged a protest with the Chinese government, saying two Chinese ships which entered Japanese waters surrounding a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea had to withdraw immediately.

The maritime survey ships entered the waters around the islands, which are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, earlier Monday, the Kyodo News agency said.

"Such activity is extremely regrettable and we demand immediate withdrawal," Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura said. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs quickly lodged a protest with the Chinese government."

London, Dec 8 : Japanese video games company Nintendo is signing a deal with publisher HarperCollins to make literary classics available to read on its DS portable games consoles.

The deal has been made on the 100 Classic Book Collection, which ranges from Shakespeare and Dickens to Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters, priced at 20 pounds and will initially be available only in Britain.

The technology allows readers to turn the pages by brushing a finger across the screen, doing away with books.

Tokyo  - Japan markets opened stronger on Monday, with stocks driven up by hope for the US economy to recover as president-elect Barack Obama Saturday pledged a large-scale spending plan.

The benchmark Nikkei 225 Stock Average was up 203.2 points, or 2.57 per cent, to 8,120.71 by mid-trading, carrying over Friday's positive sentiment at Wall Street.

The broader Topix index of all first-section issues rose 11.34 points, or 1.44 per cent to 797.36.

Tokyo  - Japan's current-account surplus fell in October by 56.5 per cent from the same month of 2007 to 960.5 billion yen (10.4 billion dollars), the Finance Ministry said Monday in Tokyo.

It was the eighth consecutive month with a year-on-year drop.

Japan's goods and services trade surplus ran a deficit of 131.9 billion yen, against a year-before surplus of 853.5 billion yen, the ministry said in a preliminary report.

Cairo  - The Japanese company Toyota has expressed interest in investing in wind farm projects in Egypt, said Egyptian Minister of Electricity and Energy Hassan Younes on Sunday.

"Japan is one of the supporters of Egypt's ambitious plan to develop renewable energy. The Japanese government presented two soft loans to help in financing the Koraimat solar station, to generate 140 megawatts," Younes was quoted by the official MENA news agency as saying.

Younes' statement came after he met with representatives of major Japanese companies experienced in the sector of electricity all over the world.