Sony has announced that, following the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck the northern region of Japan on March 11, Sony and its group companies will donate JPY300 million (US$3.66 million) to help relief and recovery efforts in communities affected.

Brent crude fell by almost US$3, reaching a two-week low near US$111 on investor pessimism that economic growth will slow in the wake of Japan's earthquake and tsunami, while easing unrest in the Middle East threw the focus back onto ample oil supplies.

The devastation in Japan is set to worsen the negative short-term sentiment gripping a vulnerable US stock market, with companies exposed to Japan and the nuclear energy sector likely to take the biggest hits.

A second explosion has hit the nuclear plant in Japan which was damaged in Friday's earthquake, but officials said it had resisted the blast.

The Central Weather Bureau (CWB) lifted a tsunami warning at 6:40 p.m. Friday as tidal waves triggered by a magnitude-8.9 earthquake that struck off Japan's northeastern coast earlier in the day were no longer believed likely to create damage in Taiwan.

Like the oil spike that roiled markets in recent weeks, Friday's quake offers yet another reminder of how vulnerable aging, slow-growing, debt-burdened economies are to a shock even in what is supposed to be a period of global economic expansion.

The two Toshiba-SanDisk JV semiconductor manufacturing plants, Fab 3 and Fab 4, were down for a short period of time due to the earthquake and were back up and operational as of Friday morning, Pacific Time. SanDisk's current assessment is that there has been minimal immediate impact on wafer output due to the earthquake.

Japan's biggest-ever earthquake halted production briefly at Toshiba's chip plants on Friday and could delay crucial shipments. Toshiba and SanDisk share cutting-edge facilities in Yokkaichi, where they make NAND chips increasingly in demand by Apple and other mobile device makers.

China has offered to send earthquake rescuers and extended its "deep sympathy and solicitudes to the Japanese government and people" on Friday, marking some of the first sober words exchanged between the two nations in months. Last fall relations between Beijing and Tokyo reached their worst point in years.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average plunged 1.7% in Tokyo, extending declines after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake struck northeast of the capital.

Japan's greying population of around 128 million grew by just 0.2% over 2005-10, the slowest rate of growth since records began in 1920, new census data said.

Japan and India have signed a free-trade agreement that will see tariffs on 94% of goods scrapped within a decade.

Solar Frontier, a unit of Japanese refiner Showa Shell Sekiyu,said it began production at a 100 billion yen(US$1.2 billion)thin-film solar module factory.

At its current rate of growth, analysts see China replacing the US as the world's top economy in about a decade.

Japan's economy will emerge from a lull soon and is certain to pull out of deflation over time, a Bank of Japan policymaker said, offering a somewhat upbeat take on the outlook on budding signs of a recovery.

"A fall in DRAM prices, the appreciation of the yen, and inventory valuation losses resulted in a 26.9 billion yen operating loss," said CFO Yasuo Shirai. Elpida shares closed 0.24% higher in Tokyo trade ahead of the earnings announcement on February 2.

In Japan, Toyota will recall 1.28 million units of models including the Voxy, Noah and Isis minivans and RAV4 sport- utility vehicles, according to statements from the company. Separately, Toyota said it would conduct a voluntary safety recall of 245,000 Lexus luxury cars in the US to inspect installation of fuel pressure sensors and call back 135,000 Avensis sedans in Europe for potential defects in fuel systems.

China has apparently overtaken Japan as the world's second-largest economy, after data released on Jan. 20 showed double-digit growth for 2010. The growth effectively displaces its Asian neighbor from a global ranking it has held since 1968.

Two investment funds backed by the Chinese government are accelerating their purchases of stakes in major Japanese listed firms, with their total market value surging 10-fold to 1.5 trillion yen (US$18 billion) in less than two years, a recent study showed.

Nintendo says it will ship about 1.5 million units of its 3DS console in the first month after debut, promising to avoid the huge shortages seen with the launch of earlier versions, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata told the Nikkei in an interview ahead of the February 26 release in Japan of the device.

Elpida Memory intends to launch capital tie-up talks with Taiwan firms that are currently the world's sixth- and seventh-biggest DRAM chipmakers. Elpida president Yukio Sakamoto plans to visit Taiwan early next month (January 2011) to start the talks and hopes to reach a deal by the end of the company's fiscal year, according to sources.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study reveals cost of solar PV installations in US down 30 per cent, but still around a third more than in countries which have pioneered solar panel deployment

"Japanese should have the courage to open the county much wider and compete globally, because Japan has no choice but to depend on foreign trade for survival..."

Toshiba will shut its No.2 plant in Yokkaichi, central Japan, by the end of December and phase out low-end chips used in products such as memory sticks. The company will also farm out production of so-called logic chips next year to cut costs at a business that's "barely breaking even."

Sharp Corpsaid Monday that it wants to grab about a 30% chunk of Japan's smartphone market with its new models offering functions and features that specifically cater to local needs.

China, the world's largest producer of rare-earth metals, will speed up exports of the minerals after delays disrupted supply, according to Japan's Trade Minister Akihiro Ohata.

3D smartphones will soon be a reality--if you live in Japan, that is. Two upcoming Sharp smartphones will offer a 3D-capable display.

Elpida will slash production at its Hiroshima site and at the plant of Taiwanese subsidiary Rexchip Electronics and will consider postponing the construction of a plant in Taiwan, the Nikkei reported.

Toshiba made 48% of its products in Japan in the period from April to September 2009 and bought 45% of its components from Japan-based suppliers. By the same period this year, the ratios were down to 44% and 42%, respectively. The change added 4.2 billion yen to Toshiba's operating profits in the half to September, or 700 million yen for each one-yen increase in the Japanese currency's value against the dollar.

Rare earth metals are sprinkled in a vast number of the things that make the modern world go round - from iPods to windturbines, electric car engines to flat-screen TVs and smart-bombs. The reason you'll hear a lot about them is 1) because China currently controls 93-97% of the world's production and 2) because China is enforcing strict new quotas on the exports of rare earths which is pushing up global prices sharply.

Japan's machinery orders, a closely watched indicator of future business investment, unexpectedly jumped due to one-time purchases in August 2010, marking the third straight month of growth, the government said on October 13.

The bourse, formed through the integration of the Hercules and Jasdaq markets at the Osaka Securities Exchange, listed 1,005 companies with a total market value of 8.816 trillion yen as of the end of September.

The global dominance of South Korean chipmakers is unlikely to be toppled anytime soon, even as Japanese and Taiwanese rivals consider forging stronger ties, according to a ratings agency. "In the medium term, Elpida's and Taiwanese chipmakers' increased competitiveness is unlikely to unseat the Korean's established advantages in technology and scale..."