JAPAN

Oil prices dropped to near $101 a barrel in Asia on Friday, after a powerful earthquake measuring 8.9 magnitude on Richter scale hit off Japan.

While residents in Beijing have reported to have felt the tremors of the massive earthquake that hit Japan Pacific coast, top Chinese seismology expert is confident that the Chinese mainland is not in the danger zone.

A powerful earthquake measuring 8.8 on Richter scale hitting off Japan

Shares of RC2 Corp. (RCRC) touched a new more than 3-year high of $27.59 on Thursday, shortly after the Nikkei business daily first reported that Japan's Tomy Co. Ltd. and RC2 were in merger talks.

The top after-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: CDC Corp., Ener1, RC2 Corp., Clean Energy Fuels, and Sangamo Biosciences. The top after-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Energy Conversion Devices, Zumiez, Jamba, Stereotaxis, and Clearwire.

A look at the upcoming rumored iPhone 5.

Japan has launched a next-generation high-speed bullet train dubbed Hayabusa, which can reach 300 km in six minutes flat.

The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market gainers are: Aeterna Zentaris, AeroVironment, Hercules Offshore, Randgold Resources, and ASML Holding. The top pre-market NASDAQ stock market losers are: Finisar, Oclaro, JDS Uniphase, Ciena, Infinera, and Opnext.

Japanese prime minister Naoto Kan on Wednesday appointed Takeaki Matsumoto as the country’s new foreign minister, in a bid to restore confidence in his government.

Beverage vending machines across Japan plan to install electric vehicle chargers to charge cars, the AFP reported today.

Japan Meteorological Agency has issued a tsunami advisory in the country after a strong earthquake of magnitude 7.2 hit the north-eastern zone.

Nomura Holdings (NYSE: NMR), Japan's number one securities firm, has appointed a woman to be its chief financial officer for the first time ever.

Japan's monthly Economy Watchers Survey (EWS) showed the service sector sentiment improved considerably in the last month.

The slideshow contains the Top 14 most workaholic countries, according to survey by Ipsos Global and Reuters. Japan, Australia, South Africa top the list.

U.S. stocks turned lower on Monday, led by declines from technology and consumer-discretionary companies as oil prices remained near $105-a-barrel amid ongoing political tensions in Libya

Japan's beleaguered Prime Minister Naoto Kan has shrugged off calls for him to resign from office, soon after his former foreign minister quit as a result of a donation scandal after only six months on the job.

The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) said worldwide sales of semiconductors for the month of January rose 14.0 percent from last year to $25.5 billion on significant growth across all major end-use sectors. Sequentially, sales increased 1.5 percent.

The companies whose shares are moving in pre-market trade on Monday are: Family Dollar Stores, Lorillard, Frontier Communications, Ameren, PNC Financial Services, MetLife, Novellus Systems, Novellus Systems, Marshall & Ilsley and Pfizer.

Japan's unpopular Prime Minister Naoto Kan on Monday refused to step down after the resignation of his foreign minister over a political funding scandal that has added to pressure on him to quit or call a snap election.

Asian stock markets declined first time in three days on Monday as sentiment was dampened by higher oil prices amid continuing political unrest in the Middle East.

Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: VRTX) reported positive interim results on March 2 from a Phase 2 two-part study of 'telaprevir' combination therapy for treatment of hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus, also known as HCV-HIV co-infection. The shares of the drugmaker touched a new 52-week high of $51.10 on Friday.