Taoiseach Brian Cowen will meet Japanese Emperor Akihito today on the final day of his week-long visit to the Far East.

Fire broke out in the control room of the world’s tallest observation wheel today, trapping 173 people hundreds of feet above the ground for hours and forcing rescuers to lower 10 passengers to safety by rope.

Japan’s space agency will postpone the test flight of a Japanese supersonic jet by one day due to bad weather.

Aerospace group Rolls-Royce said today it was teaming up with the Japanese to build an engine for Boeing’s new Dreamliner jet.

The FTSE 100 Index was testing the 4,600 barrier today after traders were buoyed by a strong session for shares on Wall Street last night.

Japanese vehicle maker Mitsubishi is to cut about 6,200 jobs from its global work force and receive €3.4bn in funding from the Mitsubishi group and other investors in a revival plan, the company said in Tokyo.

A TEST launch of what Japanese scientists hope will be the next generation of supersonic jet failed spectacularly yesterday in the Australian desert.

Japanese researchers are planning a new supersonic passenger jet three times the size of Concorde.