Tokyo - Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso on Thursday announced a new economic stimulus package worth about 26.9 trillion yen (276.33 billion dollars) to battle the impact of the global financial crisis.

"The most important thing is to allay concerns about people's livelihoods," Aso said at a press conference.

The government stimulus package, the second since August, includes 2 trillion yen in financial assistance for all households to jump-start consumption and up to 6 million yen in tax breaks for housing loans for 10 years.

Tokyo - Mazda Motor Corp saw its net profit fall 45 per cent during the July-to-September quarter to 14.5 billion yen (147 million dollars) because of the yen's rise and the higher costs of raw materials, the company said Thursday.

The Japanese automaker reported operating profits of 32.4 billion yen during the second quarter, down 20 per cent from the same period a year ago, and sales of 803.7 billion yen, down 5 per cent year-on-year.

For the full year through March 31, Mazda revised its profit projections downward. It now expects net profit to drop 28.6 per cent from an earlier estimate to 50 billion yen, and operating profit to fall 21.7 per cent to 90 billion yen.

Tokyo - Nintendo Co slashed its net profit and operating profit forecasts for the fiscal year that runs through March 31 after a stronger yen offset robust sales of game consoles, the company said Thursday.

The Japanese gaming company revised its net profit down by 16 per cent to 345 billion yen (3.54 billion dollars) and operating profit by 3 per cent to 630 billion yen from its August estimates.

But Nintendo maintained its sales forecast for the year at 2 trillion yen.

For the first half of this fiscal year, the company said it saw its net profit rise 9.4 per cent from the same period a year ago to 144.83 billion yen.

Tokyo - Sharp Corp on Thursday reported a 35.3-per-cent fall in its net profit for the April-September period from a year earlier due to slow mobile-phone sales and price reduction in liquid-crystal-display televisions.

The Japanese home electronics company logged a net profit of 28.01 billion yen (287.73 million dollars) and an operating profit of 50.76 billion yen for the first six months of the business year that runs through March 31.

Operating profit fell 35.8 per cent year-on-year.

Sharp reported sales of 1.56 trillion yen, which was 4.8 per cent lower than the previous year's figure.

Tokyo - Mitsubishi Motors Corp on Thursday lowered its earnings forecast for the fiscal year that ends on March 31 because of slow auto sales and the yen's recent rise against other major currencies.

The Japanese automaker dropped its operating profit projection to 50 billion yen (514 million dollars) from an initial 60 billion yen. Such profits would represent a 54-per-cent drop from last year.

The company also cut sales for the full year as the global financial crisis roils credit and stock markets and has sent sales down.

Tokyo - NEC Corp returned to the black in the second quarter of fiscal 2008 that runs through March 31.

The Japanese electronics company attributed a net profit of 1.28 billion yen (13.15 million dollars) in the July-September quarter to capital gains from selling shares. The result compared to a net loss of 5.72 billion yen in the same period a year before.

Operating profit for the second quarter plunged 42.4 per cent to 9.28 billion yen from 16.1 billion yen due to slow demand for telecommunication systems and microchips.

NEC reported sales of 1.13 trillion yen, up 0.5 per cent.