If the financial crisis makes you want to poke a finger in your boss`s eye or unleash some high karate kicks in the office, a Japanese toymaker may have the -- virtual -- answer.

Bandai has created the `tuttuki bako` or poking box, a palm-sized plastic box with a simple digital display on the front, a coin-size hole on the side and a motion sensor inside.

Isuzu Motors said Thursday it would cut 1,400 jobs and slash domestic production by 10 percent, the latest in a slew of layoffs by Japanese automakers to cope with the financial crisis.

`With the way things are, we had no choice but to make adjustments,` said a spokeswoman for Japan`s second-biggest truckmaker.

Employee numbers will be cut sharply in many Western nations as companies pare costs to survive the global financial crisis, according to an international recruitment company boss.

The European Patent Office on Wednesday restored on appeal a controversial patent for a breast cancer gene that had been withdrawn from a US biotech firm, but granting it in a more restricted form than before.

Shares in French bank BNP Paribas fell on Wednesday on rumours over a possible capital increase and uncertainty over its acquisition of the Belgian operations of finance group Fortis.

Shares in BNP Paribas closed down 11.2 percent at 36.245 euros, taking losses so far this week to more than 22 percent.

Microsoft Corp. chief executive Steve Ballmer on Wednesday ruled out making another takeover bid for Yahoo but said the US software giant remains open to a partnership on Internet search.

Italy`s government said Wednesday it had given the go-ahead for the ailing national flag-carrier Alitalia to be sold to a group of investors for around one billion euros.

Italy`s failing flagship airline Alitalia has delayed a decision on a foreign partner until the end of the year, the Radiocor news agency reported Wednesday.

The investor group Italian Air Company (CAI) poised to take over the airline could not be reached for comment on the report.

Microsoft has announced plans to offer free anti-virus software to PC users starting next year.

The Redmond, Washington-based software giant said the software, code-named `Morro,` will `provide comprehensive protection from malware including viruses, spyware, rootkits and trojans.`

German solar power group SolarWorld took the struggling auto sector by surprise Wednesday with a takeover bid for troubled General Motor`s German car unit Opel.

`I could not be more serious,` SolarWorld boss Frank Asbeck told AFP. `We would not make this offer otherwise.`