IN BRIEF (Page 16)

Auto firms drive decline

Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co, Japan's two biggest carmakers, led a drop in the country's auto sales last month as a recession cut wages and crippled consumer demand.

Sales of cars, trucks and buses fell 22 percent to 183,549 vehicles last month, excluding minicars, the Tokyo-based Japan Automobile Dealers Association said in a statement yesterday. For the year, sales plunged 6.5 percent to 1.44 million units.