Tokyo, 28 May - Reuters Japan Limited (President: Frank Beaumont; Head Office: Minato-ku, Tokyo) today announced that it is to launch Reuters Business Briefing Version 2 for the Japanese business market.

Reuters Business Briefing is a world online business news and information database which carries current news, historical news, financial data, and information on companies for the last 10 years.

The new product is a 32-bit application designed to run on Windows 95 and Windows NT. Focusing on usability, some new functions are added. For example, "Track" allows any search to be stored as a named icon and "Drag and Drop" allows words highlighted in retrieved articles to be dragged to a search icon to instigate an automatic keyword search.

Reuters Business Briefing is continuously adding new sources. Users currently are able to access a database of over 2,000 selected publications and newswires including 10 years of historical data. Among Japanese news sources, Hoken Mainichi Shimbun and Nihon Shokuryo Shimbun are newly added. In addition, users are able to obtain financial background data on 24,000 quoted companies worldwide and have access to thousands of news pictures from Reuters.

Reuters Business Briefing costs only 70,000 yen per month for a subscription that includes up to 20 hours of usage.

Reuters Japan Limited supplies electronic information services to the business community and news media in more than 40 cities in Japan, from real-time financial data and trading systems to business information databases and news including graphics, still pictures and video. Reuters is the oldest and largest foreign news and information company in Japan, having opened its first office in the country in 1872. Today, some 360,000 clients in 161 countries access Reuters information through a variety of electronic terminals.

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