"After the press conference, they will be sent to the airport to take a flight to their own country," he added.

But Iran's official IRNA news agency later quoted "an informed source" as saying that the freed British naval personnel will leave Tehran on a flight Thursday morning.

Shortly after the press conference, Ahmadinejad participated in a "ceremony" for the 15 British sailors' release in his presidential compound, Iran's state television reported.

The television's footage showed Ahmadinejad was shaking hands with the British naval personnel and talking to them.

The Iranian forces seized the 15 British naval personnel on March 23 for "incursion" into its territorial waters. But Britain said its soldiers were in Iraqi territorial waters.

At the press conference on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad said that no deal had been made with Britain on the issue and the release of the British naval personnel is "a gift" from the Iranian people.

Nevertheless, the British government had promised in a letter saying that it would not repeat the incident again, Ahmadinejad said.

Iran's state television reported that the 15 British sailors and marines were watching the live broadcast and applauded when they heard the announcement of their release.

Earlier at the same press conference, Ahmadinejad awarded a medal to the commander who led the mission to arrest "trespassers."

"Here I want to thank with a medal of third-rank bravery to the commander of the forces who defended Iran's borders and arrested the trespassers," Ahmadinejad told the reporters.

The Iranian president presented the medal to Abulghasem Amanghah, Islamic Revolutionary Guards naval commander.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the release of the15 sailors and marines who had been held in Iran for nearly two weeks, saying that Britain respects Iran's "proud and dignified history."

"I'm glad that our 15 service personnel have been released and I know their release will come as a relief not just to them but to their families that have endured such stress and anxiety," he said in a statement.

The 13-day crisis came to an end Wednesday after both Iran and Britain had softened their rhetoric and stepped up contacts over the recent days.

Blair said on Tuesday that the next two days would be "fairly critical" in the bid to secure the release of the 15 captured British sailors.

"The next 48 hours will be fairly critical," Blair told the Real Radio based in Glasgow, southwest Scotland.

On Tuesday, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani told Iranian state television that Britain had started talks with Tehran on resolving the standoff over the capture of 15 British sailors.

It is "only at the beginning," he said. "Things can change and we could go towards an end of this issue if they continue on this path."

Larijani on Monday said Iran's priority was to resolve the problem through proper diplomatic channels, and "there's no need to have a trial on the detained sailors."

"We have always been passionate about making great entertainment accessible to everyone, and the new price for PSP, as well as the continued growth of the "Greatest Hits" library, reflect our ongoing commitment to supporting and expanding the PSP community," said Jack Tretton, president and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America.

The PSP is in its third year of production, and lately has been outshone by the popular DS.

"The PSP needed a price cut to reinvigorate the market. Wal-Mart sold the PSP for 169 dollars for five hours on Black Friday -- a time in which we believe the company was able to sell over 100,000 pieces of hardware," BMO Capital Markets analyst Edward Williams said in a client note.

Williams said main beneficiaries of the price cut should be video-game retailer GameStop, and to a lesser extent Take-Two Interactive Software, which has a healthy line-up of games for the paperback book-sized device.

"In general, though, all publishers should benefit," Williams said.

In 2006, PSP shipments rose to nearly 25 million units worldwide, with more than one million new PSP systems sold in North America in December alone. In addition, software shipments increased to more than 90 million units last year, according to Sony's figures.

The PSP platform is also slated for further market penetration this year with new game releases. The 2007 game releases lineup includes "God of War," "Ratchet & lank," "SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs," "Daxter," and "Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror."

Sony Computer Entertainment America is a division of global electronics maker Sony.

A representative for Sony in Japan said there would not be an immediate price cut on the PSP in that market.

The models are marketed under the product names "Free," "Free Zen & Now," "Free Trainer," and "Free Trail," Reebok said.

Nike Inc., the world's largest sports apparel company, issued a statement saying the company was "evaluating the claims related to this very recently issued U.S. patent and any potential limited application to the successful Nike Free product."

A similarly offensive video involving the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk prompted a Turkish court last month to order Turkish telecom providers to block access to YouTube. The court lifted the ban just two days later for unspecified reasons.

China will not follow the U.S. energy consumption model because energy resources are limited, said Xu Dingming, vice director of the Office of the National Energy Leading Group.

Xu made the remark at an MIT Energy Forum in Shanghai on Tuesday. He said if Chinese people consumed energy like their U.S. counterparts, China would need 4.5 billion tons of oil per year. However, the annual global oil supply is just four billion tons with only 1.6 billion tons in commercial circulation.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Chinese citizens owned nearly 30 million private cars at the end of last year.

With annual oil consumption of two tons per vehicle and a 20 percent growth in car numbers per year, the transportation sector could become a large energy consumer in the future, warned the official.

Xu pointed out that westerners account for only 15 percent of the world's population but used the lion's share of the world's energy to power their industrial processes.

Reproducible energies are strongly recommended by experts and conservationists. China plans to raise the proportion of reproducible energies in its total energy consumption to 16 percent by 2020.

DaimlerChrysler acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday it is talking with prospective buyers of its loss-making Chrysler unit, but it did not commit itself to a sale of the US business.

"I can confirm that we are talking with some of the potential partners who have shown a clear interest," Chief Executive Dieter Zetsche told the annual meeting of the world's fifth-biggest carmaker.

"But it is also true that we need to keep all options open, and that I cannot disclose any details, because we need to have the maximum scope for manoeuvre," he said.

"So far I am satisfied with the process. Everything is going according to plan." But critical shareholders wanted action.

"If Chrysler is finally led before the divorce court judge, we would be very grateful. But what happens if you don't find a new bridegroom or if he demands an inappropriately high dowry," asked Henning Gebhardt, head of German equities for Deutsche Bank fund managment arm DWS.

Deutsche Bank has a voting stake of around 4.4 percent in DaimlerChrysler.

Hans-Richard Schmitz, representing shareholder activist group DSW, told Zetsche a Chrysler sale was pressing to ensure DaimlerChrysler did not itself become a takeover target.

"You can do the job yourself or a financial investor will come along and do the job for you," he said.

DaimlerChrysler stock eased 0.3 percent to 61.84 euros while the DJ Stoxx European car sector index was up 0.3 percent.

Prospects of a deal that would reduce the group's exposure to Chrysler's volatile earnings have helped the stock outperform the index by 10 percent so far this year.

Selling Chrysler would unwind the spectacular 1998 merger of Daimler-Benz and Chrysler that never lived up to its billing by former Chief Executive Juergen Schrempp as a marriage made in car heaven.

Despite the recent surge, the stock trades around 14 percent below the level where it made its market debut in November 1998.

The company did not reveal who had expressed interest in Chrysler since DaimlerChrysler first said in mid-February it was examining all options for the US business.

Waiting in the wings: Sources close to the situation have told Reuters that private equity groups Cerberus Capital Management and The Blackstone Group plus Canadian car parts group Magna International Inc are front runners to buy Chrysler.

The Detroit News paper said Cerberus, Blackstone and Magna had submitted formal offers and that DaimlerChrysler was expected to choose one bidder for exclusive negotiations by the end of April, hoping to get around $8 billion for Chrysler.

DaimlerChrysler reiterated its forecast for a significant increase in group profitability through 2009.

Chrysler will absorb restructuring charges of up to 1 billion euros ($1.33 billion) in 2007, but its loss from operating activities is expected to be less than in 2006, when it lost 1.12 billion euros, the company has said in the past.

Its restructuring plan will cut 13,000 jobs and close a plant as it tries to return to profit by 2008.

Consumers' shift to fuel-thrifty cars amid high pump prices hit Chrysler, the most reliant of the Detroit carmakers on light trucks and sport utility vehicles for profits.

Its US sales fell 8 percent in March when adjusted for selling days, and first-quarter sales were off 6.9 percent.

South Korea's benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) rose by 19.66 points to a record high of 1,483.41 on Wednesday.

The volume of the KOSPI was moderate at 347.3 million shares worth 4.49 trillion won (4.79 billion U.S. dollars).

The rises are mainly driven by foreign investors' buying of tech and financial shares on overnight rallies in U.S. markets, analysts said.

On Wednesday, tech shares led the market's advance. Industry leader Samsung Electronics increased by 3.66 percent to 595,000 won on reports that its business will likely improve thanks to a rebound in computer memory chips. The Hynix Semiconductor also rose 2.11 percent to 33,800 won.

The local currency closed at 936.3 won to one U.S. dollar, up 0.4 won from Tuesday's close.