Japan

Japanese camera giant Olympus sets up an independent panel to review previous takeovers after its sacked chief executive raises questions on Channel 4 News about “improper payments”.

Japanese camera maker Olympus has admitted it paid $687m to financial advisers – or one-third of the transaction price – when it bought British medical equipment firm Gyrus in 2008.

The ousted CEO of Olympus tells Channel 4 News he was fired for raising questions about more than £1bn in alleged improper payments made during acquisitions by the company between 2006 and 2008.

Germany’s Sebastian Vettel retains the Formula One drivers’ championship after finishing third at the Japanese grand prix. Britain’s Jenson Button won the race.

Japan tells its biggest weapons maker, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, to investigate a cyber attack on the company’s computer network, warning it may have breached its contracts with the military.

Channel 4 News Asia Correspondent John Sparks visits the Fukushima exclusion zone to find all traces of human activity have been eradicated following Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.

The leading index of shares on London markets dips below 5,000 for the first time in a year amid continuing turmoil in global trading.

Japan is expected to sack three nuclear power policy officials, five months after Fukushima witnessed the world’s worst atomic crisis in 25 years.

A Japanese man is sentenced to life imprisonment for raping and killing English teacher Lindsay Hawker and burying her body in a sand-filled bathtub in Tokyo in 2007.

Japan plans to ban cattle shipments from Fukushima in response to growing concerns about the safety of beef originating from the area.

A Japanese man has admitted raping and strangling British teacher Lindsay Ann Hawker. On the first day of his murder trial Tatsuya Ichihashi told the court he did not mean to kill the 22-year-old.

The operator of Japan’s tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant have agreed to a major restructuring plan in return for government help in paying compensation to tens of thousands of people.

Sony Chief Executive Sir Howard Stringer apologises to users of the company’s PlayStation and PC games networks for recent data breaches affecting more than 100 million users.

Workers at Japan’s damaged Fukushima nuclear plant have entered one of the reactor buildings for the first time since an earthquake and tsunami triggered a crippling explosion.

Hackers may have stolen the data of another 25 million Sony accounts, following last week’s announcement that data from 77 million PlayStation network accounts had been taken.