Financial brokers who helped Olympus cover up years of investment losses, now at the centre of a growing scandal, have indirect links to Japan's yakuza crime syndicates, a press report said on Monday.

A 5.2-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Japan on Sunday, but a nuclear plant that was crippled by a huge quake and tsunami in March remained stable, officials said.

The quake hit at Ibaraki, 136 ki

Suzuki Motor Corp and estranged partner Volkswagen seemed headed for arbitration, after VW refused again to sell its 20 per cent stake back to the Japanese carmaker and put a floundering two-year alliance out of its misery.

Japan on Thursday announced its first ban on rice produced near the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant after samples showed radioactive contamination well above legal limits.

The findings will fu

Japan's disgraced Olympus Corp is preparing to take legal action including possible criminal complaints against any executives found responsible for the accounting scandal engulfing the firm, accordin

The euro rose against the dollar in Asia on Monday after former EU commissioner Mario Monti was nominated to be Italy's next prime minister, raising hopes of a breakthrough in tackling Europe's debt c

IMF chief Christine Lagarde on Saturday welcomed the 'significant progress' made in resolving the political instability in Greece and Italy that has sent shockwaves through world markets.

But in a T

Japan will take a group of journalists inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time on Saturday, stepping up its efforts to prove to the world it is on top of the disaster.

Japan's Olympus mired in a loss cover-up scandal plans to correct financial statements going back two decades while authorities are set to question former managers, media reports said on Saturday.

Ol

Lenders will confront Japan's Olympus Corp next week to demand an explanation for an accounting scandal engulfing the firm, a banking source said on Friday, though he denied reports that they intended