South Korea's Samsung Electronics is open to an alliance with the Japanese camera maker Olympus, potentially joining other electronics firms in circling one of the biggest names in medical equipment.

No more lugging a bulky camcorder on holiday; now they come small enough to fit into your shirt pocket.

Panasonic shocked the market as it forecast full-year losses would hit ¥420bn (£3.3bn), the worst in a decade, with one executive dubbing it the "birth pangs" of changing strategy.

Ronnie O'Sullivan has apologised for claiming he felt "raped" playing in the lower-profile Players Tour Championship (PTC) series.

Trade

With a woeful August for the City finishing on a high yesterday, analysts were on the hunt for the next big takeover deal as a number of stocks on the mid-tier index had their bid potential talked up.

To claim that one person singlehandedly revolutionised or modernised an institution is a time-worn cliche in journalism, but in the case of Peter Post and cycling team management it happens to be true. Already a successful track cyclist and road-racer before retiring in 1972, Post was the first manager to transfer the concept of "total football", which he had seen working wonders for Ajax, his beloved local side in his home town of Amsterdam, to his own sport.

The talk of the range here yesterday, as the Shell Houston Open concerned the incredible generosity shown by Ryo Ishikawa. The 19-year-old has pledged to give all his winnings this season to the Japan earthquake relief fund.

Just weeks after Sony quietly pressed stop on the Walkman, its Japanese rival Panasonic has announced the end of another chapter of music history. It will no longer produce its Technics line of analogue turntables, including the pioneering 1200 series, originally a humble record player, that almost by accident sparked the birth of a musical and cultural movement.