HONG KONG / AP China’s exports fell back into contraction last month, signaling renewed weakness for the world’s second biggest economy as it faces possible trade tensions under Donald Trump’s presidency. Customs data showed that exports shrank 6.1 percent to $209.4 billion in December compared with the year-ago period. The latest numbers mark a return to a long term ...

  Bloomberg Japan is stepping up its drive to pressure companies into abandoning a culture of long working hours. Prosecutors this week began reviewing whether Mitsubishi Electric Corp. forces its employees to work excessive hours — a move that follows an investigation of Dentsu Inc., Japan’s biggest advertisement agency, where a female worker who put in more than 100 hours ...

  Bloomberg Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is under investigation by the US Justice Department over its alleged failure to disclose software that violated emissions standards, according to people familiar with the matter, another legal hurdle for a company already under criminal scrutiny for its sales practices. The possibility of a criminal action over diesel emissions violations comes after the Environmental ...

  Bloomberg All eyes are on President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent arrival at the White House, and whether his administration follows thro- ugh on an agenda that — when it comes to the economy — features a growth target almost double that of recent years. Outside the headlines, however, are demographic pressures reaching levels not seen since the Great Depression. That ...

  Bloomberg The US Supreme Court agreed to hear a dispute that could help clarify the steps needed to get low-cost alternatives to pricey biotechnology drugs on the market. It will be the first time the high court has agreed to interpret a 2010 provision of Obamacare that enabled the US Food and Drug Administration to approve biosimilars, which are ...

  Bloomberg Italian industrial output increased more than estimated in November, signaling a possible acceleration in economic activity. Production rose 0.7 percent from October when it increased a revised 0.1 percent on a monthly basis, statistics agency Istat said in Rome. The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of 20 analysts called for a 0.2 percent gain. On an annual, ...

  Bloomberg Home buyers in Brooklyn competed for a record-low number of listings in the fourth quarter, driving up prices in the New York borough that’s historically been seen as a refuge from Manhattan’s high costs. Purchases in Brooklyn rose 22 percent from a year earlier to 2,582, while the median price of those deals climbed 15 percent to a ...

  Bloomberg Nintendo Co.’s new Switch gaming console is off to an underwhelming start. The new machine, a tablet-sized device with wireless controllers that can be used anywhere but also connects to TVs, will go on sale March 3 at a price of $300, with a brand-new Zelda game as its launch title. None of that, however, was enough to ...

  Emirates Business The Middle East is one of the leading markets for smartphones and countries such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia boast over 90% smartphone penetration – among the highest in the world. Smartphone manufacturers are well aware of this and top brands such as Apple and Samsung now have just one year upgrade cycles on their flagship ...

  Bloomberg Just over two years after leaving Google, Andy Rubin is preparing to take on the smartphone industry he helped create. Rubin, creator of the Android operating system, is planning to marry his background in software with artificial intelligence in a risky business: consumer hardware. Armed with about a 40-person team, filled with recruits from Apple Inc. and Alphabet ...