Bloomberg US consumer purchases climbed in December by the most in three months as incomes picked up, signaling a strong hand-off into 2017. The 0.5 percent advance in consumption, which accounts for about 70 percent of the economy, followed a 0.2 percent advance in the prior month, a Commerce Department report showed on Monday. The December increase matched the …

  BOSTON / AP Where are the trees? More important, where aren’t the trees? A lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is helping some of the world’s cities answer both questions in an attempt to make them more pleasant places to live and work. In an effort to enhance the critical role trees play in urban environments — providing …

  Cuxhaven / DPA “Ten minutes of playtime for the captain!” announces Commander Markus Venker over the ship-wide loudspeaker system. Actually, it’s a warning for the crew to hold on very tight. Then Venker, captain of the newest and most modern ship in the German Navy, shows what his big baby can do in clear weather but rough seas off …