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  Bloomberg Chinese authorities plan to propose that this year’s fiscal deficit stay at 3 percent of gross domestic product, unchanged from 2016, according to people familiar with the matter, signaling further tolerance for slower economic growth. The budget deficit, usually announced in March, requires approval by the National People’s Congress and is subject to change, said the people, who ...

  BEIRUT / AP At least 43 people were killed when a car bomb ripped through the center of a busy commercial district of a rebel-held Syrian town along the Turkish border, damaging buildings and leaving rescue workers searching for survivors amid the wreckage, activists and rescue workers said. The explosion went off early Saturday afternoon outside a local court ...

  WASHINGTON / AP President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll nominate former Indiana Sen. Dan Coats as national intelligence director. Trump says in a statement that Coats — a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee before retiring from Congress last year — will lead the new administration’s “ceaseless vigilance against those who seek to do us harm.” The post requires Senate confirmation. ...

  LONDON/ AP The British Red Cross says overcrowding in hospital emergency rooms has become a “humanitarian crisis.” The charity says it has dispatched volunteers to help patients go home and free up hospital beds. It claims cuts to social-care funding by the Conservative government mean some patients can’t be discharged because there is no support available, putting pressure on ...

  CAIRO / AP The Libyan military reports that a captured militant has confirmed the killing of Wissam Ben Hamid, the leader of militia groups in the eastern city of Benghazi. Army spokesman Ahmed al-Mesmary reported that the captured spokesman of the Revolutionary Shura Council of Benghazi, a coalition of armed groups controlling two remaining militia strongholds in Libya’s second ...

  BEIJING / AP The Taiwanese leader’s trip to the Americas starting on Saturday will be scrutinized by Beijing for signs that the incoming US president’s team will risk its ire by further engaging with the self-ruled island China considers its territory. President Tsai Ing-wen pledged to bolster Taiwan’s international profile as she set off on a trip to reinforce relations ...

  AMBALANTOTA / AP At least 21 people were injured on Saturday in violent clashes between Sri Lankan government supporters and villagers marching against what they say is a plan to take over private land for an industrial zone in which China will have a major stake. Police used tear gas and water cannons to try to break up the clashes, ...

  HARARE / AP The often nasty battle to succeed Zimbabwe’s aging president has turned into a tempest in a tea cup — literally. On the face of it, nothing was wrong with Facebook photos of one of the country’s vice presidents holding a mug with friends during the recent holidays. Problem is, the mug featured the words “I Am the ...

  Bloomberg Last year was a good one for global carmakers. In the week before the North American International Auto Show that will start on Monday in Detroit, Audi, McLaren, Mercedes, Jaguar, and Land Rover, among others, announced record-breaking sales numbers for December and predicted new highs for 2016. Some, like Ford, held steady in certain segments; the company’s F-Series ...

  Bloomberg Sergio Marchionne enters the final stretch of his career at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV with a daunting mission: prove wrong the doubters who question how he can make the carmaker’s $5.29 billion in debt disappear by the time he steps down in two years. His strategy update will be a closely watched presentation next week at the Detroit ...