China's factory activity shrinks as slowdown worries rise

The data comes as several global firms warn China's slowing economy will hit their bottom line.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2TjjUXm

Brexit: Car investment halves as industry hits 'red alert'

The UK industry's trade body warns of "permanent devastation" if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2BaVwQH

Facebook users continue to grow despite privacy scandals

The number of people who logged into the site at least once a month rose 9% last year.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2FZplrc

It's deadline day - can you handle the pressure?

Nearly two million people are estimated to have left it until the last minute to fill in their tax returns.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2TjjKiI

Fed puts future rate rises on hold as pledges patience

The US central bank says it can "afford to wait" before making further interest rate rises.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2BapxjC

Bosses' group head in abrupt departure

Stephen Martin has been director general of the Institute of Directors for less than two years.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2Tmni3F

Foxconn reconsiders Wisconsin factory plans

President Donald Trump had hailed Foxconn's investment as the start of a manufacturing revival.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2Bb40Hk

Tesla reports profit as issues stabilise

The firm, which has routinely posted losses, reports a small profit for a second consecutive quarter.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2TnFD09

Barclays shifts billions of pounds to Dublin because of Brexit

The High Street bank "cannot wait any longer" to shift business to Dublin because of Brexit.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2BfDug1

Electric checks in rented homes confirmed by government

Landlords in England must organise a check every five years, mirroring rules already in place in Scotland.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2Tq749G

Brexit: Firms may speed up no-deal plans, says CBI

Latest twist feels like a "throw of the dice" and does nothing to take no-deal off the table, says the CBI.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2BfDpcd

Carlos Ghosn says 'plot and treason' behind arrest

The ex-Nissan chairman says some executives were opposed to his plans for the Japanese carmaker.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2TnKsqv

Haidilao: Robots staff China's top hotpot chain

Robot waiters and chefs form the future of hotpot chain Haidilao.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2BcsujD

The data that can save lives in rural Kenya

An app is helping healthcare workers in rural Kenya to collect data and improve their service to patients.

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2ToV9sH

The unlikely stars bucking the High Street slump

Museum and gallery shops are reporting rising sales and greater interest. What is their recipe for growth?

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2Ba4jlO

Has Vale become Brazil's most hated company?

Can the country's mining giant Vale recover after its second major disaster in four years?

from BBC News - Business https://bbc.in/2RqWgpZ

Regulate social media to protect children, MPs urge

A cross-party committee says social media companies should have a legal "duty of care" to children.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2GcA2Go

Facebook users continue to grow despite privacy scandals

The number of people who logged into the site at least once a month rose 9% last year.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2FZplrc

Scruff gay dating app bans underwear photos

The app bans images of men in underwear and swimwear after "repeated suspensions by app store distributors".

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2GeeTf2

Kwik Fit garages hit by computer virus

The car repair chain's IT system went offline on Saturday and has been experiencing problems since.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2FZokQa

PledgeMusic: The day the music died?

Crowdfunding site PledgeMusic seems to have run out of money, leaving musicians wondering what to do.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2Ga8oK6

DJI pledges painful action to tackle corruption

The world's bestselling drone-maker says it must tackle cases of employee theft.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2G02Fam

Fifa to stop selling in-game currency in Belgium

The move comes after the Belgian Gambling Commission threatened legal action over in-game loot boxes.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2Ga8mls

Children 'afterthought' for social media companies

England's children's commissioner writes to social media companies, urging them to tackle disturbing content.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2G0EOrf

Facebook: Dissident republicans Saoradh take legal action

Saoradh claims the social media giant removed a number of its pages from its platform.

from BBC News - Technology https://bbc.in/2Ga8i5c

Deep freeze grips U.S. Midwest, blamed for at least 12 deaths

A blast of icy polar air brought dangerously low temperatures to the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday, causing at least three more deaths while halting mail delivery and forcing residents who pride themselves on their winter hardiness to huddle indoors.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2GcN46z

Oink, moo and brrr: Polar vortex strikes U.S. farm belt

Farmers from North Dakota to Iowa buckled down for some of the coldest weather in a generation on Wednesday, throwing extra rations to pigs or building igloos for chickens in the teeth of sub-zero temperatures and bone-chilling winds.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2G0hlGn

In 'Icebox of the Nation,' arctic blast is just another day

The town that embraces its nickname as the "Icebox of the Nation" barely paused on Wednesday for the polar vortex that is gripping the U.S. Upper Midwest.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2GaJx8Y

Senate hearings to probe unsafe housing of U.S. military families

Troubled by widespread health and safety hazards uncovered by a Reuters investigation into U.S. military housing, Congress will hold hearings next month to ensure that “what we’re seeing now can never happen again,” said Michigan Democrat Gary Peters, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2FZo4Rc

Senator Rand Paul gets $580,000 after neighbor broke his ribs

A Kentucky jury has awarded U.S. Senator Rand Paul more than $580,000 in damages against a next-door neighbor who broke six of the Republican lawmaker's ribs in a gardening dispute.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2GaJpGw

U.S. secretly ships Cold War-era plutonium to Nevada

The U.S. government secretly shipped a large amount of deadly plutonium from a South Carolina site that produced the radioactive metal for nuclear bombs during the Cold War to Nevada, the Trump administration revealed on Wednesday.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2FZCTD5

New York settles with sellers of 'fake' online followers, 'likes'

New York's attorney general on Wednesday said she has resolved a probe into a group of Colorado companies that once sold fake followers, "likes" and views on social media platforms, in the first U.S. settlement to deem such sales illegally deceptive.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2Ga7wFk

U.S. lawmakers urge Pentagon to revise climate change report

Three Democratic U.S. lawmakers, including the House armed services committee chairman, on Wednesday urged the Pentagon to revise a report on climate change, saying it omitted required items such as a list of the 10 most vulnerable bases.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2G0LRzX

Elephant seals take over California beach during U.S. shutdown

A herd of elephant seals took over a popular California beach while it was closed during the federal government shutdown and the animals show no sign of wanting to leave.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2GaJcTK

Chicago police to release images after attack on 'Empire' actor

Chicago police said on Wednesday they would soon release images of "persons of interest" in the assault of "Empire" actor Jussie Smollett in which two men yelled racial and homophobic slurs and wrapped a rope around his neck.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2G01Gaa

Texas executes man for killing police officer in botched 1988 robbery

The state of Texas on Wednesday executed a man convicted of shooting a Houston police officer to death during a botched robbery of an adult book store in 1988, the state's Criminal Justice Department said.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2GaJ6LS

U.S. safety board opens probe into deadly Florida highway crash

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said on Wednesday it would send a team of eight to probe a deadly Jan. 3 crash in Florida that killed seven, including five children traveling to Disney World.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2FYl7Ad

Youngest member of murderous Manson 'family' again recommended for parole

The California parole board recommended on Wednesday that Leslie Van Houten, the youngest of Charles Manson's murderous "family" of followers, be released early from the life prison term she is serving for her role in the cult's 1969 killing spree.

from Reuters: U.S. https://reut.rs/2GdO4r2