National Business News

TOKYO (Reuters) - Takata Corp said on Friday it would add two new production lines at its Monclova factory in Mexico to meet replacement demand for air bag inflators at the center of a recall of millions of vehicles worldwide.

A U.S. judge weighing how much BP Plc should be punished for the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill on Thursday refused to overturn his own finding that the oil company's conduct was "grossly negligent."

TOKYO (Reuters) - Asian stocks dipped in early trade on Friday following fresh signs of slowing Chinese growth, while crude oil hovered near a four-year low in an oversupplied market.

(Reuters) - Royal Bank of Scotland Plc's securities unit will now exit its U.S. mortgage trading business after originally planning to shrink it by two-thirds.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A representative from Honda Motor Co Ltd will testify before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee at a Nov. 20 hearing over defective air bags manufactured by Japan's Takata Corp, a Honda spokesman said on Thursday.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Shares of Takata Corp opened down 1 percent on Friday after the Japanese auto parts maker said it was the subject of a U.S. criminal investigation over defective air bags that have been linked to five deaths.

TOKYO/DETROIT (Reuters) - Japan's Takata Corp is the subject of a U.S. criminal investigation over defective car air bags that have been linked to five deaths, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

(Reuters) - Hasbro Inc is in early talks to buy Hollywood studio DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc , a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Hasbro in talks to buy DreamWorks Animation: source

SAN FRANCISCO/TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry announced partnerships with Samsung Electronics Co and other high-profile tech players on Thursday, broadening the reach of its new mobile-device management and security platform, and sending its shares 7 percent higher.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Procter & Gamble Co., one of Warren Buffett's top portfolio holdings, is about to lose the billionaire's influential backing at a time when it appears the company's own fortunes have peaked.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Dow industrials closed at a record high on Thursday, boosted by gains in Wal-Mart, but the S&P 500 was little changed as energy shares tracked crude futures prices lower.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Export-Import Bank has mischaracterized potentially hundreds of large companies and units of multinational conglomerates as small businesses, a flaw in its record keeping that could undermine the export lender's survival strategy.

NEW YORK/SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A director of U.S. nutrition company Herbalife is among 12 people charged in a years-old Brazilian embezzlement case that has never been mentioned in Herbalife public disclosures, according to court documents and company filings.

SAN FRANCISCO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is seeking assurances from Apple Inc that it will prevent sensitive health data collected by its upcoming smartwatch and other mobile devices from being used without owners' consent, two sources told Reuters.

LONDON (Reuters) - An independent report into the Bank of England's role in the global currency market has raised questions about the relationship between commercial bank dealers and brokers for the first time since regulators began investigating trading practices.

(Reuters) - Berkshire Hathaway Inc has agreed to acquire Procter & Gamble Co's Duracell battery unit in a complex transaction that lets Berkshire Chairman Warren Buffett buy a business he has supported for two decades and shave his company's tax bill.

(Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc same-store sales, helped by lower gas prices, rose for the first time in seven quarters, but the world's largest retailer warned it was preparing for a bruising holiday season as it moves to match prices with online outlets.

(Reuters) - Dallas Federal Reserve President Richard Fisher will retire on March 19, becoming the second policy hawk to leave the U.S. central bank just a few months before most economists expect the Fed to start its first round of interest rate hikes in a decade.

LONDON (Reuters) - Apollo Global Management is planning to bid for all GlaxoSmithKline's mature drugs, joining an auction expected to value the business at more than $3 billion, according to four people familiar with the process.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will hold a hearing, likely next week, on defective air bags made by Japan's Takata Corp , Senator Clair McCaskill said on Thursday.

NEW DELHI/WASHINGTON/GENEVA (Reuters) - India and the United States settled a dispute on Thursday that had paralyzed the World Trade Organization and risked derailing a $1 trillion package of reforms of global customs procedures.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - In a paradoxically good development for the U.S. economy, Americans quit their jobs in September at the fastest rate in over six years.

LONDON (Reuters) - Cable & Wireless Communications Plc believes its expensive victory in the battle to buy broadband and TV provider Columbus will give it the heft it needs to take on fierce rival Digicel in the Caribbean.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt plans to repay all of its $4.9 billion debt to foreign oil and gas companies within six months, the oil ministry said on Thursday, a move it hopes will prompt them to boost exploration and ease the worst energy crunch in decades.