Japan's economy grew more than expected in the first three months of the year, data showed Wednesday, as it crawls back from a brief recession, but observers cautioned that a strong recovery may still be some way off.

The 0.6 percent on-quarter expansion was bigger than revised 0.3 percent growth in the last three months of 2014, and beat market expectations for a 0.4 percent rise.

Six Chinese nationals, including three university professors, were charged with economic espionage in a U.S. indictment unsealed Tuesday alleging the theft of technology used in mobile phones for Beijing's benefit.

According to a 32-count indictment, the six led a long-running effort to obtain U.S. trade secrets for universities and companies controlled by the Chinese government. 

Iran can no longer sustain the billions of dollars needed to pay cash handouts enacted by former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a top official said Tuesday, signaling plans to halt them.

Since coming to power in 2013, Hassan Rouhani, Ahmadinejad's successor, has sought to put Iran's economy back in order after it plunged into recession and was hit hard by inflation.

The United States signed Monday its second $1 billion loan guarantee deal for Ukraine aimed at helping the crisis-wracked country surmount a Russia-backed insurgency and rebuild its tattered economy.

The U.S. loan guarantee agreement is part of a $7.5 billion package of support for Ukraine over the coming year from its bilateral and multilateral partners, the Ukrainian finance ministry said.

Britain's traditional pubs are hoping a new law will galvanize the country's budding beer renaissance and save them from a steep crisis that is forcing dozens of premises to close every week.

Cut-price competition from supermarkets, the smoking ban and healthier drinking habits have all fueled the decline of an institution as traditionally British as football and fish-and-chips.

A businesswoman deposited the equivalent of almost US$2 million at a branch of China's largest bank but only US$20 remained after most of it was transferred without her authorization, state media reported.

Wang Li was one of several victims of a scam, involving millions of dollars, at a branch of the state-owned Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) in Shijiazhuang, highlighting increasingly sophisticated financial crime.

Only a fourth of the world's workforce have stable contracts, leading to growing job insecurity, a U.N. report said Tuesday.

The International Labor Organization report revealed a clear shift away from reliable full-time jobs, as short-term contracts and irregular hours become more widespread.

Electricity generation in Syria has dropped by 56 percent since the civil war began in March 2011, the pro-government al-Watan newspaper reported on Monday.

"The production of electricity was at 22 billion kilowatts in 2014, compared to nearly 50 billion kilowatts in 2011 -- which is a 56 percent decrease in the last four years of war," electricity ministry official Nassuh Semsmieh told the paper. 

Nissan Motor Co. will have vehicles packed with autonomous driving technology by 2020 but whether people will be able to drive them on roads is up to government regulators, Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said Monday.

Many of the world's automakers, and companies outside the auto industry such as Google, are working on technologies that allow cars to navigate without human intervention.

The owner of fashion brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent has accused Alibaba Group in a lawsuit of profiting from sales of counterfeit goods despite the Chinese e-commerce giant's pledge to combat the trade in fakes.

The lawsuit filed by France's Kering SA and a group of its brands in a New York court is a setback for Alibaba's effort to reassure companies and regulators it is taking effective action to keep counterfeit goods off its online sales platforms.