WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A gauge of planned U.S. business spending increased by the most in just over a year in January and new orders for long-lasting manufactured goods excluding transportation rose solidly, pointing to underlying strength in factory activity. The Commerce Department said on Wednesday non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, jumped 6.3 percent, the biggest gain since December 2011, after slipping 0.3 percent in December. Economists had expected this category to only rise 0.2 percent. ...

LONDON (Reuters) - The emergence of a deadly virus previously unseen in humans that has already killed half those known to be infected requires speedy scientific detective work to figure out its potential. Experts in virology and infectious diseases say that while they already have unprecedented detail about the genetics and capabilities of the novel coronavirus, or NCoV, what worries them more is what they don't know. ...

PARIS (Reuters) - President Francois Hollande will aim to balance French concerns over Russia's human rights record with a push to boost trade ties during a debut Moscow visit on Thursday that could prove a diplomatic obstacle course. An encounter in Paris last June between the newly-elected Socialist Hollande and Russia's Vladimir Putin bristled with tension, unlike the cozy meetings between Putin and Hollande's conservative predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac. ...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has canceled a dinner with German chancellor candidate Peer Steinbrueck after the center-left politician called former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi and comic-turned-politician Beppe Grillo a pair of "clowns". A spokesman for Steinbrueck said Napolitano, who is on an official visit to Germany, had called off a dinner scheduled for Wednesday in Berlin. The spokesman said Steinbrueck understood the Italian president's reasons for cancelling. ...