Samsung Executives to Be Questioned by Korean Prosecutors www.bloomberg.com

Samsung Electronics Co. executives have been summoned by South Korean special prosecutors amid a widening influence-peddling scandal that brought about South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s impeachment.

Baidu, CITIC approved to set up China's first independent direct bank www.xinhuanet.com

BEIJING, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Internet giant Baidu has been approved to open a direct bank, finally joining its tech counterparts in offering banking services.

HMD Global launches first Nokia smartphone www.reuters.com

HMD Global, the Finnish company that owns the rights to use Nokia's brand on mobile phones, announced on Sunday its first smartphone, targeted for Chinese users with a price of 1,699 yuan ($246).

Gunmen kill eight Hazara miners in Afghanistan www.reuters.com

Unidentified gunmen killed eight members of Afghanistan's Hazara minority who were working as miners in the northern province of Baghlan, a local government official said.

14 coolest tech products from CES 2017 www.cnn.com

Thousands of tech companies descended on Las Vegas for CES 2017 this week to show off what they think you'll buy in the coming year.
Although we saw more of what dominated the tech scene last year -- smart home products, wearables and enough Amazon Echo partnerships to make your head spin -- some new products shined brightly above the rest.
From an underwater drone to the car of the future, here's a look at what impressed us most.

1. Toyota Concept-i

Toyota unveiled a concept car to highlight its vision for what cars may look like in 2030. With see-through glass doors, wheels built directly into the body and a bright white interior and exterior, the future is looking pretty sleek.
While you'd think we'd be riding in self-driving vehicles by then, the car isn't fully autonomous. Toyota believes you'll still want to drive yourself around 14 years from now.

2. Willow breast pump

New moms will appreciate the attention paid to baby tech this year. Willow's breast pumps were a standout, offering a quiet, hands-free and cordless approach to pumping on the go (and tracking how much you pump).

3. PowerRay drone

The high-flying trend will (once again) be out in full force in 2017. We saw pocket-sized drones and ones that follow you around, but PowerVision's underwater drone -- called the PowerRay -- took a clever approach by bringing the concept down under. The waterproof drone can swim 30 meters below water and uses sonar to help recreational fisherman better track fish.
Thanks to built-in Wi-Fi, the drone sends alerts to users back on land when fish are nearby. It'll even capture 4K video and photos, so you can replay the moment you caught your dinner.
Official pricing hasn't been announced, but it will be in the $3,000 range. Pre-orders start in February.

4. PowerEgg drone

Also from PowerVision, the PowerEgg is an egg-shaped collapsible quadcopter. It's unlike a drone we've ever seen before. Weighing in at about 4.5 pounds, the drone pops out of the plastic casing when it's time to fly.
It features on board GPS, a 4K camera and relies on your iOS or Android device for processing power. You can buy it now for $1,288.

5. LG 'wallpaper' TV

LG's new flagship 4K OLED TV is incredibly thin and light. Called the W -- for "wallpaper" -- it adheres to the wall with magnets. It's designed to look like you're watching TV through a window or picture on the wall. It comes in 65-inch and 77-inch options.

6. PicoBrew

PicoBrew ($200) is a homebrew kit that takes just a few hours to create 5 liters of beer. The device, which launched a Kickstarter campaign last fall, has more than 40 beer options for users to choose from. It's also easy to keep components sanitized -- an important piece of home brewing -- through its cleaning system.
But PicoBrew might not be novel for long. Anheuser-Busch and Keurig announced on Friday they are collaborating on an in-home alcohol drinks system.

7. Moro robot

The Moro robot does all of your chores, such as pouring drinks, picking up groceries and folding laundry. At about four feet tall, the white cylindrical robot -- with arms but no face or eyes -- moves in all directions. The system includes voice and facial recognition technology to take task requests and learn who is commanding it over time. There's no official launch date, but it comes with a hefty $30,000 price tag.

8. Motiv smart ring

Wearables are everywhere, but the Motiv smart rings packs everything you need into one small package. Unlike other smart rings, such as the Ringly, it's main focus is fitness. Motiv collects stats like your daily steps, heart rate, goals and distance and pushes that data to your smartphone. Available in gray or rose gold titanium device, it looks just like a traditional ring.
It also comes with standalone GPS, so there's no need to take your phone on runs to track your data. It will cost $200 when it launches in the spring.

9. Snoo bassinet

The Snoo bassinet is a robot that rocks your baby to sleep. The product went viral late last year, but we finally got a look at it in action. The Snoo, developed by renown designer Yves Béhar, rocks newborns to sleep when crying. Along with producing slight humming noise, the experience recreates how babies feel in the womb and aims to help little ones -- and parents -- sleep better at night. The Snoo also prevents babies from rolling over via a sleeper outfit that clips onto the bassinet's sides.

10. Vuzix glasses

Vuzix wants to succeed where Google Glass failed. The company's sunglasses pair with Android devices and display what's on the screen in the right lens. You can watch videos, get directions and read text messages via the small projected image is small. The glasses can be controlled with your voice or a touch pad on the right stem. The left lens is for snapping photos through its built-in camera. The Vuzix glasses will launch in the second half of 2017. Price is still unknown.

11. Little Fish smart speaker

Baidu's Little Fish smart speaker has potential to be the Amazon Echo of China. The Chinese technology company, often referred to as the Google (GOOGL, Tech30) of China, announced a device with a built-in screen that can control appliances, music and connected devices.
Baidu uses its own AI tech and doesn't rely on Amazon's Alexa system like other smart speaker assistants (we're looking at you, Lenovo). Price and availability hasn't yet been announced.

12. Sony projector

Sony's $25,000 projector is a pipe dream for most, but it's hard not to be wowed by what it does. The VPL-VZ1000ES model turns any room into a home theater. The projector weighs in at 77 pounds and can project a 100-inch image onto a wall just six inches away. It's available for pre-order now and will start shipping it in the spring.

13. Rapael smart glove

Rapael's smart glove reminds us how powerful tech can be. The glove helps rehabilitate stroke patients through virtual activities like darts and card games played on a compatible app. It wraps around the wrist, and sensors track patients' motion and improvement as they progress through therapy. Physicians and clinics around the world already use the Rapael glove, but it's now available for patients to rent for $99.

14. Lego coding kit

Tech isn't just for adults. Lego launched an innovative building and coding set that brings movement to Legos. Kids can build five different smart toy models, including a cat, robot and guitar, with the help of sensors and motors. The kit works alongside a corresponding app, which features 60 coding activities. It's also possible to add voice recordings via the app to give toys the ability to speak.

Toyota Motor stresses benefits to US www.nhk.or.jp

Toyota Motor is responding to criticism from US President-elect Donald Trump by highlighting its contribution to job creation in the United States.

Japan, France to work toward free trade deal www.nhk.or.jp

The foreign ministers of Japan and France have agreed to work toward a broad free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union at an early date.

Boeing believed close to $10b buy from SpiceJet www.chinadaily.com

Indian budget airline SpiceJet Ltd is poised to order at least 92 Boeing Co 737 jetliners - as the carrier maps out a rapid expansion in the world's fastest-growing air traffic market.

Japan firms log record new vehicle sales in China www.nhk.or.jp

Three major Japanese automakers say they sold a record number of new vehicles in China last year.

Trump Rhetoric Raises Specter of 1930s-Style Trade War With Asia www.bloomberg.com

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promise to shrink a trade deficit with China through punishing tariffs wouldn’t just hurt the world’s second-biggest economy -- it would also damage the rest of Asia too.

That’s the increasing view of economists who say the risk of significant Trump-triggered trade tensions could slow growth in the world’s best performing region, which accounts for 67 percent of America’s goods trade deficit, according to a Morgan Stanley.

“Donald Trump’s campaign proposal to impose hefty tariffs on China has raised the specter of 1930s-style trade wars,” said Priyanka Kishore, lead Asia economist at Oxford Economics in Singapore. “While we attach a low probability to a full-blown escalation, economies across Asia will have to brace themselves for rising protectionism amid subdued global growth and rising Western populism.”

Kishore added that another risk is that Trump goes beyond targeting expected areas such as iron and steel, and imposes new trade restrictions on textiles, electronics, cars, computers and more. Under such a scenario, she said the pain would spread well beyond China because of the potential downstream impact.

China is prepared to step up its scrutiny of U.S. companies in the event Trump takes punitive measures against Chinese goods, according to people familiar with the matter. The options include subjecting well-known U.S. companies or ones that have large Chinese operations to tax or antitrust probes, the people said, asking not to be identified because the matter isn’t public.

Complex Picture

A smartphone exported to the U.S. may only be assembled in China with parts sourced from other countries in Asia. However, headline trade statistics don’t necessarily capture that supply chain. Instead, they label the phone as a Chinese export, distorting its trade balance with the U.S.

Analysis of foreign value-added content of China’s exports shows how complex the picture is.

“China accounts for only 16 percent of electronic and computer imports into the US, while the rest of Asia-ex Japan accounts for a similar share and Japan 8 percent,” Kishore said. “But standard trade statistics show that China’s share in total U.S. imports of electronic products is more than 40 percent.”

Twitter Pronouncements

Since winning the U.S. Presidential election, Trump has backed up fiery campaign rhetoric toward China with a series of pronouncements on Twitter and the appointment of China hawks, including Peter Navarro, to key roles. Navarro has blamed China’s 2001 entry into the World Trade Organization for eroding America’s manufacturing base.

“The recent shift in political rhetoric in the U.S. has increased the risk of potential policy changes related to trade,” Morgan Stanley economists led by Hong Kong-based Chetan Ahya wrote in a report. “As these potential policy changes are aimed at improving the U.S. position in global trade, Asia will be a main focus.”

China, Korea and Japan would be the worst affected given they sell more to the U.S. than they buy back and because of their roles in a deeply intertwined regional supply chain, according to Morgan Stanley. Vulnerable industries include telecommunications, computers and cars.

Chinese state media has warned the country can fight back, saying that Trump will be met with “big sticks” if he tries to ignite a trade war or further strain ties.

“There are flowers around the gate of China’s Ministry of Commerce, but there are also big sticks hidden inside the door -- they both await Americans,” the Communist Party’s Global Times newspaper wrote in an editorial Thursday.

Trade Retaliation

China can also retaliate against U.S. investment in China by targeting sectors like electronics and textiles. As the world’s second biggest financier of U.S. government debt, it could also respond by selling down its holdings of Treasuries. Then there’s the nuclear option: devalue the yuan.

“This could the first step towards, the first step on a long ladder, the end of which is a 1930s-style environment where we’ve got collapsing global trade, we’ve got default on debt, we’ve got international relations gradually falling apart, eroding, and we’re back into that environment,” Erik Britton, a director at Fathom Consulting in London, said on Bloomberg Television.

While a sudden move to sell Treasuries or weaken the yuan look unlikely, for now, China would still likely hit back, said Chi Lo, greater China senior economist at BNP Paribas Investment Partners in Hong Kong.

“Trade retaliation is very likely,” he said, noting that U.S. investment in China is higher than Chinese investment in America. “This means that the U.S. would be hurt more by China’s retaliation than it could hurt China. This also implies that the US does not have much leverage over China in a trade war.”

It remains to be seen by just how much the President-elect will deliver on fiery campaign rhetoric but, for now at least, the risk of a full blow trade war remains remote. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce in China on Friday called for an easing of trade tensions.

Yet the risk remains.

“The possibility that a Trump administration will impose substantial, across-the-board, trade tariffs on trading partners cannot be completely ruled out,” said Oxford’s Kishore.