Japan data shows more economic gloom

TOKYO: Japanese factories slowed in November, spelling out the daunting task that lies ahead for a new conservative government in reviving the world's third-largest economy.

The 1.7 percent drop in output from a month earlier - worse than a 0.5 percent decline expected by the market - came as the Liberal Democratic Party took power this week on a campaign that pledged to inject new life into the limp economy, after it won a landslide election earlier this month.