The next meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers will be held in the remote Canadian Arctic town of Iqaluit in February.

Argentine lawmakers on Wednesday gave the government permission to enter talks with investors holding US$20 billion the country's defaulted bonds, in a bid to re-enter global credit markets.

Iron ore output in China, the largest consumer of the steelmaking ingredient, may jump to a record this year as government stimulus spending spurs demand.

SABMiller PLC, the world's second-largest brewer, on Thursday reported a 32 percent drop in net profit as revenues were hit hard by unfavorable currency movements and lager volumes declined by 1 percent.

The United States is eyeing side talks with key partners on services trade as a way to spur flagging World Trade Organization talks, the Obama administration's nominee for WTO ambassador said.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development doubled its growth forecast for the leading developed economies next year and predicted a further acceleration in 2011 as China and other emerging countries power a global recovery.

Singapore on Thursday declared a severe recession over after two straight quarters of growth and predicted the economy would expand by up to 5.0 percent in 2010.

Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China plans to build an assembly line for its homegrown C919 jetliners in Shanghai, the latest step in the country's ambitions to become a leader in world aviation.

The price of Facebook Inc. stock on exchanges for private companies has jumped as much as 42 percent in the past four months as membership of the site topped 300 million users and the company turned cash flow positive.

Users of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 video game consoles can now brag about their achievements on Facebook as both systems integrate the social network this week.