Nortel Networks Corp., the bankrupt Canadian phone-equipment maker, said it will hold an auction for its optical-networking business after a second bidder offered to buy the unit.

China, the world's second-biggest energy user, will increase the price of electricity for nonresidential users by 0.028 yuan (0.4 cent) per kilowatt-hour on average starting tomorrow, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the National Development and Reform Commission.

China Investment Corp. bought a HK$5.5 billion (US$710 million) stake in the nation's biggest producer of polysilicon as the sovereign wealth fund invests in energy and commodities companies to hedge against inflation.

South Korea's economy is expected to grow faster next year than the previous forecast of four percent as it rebounds quickly from the global downturn, Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-Hyun said Thursday.

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.