Top steelmakers ArcelorMittal and Tata Steel are dipping their toes into iron ore derivatives, marking a crucial milestone in developing trade for the world's second-largest commodity after oil.

TUI AG is in talks with investors interested in buying its stake in Hapag-Lloyd as an option in its long-planned exit from the German shipping company, TUI's chairman told a newspaper.

The U.S. Congress has cleared the way for global miners Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX) and BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) (BLT.L) to swap land with the government, which will allow them to build a long-delayed $6 billion copper mine in Arizona.

Cia Siderurgica Nacional SA, Brazil's largest diversified steelmaker, and a group of Asian partners agreed on Friday to move forward with a merger of their mining and logistics assets that would be completed next year.

Deals on clothing and cameras helped spur Canadian shoppers to spend more during the most recent Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend than they did in 2013, according to a report by Canada's largest payments processor.

Talks on cutting trade tariffs on hundreds of information technology products collapsed on Friday, delaying and potentially scuppering a deal estimated to be worth $1 trillion to global trade.

Civil rights leader Reverend Al Sharpton will meet next week with Sony Pictures Entertainment Co-Chairman Amy Pascal and decide whether her emails about President Barack Obama's race warrant calling for her resignation.

Canadian consumers may have ended up paying higher prices for cellphones and wireless services because of contracts between Apple Inc's Canadian unit and domestic carriers, the Canadian Competition Bureau said in a court filing this week.

Five years after President Barack Obama slammed Wall Street "fat cat" bankers, some of the nation's biggest banks this week successfully lobbied Congress to roll back a hotly debated provision in the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

The U.S. Senate on Friday struggled to pass a $1.1 trillion spending bill that would avert a looming federal government shutdown, postponing a vote until Monday when procedural hurdles begin to evaporate.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has warned U.S. businesses to be on the alert for a sophisticated Iranian hacking operation whose targets include defense contractors, energy firms and educational institutions, according to a confidential agency document.

A fully operational Apple computer that company co-founder Steve Jobs sold out of his parents' garage in 1976 for $600 sold for $365,000 at Christie's on Thursday.

Pessimism and doubt have dominated how Americans see the economy for many years. Now, in a hopeful sign for the economic outlook, confidence is suddenly perking up.

Facebook Inc (FB.O) has stopped including results from Microsoft Corp's (MSFT.O) Bing search engine on its social networking site.

Brent crude oil slipped on Friday to below $63 a barrel, its lowest since July 2009, on persistent concerns over a global supply glut and a sluggish demand outlook.

Japan's SoftBank Corp (9984.T) will soon downsize its Silicon Valley offices, people with knowledge of the matter said, signaling the company won't revive efforts to buy T-Mobile U.S. Inc (TMUS.N).

Mexico's finance minister bought a home from a government contractor who is at the center of a conflict-of-interest scandal embroiling President Enrique Pena Nieto and his administration, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

Once at the forefront of the fight against global warming, Japan is now facing calls from other big economies such as China to set fresh emissions targets as Tokyo increases its use of dirty coal energy to replace nuclear.

China's economy showed further signs of fatigue in November, with factory growth slowing more than expected and investment expansion hovering near a 13-year low, putting pressure on policymakers to unveil stronger stimulus measures.

Afghanistan does not have enough money to pay salaries this month and has asked aid donors for a bailout before the end of the year, the treasury chief told Reuters on Thursday.

The Pentagon on Thursday said Italy and Turkey would provide initial heavy maintenance of Lockheed Martin Corp's new F-35 fighter jet and its engine in Europe from 2018, paving the way for billions of dollars in work by companies there.

Brazilian retailers are expecting their worst Christmas season in a decade and signs are pointing to an unhappy New Year ahead.

A trillion dollar deal at the World Trade Organization to reduce tariffs in the vast information technology sector will stand or fall in the next 24 hours, trade diplomats said on Thursday.

Chances that U.S. negotiators can bring home a strong trade deal with Asia-Pacific countries are now much better than 50-50, U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) (FCHA.MI) (FCAU.N) has denied a media report saying it was considering a move in the tax residence of its Ferrari luxury sportscar unit outside Italy.

A February 2014 cyber attack against casino operator Las Vegas Sands Corp crippled thousands of servers across the company’s network by wiping them with highly destructive malware, Bloomberg Businessweek reported on Thursday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Thursday urged countries at U.N. climate talks in Lima to move away from using fossil fuels while demonstrators gathered outside the meeting urged him to reject the Keystone oil pipeline.

Europe's antitrust chief will meet Google's critics in the coming weeks in an effort to resolve issues in a four-year investigation which has stirred up politicians and lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic.

After skyrocketing to more than a thousand dollars in price late last year and attracting global attention, bitcoin, the leading digital currency, has stalled.

The dollar rose on Friday after upbeat U.S. data suggested weaker oil prices are providing additional momentum for the American economy, which also underpinned Asian shares.