IBT Staff Reporter

Power company AES Corp on Sunday said it agreed to sell its entire interests in its Oman and Pakistan businesses for about $200 million.

Sports-car maker Spyker is still in talks to buy Saab, the Dutch company's top executive said on Sunday after a report China's BAIC had agreed with General Motors to buy some of the Swedish company's assets.

The Federal Reserve, at a meeting this week, will likely close out the year by repeating a pledge to keep interest rates extraordinarily low for an extended period even as it nods to signs of economic healing.

A Photo of the Google phone Nexus One - which Google employees are currently testing out and will be available for customers next year - has been released on Twitter.

Cadbury and U.S. rival Hershey have held talks over a possible friendly bid by the American firm, the Sunday Telegraph reported, citing market sources.

North Korea and the United States have agreed to resume suspended four-way talks to replace the tattered Korean War armistice with a permanent peace accord, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said on Sunday.

India successfully tested a nuclear-capable ship-based ballistic missile on Sunday off its eastern coast, a defence official said.

Environment ministers tried to overcome rifts between rich and developing nations in Copenhagen on Sunday just days before a deadline for reaching a global pact on tackling climate change.

Tribal gunmen freed dozens of hostages in the southern Philippines on Sunday after authorities transferred murder cases against them to a tribal court and disarmed both them and a rival group.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Afghan President Hamid Karzai met at an Afghan air base on Sunday, aiming to fix a relationship that has grown bitter as the Afghan war grows deadlier and more unpopular.

Gulf Arab oil exporters will move closer to a unified currency when their rulers meet on Monday in Kuwait, which promised to seek the return of the United Arab Emirates and Oman to the monetary union plan.

Saab can still find a buyer for the whole firm, a spokesman for the loss-making auto maker said on Sunday after The Wall Street Journal reported China's BAIC had agreed with General Motors to buy some of the Swedish company's assets.

Heavy rain pounded Dubai on Sunday adding to the gloom of the emirate's debt woes a day before the deadline of the $3.52 billion bond by state-owned developer Nakheel, with no word on how it will be handled.

Kuwait's sale of its stake in Citigroup earlier this month was not due to a dispute with the U.S. bank, the Gulf Arab state's finance minister said in published remarks on Sunday.

Critics said the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq said was driven by oil, but United States oil majors were largely absent from an Iraqi auction of oil deals snapped up instead by Russian, Chinese and other firms.

(Corrects Dec. 12 story, paragraph 8, to show one U.S. company bid in the second Iraq oil auction)

Cuba and Venezuela signed cooperation deals worth nearly $3 billion on Saturday, underscoring Caracas' role as the communist-run island's closest political and commercial ally.

The rumored Google phone may be coming sooner than expected, following a blog post from a Google executive on Saturday which said the company released its own Google Android phone to some of its employees.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc played a bigger role in fueling the mortgage bets that crippled American Insurance Group Inc than has been publicly disclosed, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday.

Cuba and Venezuela are set to sign cooperation deals worth about $3 billion later on Saturday, underscoring Caracas' role as the communist-run island's closest political and commercial ally.

The United States spent blood and treasure on an Iraq invasion critics said was for oil, but U.S. oil majors were largely absent from an Iraqi auction of oil deals snapped up instead by Russian, Chinese and other firms.

Tribal gunmen holding 46 hostages in the southern Philippines have reached an agreement with negotiators and will free all those in captivity, a government spokesman said on Saturday.

Regional countries are trying to influence Iraq's upcoming elections but a coalition government is the mostly likely outcome, the foreign minister said on Saturday.

Thai security forces seized more than 35 tonnes of arms from a cargo plane and arrested five crew members after the aircraft made an emergency landing to refuel at a Bangkok airport, officials said on Saturday.

Tens of thousands of climate activists staged a colourful rally in Copenhagen Saturday to urge negotiators at U.N. talks to agree a strong deal to fight global warming in a worldwide Day of Action.

Iraq, emerging from the shadows of war, expects to boost its oil output to rival the level of top producer Saudi Arabia after awarding some of its most attractive oilfields to global energy companies this week.

The United States and Japan reached a landmark aviation agreement on Friday, a deal that eases barriers to passenger and cargo services and opens up the possibility for stronger alliances, officials said.

President Barack Obama defended on Saturday a consumer watchdog agency the financial industry wants to weaken or strip from legislation that would strengthen the regulation of Wall Street.

Singer Michael Jackson next month will receive a posthumous Grammy for lifetime achievement, along with six other artists, organizers of the music industry's top awards said.