Nortel Networks Corp, the fallen Canadian telecom giant, said it will sell nearly all assets of its Chinese joint venture to Ericsson's China unit for $50 million in cash, Reuters reported. The joint venture -- Guangdong Nortel Telecommunication Equipment -- is a research, development and manufacturing firm in which Nortel's units, Nortel Networks Ltd and Nortel China, own 62 percent. GDNT became a supplier to Ericsson after the Swedish mobile network equipment maker bought Nortel's CDMA and GSM businesses.

The National Asset Management Agency (Nama) has accused developers of being in “denial” about the crisis in construction and rejected criticisms that it had compounded problems in the banking and property markets by applying steep discounts to loans transferred to the agency, the Irish Times reported. The comments followed the release yesterday by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) of a report – commissioned from Lombard Street Research – on Nama’s impact on the banking and property sectors one year on from its establishment.

Investors dismissed European leaders' latest attempt to restore market calm, raising doubts about whether governments can rebuild confidence in the region's common currency amid signs that the debt crisis is creeping deeper into the Continent, The Wall Street Journal reported. The euro fell to a 10-week low, and was below $1.30 in late New York trading. Bond markets across Europe's vulnerable fringe sank, as the "risk premium" investors demand for lending to Spain and Italy hit record highs.

A Moscow court Tuesday declared the bankruptcy of a leading commercial bank that is run by a man whom the Russian media once identified as being "the cashier to the Kremlin," Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported on an Agence France-Presse story. The bankruptcy of International Industrial Bank, or Mezhprombank, controlled by Russian tycoon Sergei Pugachev, came less than two months after its operating license was suspended by the Russian Central Bank.

European Central Bank officials tried to force Ireland to seek a bailout earlier this month and European officials are now trying to do the same to Portugal, Irish Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said. “Clearly there were people from outside this country who were trying to bounce us in as a sovereign state, into making an application, throwing in the towel before we had even considered it as a government,” he told Irish state broadcaster RTE in an interview today.

A revised restructuring plan will see Anglo Irish Bank rebranded and changed into an asset recovery bank, chairman Alan Dukes confirmed today, the Irish Times reported. Mr Dukes said the original plan to split Anglo into a funding bank and recovery agency had been shelved. A plan to wind down the bank’s loan book over “a multi-year period” would be submitted to the European Commission by the end of January, he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland . However, Mr Dukes said that it was difficult to predict the timing for a recovery in loans.

Germany's insistence that Ireland, Greece and the euro zone's other fiscally feeble members adopt punishing austerity regimes has fueled concern across Europe that the bloc's biggest member is souring on the euro. But Sunday's agreement among euro-zone leaders to establish a permanent rescue facility for overly indebted members suggests that rather than turning its back on the euro, Germany is doubling its bets, The Wall Street Journal reported. Put simply, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her allies have concluded that the euro is essential for Germany's continued prosperity.

Spain faces a problem as empty homes left over from the housing boom go up for sale: determining just how much the properties are worth, The Wall Street Journal reported. Analysts, property-sales representatives and economists said data coming from the government and even some large appraisal companies understate the drop in real-estate prices. That is causing confusion and scaring off some investors who could help banks clear their backlog of homes. The discrepancies are owed, in part, to a quirk in how some Spanish home-price data are calculated.

A second bondholder group has claimed to hold a stake sufficient to block part of Anglo Irish Bank’s efforts to bolster its capital – raising the prospect of the bank’s restructuring being delayed. The bank’s battle with its bondholders is being closely watched for what it might imply for Ireland’s ability to inflict losses on junior creditors in its ailing banking sector. Anglo Irish has offered its junior, or subordinated, noteholders just 20 per cent of the face value of their holdings.

Two banks have appointed receivers to insolvent building company, Pierse Contracting, to protect their secured debts, the Irish Times reported. Simon Coyle of Mazars is investigating Pierse group’s trading activities on the instruction of the High Court, which appointed him as liquidator to Pierse Contracting and a related firm, Pierse Building Services, earlier this month. Pierse Contracting has a deficit of €212 million and owes its unsecured creditors, largely made up of subcontractors and suppliers, more than €50 million.