Headlines

Talks to divide $9 billion raised from the sale of businesses of Nortel Networks, the telecoms equipment maker that went bankrupt in 2009, ended without agreement, and the mediator said on Thursday further discussions were no longer worthwhile, Reuters reported. The failure of nearly two weeks of talks in Toronto raises the prospect that disputes among various creditors and retirees around the world could lead to years of litigation over how to divide the cash.

The Spanish government will on Friday present an ambitious plan to reverse the fragmentation of the country’s internal market by taking aim at the web of business rules and regulations imposed by Spain’s autonomous regions, the Financial Times reported. Madrid hopes the proposal will give a much-needed boost to the country’s economy, and improve Spain’s lacklustre reputation as a business destination.

European leaders criticized U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron's promise to renegotiate his country's relationship with the European Union and let the British people vote on the outcome, creating potential hurdles to his plan, The Wall Street Journal reported. "The EU does not need unwilling Europeans," said Mario Monti, Italy's prime minister and a former European commissioner, during a speech at an annual meeting of political and business leaders in Davos, Switzerland. "We need more, not less integration," German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said separately.

China’s manufacturing is expanding at the fastest rate in two years, according to a private survey of companies, bolstering prospects that economic growth will accelerate for a second straight quarter. The preliminary reading of a Purchasing Managers’ Index was 51.9 in January, according to a statement from HSBC Holdings Plc and Markit Economics today. That compares with the 51.5 final reading for December and the 51.7 median estimate of 17 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Portugal sold its debt on financial markets Wednesday for the first time since it needed a bailout, collecting (EURO)2.5 billion ($3.3 billion) in an auction of five-year bonds that was a milestone for economic recovery efforts in Portugal and the wider eurozone, the Associated Press reported. Treasury secretary Maria Luis Albuquerque said Portugal will pay interest of 4.9 percent on the loan - an affordable rate and a sign of returning market confidence in Portugal. She said investors placed orders for more than (EURO)12 billion and 93 percent of the sold amount went to foreign buyers.

The Bank of Japan appears to have accomplished a tactical masterstroke in giving Prime Minister Shinzo Abe an ambitious inflation target and an "open ended" commitment to buying assets, without expending any of its policy firepower, Reuters reported in an analysis. At least that is financial markets' initial read. Japan's central bankers see it differently; a hard-fought compromise that allowed the Bank of Japan to fend off the most serious threat to its 15-year independence, but which left it obliged to carry out more radical policies in the future.

A provisional trial date has been set for January next year in the case of three former executives of Anglo Irish Bank in connection with financial irregularities at the institution, the Irish Times reported. The bank’s former chairman Seán FitzPatrick, former finance director Willie McAteer and former managing director of the bank in Ireland Pat Whelan appeared before the Circuit Court in Dublin yesterday in front of Judge Mary Ellen Ring.

The 80 shareholders of Australian Sugar Cane Feeds are meeting today after the farming feed and mulch business collapsed, leaving them $13 million in the red, SmartCompany.au reported. ASCF is based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland and produces a feed product made from sugarcane called Cow Candy and a mulch product called Hydrocane. The business had 12 employees and customers across Asia and Australia.

Prime Minister David Cameron plans to let the British people vote on whether or not to stay in the European Union, a surprise move critics say will inhibit trade and cast a new shadow over the troubled bloc, The Wall Street Journal reported. Mr. Cameron planned to say in a public address that, if elected in 2015, a Conservative government would renegotiate the U.K.'s relationship with the EU, and then hold a referendum on the new settlement in the first half of its five-year parliamentary term.

A mediator overseeing creditor negotiations in Nortel Networks' bankruptcy said on Tuesday he is extending talks over how to distribute about $9 billion in cash at the fallen telecom, Reuters reported. Ontario Chief Justice Warren Winkler said in a statement the mediation, scheduled to end at noon on Tuesday, had been extended, but did not say for how long. A spokesman for the mediator declined to give detail on the length of the extension.