EMI Group Ltd., home of The Beatles, Coldplay and Katy Perry, is being sold in two parts for $4.1 billion.

Universal Music Group said Friday that it has agreed to buy the recording division of EMI for 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 billion).

Global market tensions eased on Friday as Italian lawmakers gave initial approval to a package of key economic reforms that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has set as the precondition for his resignation.

The wide-ranging measures including privatizations and boosting competition in the labor market were adopted by the Senate and will now go before the Chamber of Deputies, or lower house, for a vote expected on Saturday.

Japan said Friday it would enter talks towards an Asia-Pacific free trade deal, a move that threatens to deepen rifts in the ruling party amid opposition from a farm industry fearing cheap imports.

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said he made the decision to take part in talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), as Japan looks to boost its fragile economy and continue growing as a trading nation.

Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover, owned by India's Tata Motors, has announced plans to create more than 1,000 jobs at a plant near Birmingham, in a boost for Britain's struggling economy.

"The company has announced plans to recruit more than 1,000 members of staff at its advanced manufacturing plant in Solihull," JLR said in a statement Thursday.

World oil prices shot higher on Thursday as traders weighed rising tensions in the Middle East and a slight easing of worries over Europe.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for December, gained $2.04 to $97.78, while Brent North Sea crude for delivery in December added $1.40 cents to $113.71 a barrel in London.

London equities plunged Thursday in early morning deals on deepening fears that debt-plagued Italy could fall victim to the eurozone debt crisis and threaten the entire euro project.

The FTSE 100 index sank 1.27 percent to 5,391.01 points in opening trade.

Japanese auto giants Toyota and Mitsubishi Motor have said they will resume production in Thailand after the country's flood disaster closed factories for more than a month.

Toyota said it would resume production from November 21 at its three Thai plants, which were forced to halt operations on October 10.

Greece's bickering politicians were to resume talks Thursday on a unity government to take the crisis-hit country out of economic paralysis as global pressure for a deal mounted to avert bankruptcy.

Greek President Carolos Papoulias has called a meeting of party chiefs for 0800 GMT with reports indicating that former European Central Bank vice-president Lucas Papademos would be given the reins of government.

Air France-KLM announced Wednesday it would not be able to meet its targets and expects to post a loss this year, with the turbulent market forcing it to plan further cost-cutting measures.

The difficult economic climate is being exacerbated by volatile currency movements and high fuel prices.

Global bank HSBC said Wednesday its third-quarter net profit soared on a large accounting gain but underlying earnings sank as the group warned of "significant headwinds" for the sector.

Profits after taxation rallied 66 percent to $5.22 billion (3.79 billion euros) in the three months to September, reflecting a revaluation of its debt, compared with net profit of $3.15 billion in the same period 2010.