Failed Franco-Belgian banking group Dexia reported a 1.2-billion-euro loss in the first half of 2012 linked mainly to interest payments on state bailouts from France, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The bank said in a statement that results were also hit by a 184 million euro ($224 million) charge on its stake in Kommunalkredit Austria.

Toyota said Friday that its quarterly net profit skyrocketed to $3.71 billion and it upped sales targets, as the Japanese auto giant recovered from last year's quake-tsunami disaster.

The company said it earned 290.3 billion yen in the fiscal first quarter to June, up from just 1.16 billion yen a year ago -- the first full quarter after Japan was devastated by the March 11 natural disasters that dented production and demand.

U.S. business software giant Oracle said Thursday it agreed to accept a $306 million settlement from German rival SAP to shortcut the appeals process in a suit over massive copyright infringement.

The agreement is a stipulation between the two firms to end the case in the lower courts and allow an appeal to proceed.

Nearly a third of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Syria have closed since an anti-government uprising erupted in March last year, a business leader said in comments published on Thursday.

"Today, unemployment is rising, and 30 percent of small and medium-sized businesses have closed their doors," Damascus Chamber of Commerce member Sonia Khanji told the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor's maintained its top AAA credit rating for Germany Thursday, due to what it called the strong fundamentals and outlook for Europe's top economy.

"The unsolicited ratings on Germany reflect our view of its modern, highly diversified and competitive economy, its strong external creditor position, and its record of prudent fiscal policies and expenditure discipline," it said.

Australia has signed a nuclear supply treaty with the United Arab Emirates in a deal Foreign Minister Bob Carr said would see the Gulf state become Canberra's first Middle Eastern uranium customer.

Carr and UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyam inked the deal in Abu Dhabi on Thursday, with the Australian minister describing it as a "step forward" for the Emirates' domestic nuclear power plans.

Japan's Sharp said Thursday it will cut 5,000 jobs by March as it reported a quarterly loss and said it would remain in the red for the rest of the year amid losses at its struggling TV business.

The major consumer electronics maker said its net loss for the April-June quarter was 138.4 billion yen ($1.76 billion), compared with a loss of 49.3 billion in the same period a year ago.

Markets were hoping for strong action from the European Central Bank to quell the Eurozone crisis on Thursday when it holds what one analyst called its "most exciting meeting for a long time".

Last week, ECB chief Mario Draghi sent markets soaring with an unusually strong pledge to do "whatever it takes" to save the crisis-wracked euro, adding: "And believe me, it will be enough."

House prices in recession-affected Britain slid in July on an annual basis by the biggest amount in nearly three years, a survey by major home-loans provider Nationwide showed on Wednesday.

The average value of a home in Britain stood at £164,389 ($257,743, 209,051 euros) in July -- down 2.6 percent compared with the same month in 2011, the lender said in a statement.

German luxury carmaker BMW said Wednesday its net profits had dropped sharply in the second quarter of the year despite strong sales growth in Asia, especially in China.

Net profits came to 1.28 billion euros ($1.58 billion) in the second three months of the year, BMW said, a decline of 28.1 percent on the same period in 2011.