Bailed out insurance giant AIG announced Friday a profit of $455 million in the third quarter, a massive turnaround from a $24.4 billion loss in the same period last year.The earnings from group, the largest recipient of US government aid during the financial crisis, exceeded expectations.Excluding special items, the profit was $2.85 per share, compared with a forecasted $1.98.

G20 finance ministers met Friday to shore up the recovery from the global financial crisis and discuss funding for a still uncertain agreement on climate change.The ministers from the world's 20 most powerful and fastest emerging economies held the third in a series of meetings this year which led to a $1 trillion fiscal stimulus package to tackle the recession.

The US unemployment rate has surpassed 10 percent for the first time since 1983, and is likely to go higher.Nearly 16 million people can't find jobs even though the worst recession since the Great Depression has apparently ended. The Labor Department said Friday that the economy shed a net total of 190,000 jobs in October, less than the downwardly revised figure of 219,000 lost in September.

British Airways Plc. fell to a worse-than-expected first-half loss and forecast annual revenues 1 billion pounds lower than last year, but said traffic volumes and yields had stabilized.The airline, whose alliance with American Airlines and Spain's Iberia is being scrutinized by European and US competition watchdogs, on Friday reported a pretax loss of $482.4 million for the six months to end September.

China denounced as protectionist new US anti-dumping duties on steel pipes and launched its own investigation into imports of US-made automobiles on Friday, a week before a visit by President Barack Obama.It also called for Washington's swift recognition that China is a market economy, which would make it harder for the United States to declare that Chinese products are dumped.

Despite signs of an economic revival gathering pace around the globe, the millions of people laid off during the worst recession in 70 years are unlikely to see relief any time soon as joblessness is still climbing in many of the world's largest economies.Unemployment data typically lags other indicators of economic health as companies hold off adding staff in the early stages of a rebound.