Helsinki - Nokia, the world's largest maker of mobile phones, said Thursday it had secured a 500 million-euro (629 million- dollar) loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

The five-year loan was to be used to co-finance software research and development (R&D) projects, mainly for Nokia's Symbian-based smartphones, Nokia said.

Symbian is an open-source operating system used for mobile devices, and is supported by among others Nokia.

Brussels- The world's 20 greatest powers (G20) must revive the moribund Doha round of talks on an international trade agreement to stave off the threat of protectionism sparked by the economic crisis, the head of the EU's executive said on Thursday.

"We are seeing outside Europe big pushes for protectionism. .. It will destroy jobs and the possibility for growth in the global economy," Jose Manuel Barroso told journalists in Brussels.

ComScore, a global leader in measuring the digital world, has released a report on the top social networking sites in Europe, with a particular focus on France, based on data from the comScore World Metrix audience measurement service.

According to study, around 22 million French Internet users visited at least one social networking site during December 2008, reaching 64% of the whole French Internet viewers.

Berlin  - European leaders meet in Berlin Sunday to draw up plans to combat the world economic crisis and revamp the global financial structure amid signs the recession is getting worse.

Hosted by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Sunday's meeting has been called to set out Europe's position on financial market reform and measures to tackle the recession ahead of the April summit of Group of 20 (G20) of the world's major economic powers in London.

Geneva - The United Nation's refugee agency (UNHCR) offered Tuesday to support the European Commission in its proposition for establishing a European Asylum Support Office.

The executive wing of the EU will publish a proposal for such an office on Wednesday, in an attempt to help develop a more standardized refugee policy among member states.

Asylum seekers from countries like Iraq, Somalia and Afghanistan are treated very differently by EU members, Ron Redmond, a UNHCR spokesman, said.

Switzerland - Elevator and escalator manufacturer Schindler announced Tuesday that it had a record year in 2008, making a net profit of 634 million Swiss francs (541 million dollars), more than double the previous year's figure.

The earnings - up from 278 million francs net profit in 2007 - cam on turnover of 14 billion francs, Schindler said.

The company said its main elevators and escalators business increased operating profit by 11.6 per cent to 895 million francs. The value of new orders rose by 2.6 per cent to 9.25 billion francs.