Japan's unemployment rate hit a record high of 5.6 percent in December, indicating the recession in the world's second-largest economy is continuing.

Japan's economy, which is struggling with its fourth recession in a decade, sustained its largest drop in industrial production in a quarter century last year, as the recession in the United States cut demand for Japanese electronics exports.

Meanwhile, the big international telecommunications company Global Crossing has filed for bankruptcy, unable to support its massive debt amid the declining world economy. The Bermuda-based company is expected to sell a majority stake to help reduce its $12 billion debt.

The slowing world economy continues to result in less demand for energy, sending oil prices lower. Oil fell almost two percent Tuesday to just over $19 a barrel, amid milder-than-normal weather in the United States, the world's biggest energy consumer.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Bloomberg.

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