MEXICO

BP, Britain's No. 1 oil company is said to be negotiating a $14 billion settlement for the Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and fouled the Gulf of Mexico for months in 2010.

Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim's mining company Frisco said on Monday its fourth-quarter net profit had nearly quintupled from a year earlier.

Sweden said on Monday it had not added to its gold reserves in January, even though data from the International Monetary Fund on Monday showed a sharp rise in Stockholm's bullion holdings.

The trial on the compensation for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 has been delayed until March 5 with negotiations continuing on what should be the amount that BP should be paying.

British oil giant BP Plc and plaintiffs suing over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill are discussing a $14 billion settlement that is nearing completion, Bloomberg said, citing three people familiar with the talks.

The start of the liability trial for the BP 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 workers and fouled the Gulf of Mexico for months, has been delayed for a week allowing more time for embattled BP and fellow defendants to broker a settlement with U.S. prosecutors.

With gasoline prices already approaching a distinctly unseasonal $4 a gallon in a presidential-election year, the United States is considering tapping its Strategic Petroleum Reserve as one way to control the prices of crude oil and its derivatives. Herewith is a look at past SPR loans and sales.

The German government will decide whether to boost the European bailout fund in March and its parliament is very likely to support any decision for more resources, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Saturday at a meeting of finance officials from the Group of 20 economic powers.

Bank of Japan Gov. Masaaki Shirakawa said on Saturday policy makers are closely watching the impact of looser monetary policy on crude-oil prices. Along with the European Central Bank and the U.S. Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan is taking unconventional steps to boost the economy.

The world's major emerging economies on Saturday rejected the tradition that an American automatically is selected to head the World Bank and they will look at putting forward their own candidate for the open job.

A rally on Wall Street will be put to the test next week, with the S&P 500 index at its highest closing level since before the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. in 2008 and the European Central Bank about to flood the financial markets with a new wave of cheap money.

Leaders in the euro zone may not be able to meet international demands to bolster their own funds for bailing out the bloc's debtors when they meet next week because Germany is showing no sign of dropping its opposition to the plan, officials in the euro zone said.

Following are comments from policy-makers at the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Mexico City.

BP's 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that killed 11 and fouled the Gulf of Mexico for months is finally headed for court. On Monday, a federal judge in New Orleans is scheduled to gavel the case to order.

ASUS has made an over the air update for Ice Cream Sandwich ready for the Eee Pad Transformer Feb. 24, but 3G-enabled models will have to wait. The update is for the Wi-Fi models, and Transformer owners in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the UK all should have access to the new Google Android system. Asus now has two tablets running the new system, and the Motorola Xoom is still the only other tablet out there running the 4.0 update. As to why Asus is the lucky company to be getting the updates so ...

Greece formally launched a bond swap offer to private holders of its bonds on Friday, setting in motion the largest-ever sovereign debt restructuring in the hope of getting its messy finances back on track.

Finance ministers and central bank chiefs from the Group of 20 countries will meet this weekend in Mexico City to tackle the euro zone's debt crisis and the prospect of replenishing the International Monetary Fund.

Next week will be packed with important data releases. The key policy event will be Chairman Bernanke's semi-annual policy testimony before Congress.

A new vaccine aimed at heroin users may help addicts kick the habit

While Mexico grapples with relentless drug-related violence, a group of Mexican scientists is working on a vaccine that could reduce addiction to one of the world's most notorious narcotics: heroin.

Some climate scientists believe that a massive drought struck the regions of Classic Mayan Civilization and persisted for 200 years from AD 800 to 1000, around the same period when the civilization collapsed.