MEXICO

Better management of oil industry-related companies BP, Halliburton and Transocean could have almost certainly prevented an underwater oil rig blowout last year that led to the largest ever U.S. oil spill, a presidential panel concluded in its final report.

Shares of Halliburton Co. (HAL) and Anadarko Petroleum Corp. (APC) are dropping this morning after a report by a presidential commission into the Gulf of Mexico oil spill from last year spread the blame to various parties, not only BP plc (NYSE: BP).

Former Shell Oil CEO John Hofmeister's prediction a fortnight ago that retail gasoline prices would hit $5 per gallon by 2015 has gone viral since then, drawing attention largely on the U.S. drilling policies but also spooking consumers and polarizing analysts in the process.

Mazda North American Operations (MNAO) today reported December 2010 sales of 21,479, up 17.7 percent versus December 2009 while year-to-date 2010 sales came in at 229,566, up 10.5 percent versus 2009. There were 27 selling days in December 2010 compared to 28 in December 2009, and 308 selling days in 2010 compared to 310 in 2009.

Shares of BP plc (NYSE: BP) have leapt today partially on a report in the UK newspaper Daily Mail that Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A) may be interested in merging the two global oil giants.

The number of people looking for health information online is set to soar as workers return from holiday breaks, but few will check where the information comes from, according to an international survey on Tuesday.

Top energy research and analysis firm Platts has said the U.S. regulatory framework overseeing energy sector investments could undergo fast-paced changes in 2011.

The U.S. real estate market is improving, at least for foreign investment dollars, according to the Association for Foreign Investment in Real Estate, or AFIRE.

South Africa is about to join the Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) grouping and will attend the first summit of the leading emerging economies in April this year, but doubts remain over the suitability of the African nation to be in the exclusive club of the fast-growing economies.

South Korea, among other countries, would be a better candidate than South Africa to join the BRIC group of prominent emerging market nations, said Jim O’Neill, chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, and the man who first coined the “BRIC” term.

Val Kilmer has to cough up another $500,000 in unpaid taxes to IRS

The Department of Health and Human Services is handing out end of the year bonuses. Unlike the big cash awards that investment firms give their best performers at year’s end, these bonuses are meant to help the poor and disadvantaged.

Amid large-scale South Korean military drills near the border with North Korea, a top official from the North warned against intrusion into its territory, threatening war and citing possible use of nuclear weapons, while an unofficial U.S. ambassador said the situation was like a tinderbox.

National Association of Software and Service Companies (Nasscom) expects India’s IT-BPO industry to reach $70 billion mark by the end of the current fiscal following rise in demand for software technology products.

By getting rid of cash, nations around the world might be able to significantly reduce organized crime and political terrorism since those activities are heavily reliant on easy accessibility to dollars, euros, pounds sterling, yen and other paper currencies.

The U.S. Latino population, which several decades ago was mostly concentrated in the Southwestern part of the country, is expected to show continued growth and geographic expansion in the 2010 Census report.

Is North Korea finally, though momentarily perhaps, willing to throw away the mantle of a cranky child angrily throwing toys from the pram?

The world's major central banks said on Tuesday they would extend emergency supplies of U.S. dollar funding to money markets, in a sign that authorities remain concerned about financial instability as governments grapple with debt problems.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed a civil lawsuit against energy giant BP Exploration and Production Inc. and eight other companies, accusing them of violating the Clean Water Act and has asked the court to hold them liable without limitation under the Oil Pollution Act for all removal costs and damages caused by the oil spill, including damages to natural resources.

The explosion on BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling platform in Macondo early this year was no less than a cut on the oil industry's artery, out of which gushed millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico - a tragedy that devastated the Gulf Coast ecosystem, paralyzed an oil behemoth and thwarted the Big Oil's prospects by attracting a moratorium on deepwater drilling and a crippling regulatory environment.

While peripheral European countries are forced by the bond market to raise taxes and cut spending in 2010, they were some of the steepest tax cutter among OECD members from 2007 to 2009.