Thompson & McCarty, P.C. CPA

Chemical giant BASF is poised to buy German specialty chemicals company Cognis for at least $3.71 billion, as deal making in Europe begins to show signs of recovering from one of its worst slumps.

As Congress moves toward the final version of a financial-regulation overhaul, the issue of whether certain companies will be subject to new rules on derivatives has exploded into one of the biggest battles.

A strike at a Toyota-affiliated parts supplier in China was resolved, helped in part by swift government intervention, after a three-day walkout that had forced the auto maker to suspend production.

A cockpit blaze aboard a United Airlines jet last month revived debate over the potential for windshield electrical fires. But the incident has focused attention on a related issue: Pilot complaints that emergency cockpit-oxygen systems aren't adequate to cope with such hazards.

Sundance Resources said a chartered aircraft hired by the company to visit an iron ore site in the Republic of Congo has gone missing with 11 people on board, including its chief executive, chairman and four other board members.

Telstra's shares outperformed the broader market on news it agreed to participate in the Australia's planned national broadband network.

BP said Sunday it captured about 21,040 barrels of oil and flared 43.4 million cubic feet of natural gas on Saturday from a mile-deep leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

A Toyota parts supplier reached an agreement with striking workers in a dispute that had idled one of the auto maker's plants in China.

Another labor dispute hit Honda in China's southern province of Guangdong, although workers at the affected plant already have agreed to resume work.

In recent years, BP used a well design that has been called "risky" by Congressional investigators in more than one out of three of its deepwater wells in the Gulf, significantly more often than most peers.

Deals by hedge fund Magnetar Capital are a focus of an SEC investigation into mortgage deals that led to Wall Street losses. The fund had input into certain collateralized debt obligations.

Independently owned NBC stations said they would support Comcast's proposed purchase of NBC Universal in exchange for certain guarantees.

Verizon Wireless might start paying a dividend in 2012, providing parents Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group with a rich source of cash.

Chrysler auto dealers are still contending with sluggish sales but are starting to see some signs of a recovery.

Anadarko, a minority partner of BP in the oil well that blew out in the Gulf, unleashed a broadside against the oil giant, accusing it of "gross negligence or willful misconduct."

The rally in natural-gas prices has sparked a string of losses for hedge funds that had been betting on a drop.

Former Italian Finance Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa has been named to head the group that oversees international accounting rulemakers.

A bankruptcy judge cleared Lehman Brothers to hire Sotheby's to auction off more than 400 pieces of art this fall.

Italian oil giant Eni and Russia's Gazprom agreed to let Electricite de France join their South Stream pipeline joint venture.

Mobile-phone data-services provider Motricity's stock closed out the week for U.S. IPOs on a negative note, declining 7.4% on Nasdaq.