Rio De Janeiro /Bloomberg A compensation package for the Samarco tailings dam spill in Brazil is scheduled to be signed on Monday as authorities and the mine owners hammer out final details, said a person with direct knowledge of the talks. The agreement would end weeks of negotiations and be a key step in the joint venture — owned by ...

MEXICO CITY / Bloomberg A 90-minute interruption in Mexican stock trading during the peak of earnings season drew fire from traders. “It’s very hard when things like this happen,” said Rogelio Ramos, an equity sales trader at Interacciones Casa de Bolsa SA in Mexico City. “From the time you come in, people, companies, foreign clients, everyone is asking us: ‘Hey, ...

Rio De Janeiro / Bloomberg Transmissora Alianca de Energia Eletrica SA (Taesa) , a state-owned operator of power lines in Brazil, is considering the acquisition of Abengoa SA’s transmission assets in the country as the Spanish company teeters on the edge of insolvency. “We are interested in the assets,” Chief Executive Officer Jose Aloice Rogone Filho said in an interview. ...

Caracas / Bloomberg Venezuela is planning to move fast with a new mining joint venture announced this week with Spokane, Washington-based Gold Reserve Inc. and will start extracting the precious metal within six months, according to central bank President Nelson Merentes. The government will have a 55 percent to 60 percent stake in the new venture, while Gold Reserve and ...

AFP Bendable mobile phones, quick-charge batteries and unbreakable touch screens — technology firms are racing to harness the potential of graphene, a wonder material which scientists say could transform consumer electronics. A fine sheet of pure carbon, graphene is as thin as an atom, making it the skinniest material known. At the same time though, it is 100 times stronger ...

DPA An enterprising music-lover is producing what look like simple wooden boxes, but are in fact cajons, a fast-rising musical instrument which all the hippest bands now want to play. “The first time I saw a cuboid like this was at a concert. I was thrilled,” Markus Meyer recalls. The German, who had been fascinated by musical instruments since childhood, ...

Beirut / AP Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with key players in the Syria conflict, including President Bashar Assad, ahead of a US-Russia-engineered cease-fire, as the opposition voiced concerns that the truce due to begin later this week will only benefit the Syrian government. Government troops backed by Russian warplanes waged fierce battles to regain control of a strategic road ...

Beirut / AFP The Syrian army retook a strategic town from the IS group on Thursday, paving the way for the reopening of its sole supply route to main northern city Aleppo. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops still needed to clear the extremists from hills overlooking the key highway before it could be fully secured. The road ...

Irbil / AP The IS group relies on commercially available components for most of its bombs, with some parts coming from as far away as the United States and Japan, according to a report released Wednesday by a London-based arms research group. Conflict Armament Research says most components — such as chemicals and detonators — come from companies in Turkey ...

Geneva / AFP All sides in Libya’s chaotic conflict are likely guilty of war crimes, including torturing, raping and executing prisoners, the UN said on Thursday, urging the world to do more to bring the perpetrators to justice. “A multitude of actors, both state and non-state, are accused of very serious violations and abuses that may, in many cases, amount ...