Oil giant BP has reached settlements over the Deepwater Horizon rig disaster, resolving years of complicated litigation.

Wall Street surged on a burst of optimism today, propelling the Dow Jones industrials up more than 400 points on more signs of a reviving credit market and comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

US Vice President Dick Cheney’s former company may have overcharged the US Army by as much as €55.7m for petrol in Iraq, Pentagon auditors have found.