A fire raging for almost a week at Libya's biggest oil port of Es Sider has destroyed up to 1.8 million barrels of crude and damaged seven storage tanks, causing total damage of $213 million, a top oil official said on Tuesday.

Martin Kapp gestures towards the sleek red Italian sports car standing in his barn in the heart of Germany, secure in the knowledge there is not another exactly like it in the world.

When Xi Jinping wanted to deliver a political message to Hong Kong as protesters demanding free elections were threatening to take to the streets, he summoned the tycoons who dominate the city’s economy.

Chinese stocks were celebrating their best year in five on Wednesday while markets elsewhere in Asia were ending 2014 on a cautionary note as worries about Greece's future in the euro zone served as an excuse to take profits on crowded trades.

Inovalon Holdings Inc, an analytics and data-based technology service provider to the healthcare sector, filed with U.S. regulators on Tuesday to raise up to $500 million in an initial public offering of Class A common stock.

President Nicolas Maduro vowed on Tuesday to reform Venezuela's Byzantine currency controls in early 2015 as part of a six-month plan to shake Venezuela out of recession, but foes accused him of incompetence and inaction.

The dollar was on track to end 2014 with a gain of 12 percent against a basket of major currencies, and anticipated U.S. interest rake hikes may strengthen its appeal in the new year.

Asian markets were set for a cautious close to 2014 on Wednesday as worries about Greece's future in the euro zone served as an excuse to take profits on popular trades.

Crunch time for Argentina fixing its debt default will almost certainly not be January, as many investors had hoped, but a year later once the country's next president takes office and tries to get the ailing economy moving again.

Excelerate Energy's Texan liquefied natural gas terminal plan has become the first victim of an oil price slump threatening the economics of U.S. LNG export projects.

Hyundai Motor Co said on Tuesday it would build two factories in China, its first new manufacturing plants since 2012 as the South Korean automaker bets on growth in the world's biggest car market even as the economy slows.

Taxi firms including Uber, the online cab-hailing company banned in New Delhi, will have to install panic buttons if they are to operate in India's capital under new rules framed after allegations that a driver for the U.S. firm raped a passenger.

The Russian rouble staged an uncertain recovery on Tuesday as traders saw modest foreign-currency sales on the final day of trading before the New Year holidays.

Japan's ruling coalition has approved a tax reform plan that will cut corporate taxes from April and pledges further reductions in coming years in a bid by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to boost profitability and bolster economic growth.

Foreign automakers in China may struggle to dictate sales goals in the future after dealers complained to the government that inflexible targets set during a market boom obliged them to buy too much stock and bear the brunt of a drop in demand.

U.S. stock index futures were slightly lower on Tuesday, suggesting the market's recent trend of slight moves and low volume would continue in the next-to-last trading day of the year.

Russian authorities are facing some unpalatable options as they try to keep the economy afloat - unless they can persuade President Vladimir Putin to curb massive military spending.

The main U.S. export authority is telling some oil companies that they should consider exporting a lightly processed form of crude oil called condensate without formal permission, according to people familiar with the discussions.

AdvisorHUB, a year-old gossip and news website for the brokerage industry, has become such a part of brokers' daily reading routine that some call it the "New York Post of financial news."

Brent oil extended losses into a fourth session on Tuesday, with prices hovering close to a more than five-year low above $57 per barrel, as persistent worries about a global supply glut offset concerns about output disruptions in Libyan.

Burger chain Shake Shack Inc, which grew out of a hot dog stand in New York's Madison Square Park, has filed for an initial public offering at a time when stock offerings by casual restaurants have proven to be a big hit with investors.

Private equity firm Apollo Global Management LLC (APO.N) is considering making a bid for Portuguese lender Novo Banco SA, the bank carved out of Banco Espirito Santo SA (BES) (BES.LS), Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Yuri Milner, the billionaire Russian who holds the largest outside stake in Chinese handset maker Xiaomi, said he expects to invest more evenly between the United States and China in 2015.

Google Inc's Gmail was blocked in China after months of disruptions to the world's biggest email service, with an anti-censorship advocate suggesting the Great Firewall was to blame.

Countries around Asia on Tuesday stepped up the search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people that is presumed to have crashed in shallow waters off the Indonesian coast, with Washington also sending a warship to help find the missing jet.

Petrobras, Brazil's state-run oil company, could be declared in technical default on some of its foreign debt as early as Tuesday if bondholders pursue efforts to force it to speed up its assessment of losses in a giant corruption scandal.

United Parcel Service Inc (UPS.N) and FedEx Corp (FDX.N) are rolling out new pricing systems to curb online retailers' large package sizes, but industry experts warn many small firms are unprepared and could pay up to 50 percent more for shipping.

FCA US, the former Chrysler Group, said on Monday it is recalling almost 67,000 older-model pickup trucks equipped with manual transmissions globally for possible clutch problems that have been linked to one death.

U.S. stocks were little changed in thin trading on Monday as the S&P 500 notched its latest record high, but gains were curbed when an early rally in energy prices lost momentum.

Crude oil prices on tumbled on Monday, with global grades settling down more than $1 a barrel after an early rally fizzled and prices fell to their lowest levels since May 2009.