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Exxon's Oozing Texas Oil Pits Haunt Residents as Drilling Set to Expand Bo Vavrusa was heaping dirt into the path of a wildfire on a Texas ranch in October 2007 when his tractor rammed an Exxon Mobil Corp. natural-gas pipe hidden in a thicket. Flames engulfed the tractor, burning his face, arms and hands as he fled.

Toyota Investors Defy Consumer Reports in Starting to Regain $35 Billion Some Toyota Motor Corp. investors say the automaker’s stock is a bargain and poised for gains after recalls involving its top-selling models and criticism of its newest sport-utility vehicle.

Brazil's Banco Modal Plans to Create $1 Billion Private Equity Energy Fund Banco Modal SA, the Brazilian bank that helps finance mid-cap companies, will create a 1.8 billion reais ($1 billion) private equity fund to invest in energy assets.

Saint-Etienne Swaps Explode as Towns in Europe Reel From Financial Weapons The worst global financial crisis in 70 years arrived in Saint-Etienne this month, as embedded financial obligations began to blow up.

`Jerk' Insurance Soothes Reluctant Sellers Amid Signs of Property Recovery When private-equity investor Tony Avila negotiated a purchase of empty lots in Las Vegas in March, he persuaded the selling bank to accept 30 cents on the dollar by pledging to share profits from developing the land.

John Malone Makes a New Run at Old Europe With Purchases of Cable Assets John Malone is on the prowl again in Europe.

New Jersey Flips Build America Bonds as IRS Scrutinizes $90 Billion Market New Jersey’s pension fund, facing a $46 billion deficit, is bolstering its finances by buying Build America Bonds from the state’s debt underwriters, then selling them for a profit in as little as five days, state records show.

China's Control of Metals for U.S. Smart Bombs Prompts Calls for Hearings U.S. lawmakers called for a hearing after a government report exposed potential “vulnerabilities” for the American military because of its extensive use of Chinese metals in smart bombs, night-vision goggles and radar.

`Easy Money' Role Casts Doubt on U.S. Stock Rally: Chart of the Day The latest surge in U.S. stocks may have more to do with historically low interest rates than any rebound in the economy and corporate earnings, according to Peter Boockvar, an equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co.

FDIC Selling Busted Bank Loans on Terms That Make It `Hard to Lose Money' Starwood Capital Group LLC, Colony Capital LLC and TPG, whose leaders profited from the 1990s savings and loan crisis, are among firms buying assets from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. for as little as 22 cents cash on the dollar, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

`Renewed Appetite' for IPOs Set to Boost Listings in Solar and Wind Power The biggest revival in stock prices since the Great Depression is reigniting interest in initial public offerings by environmental companies, spurring businesses from China to California to issue new shares.

Fed Should Keep Emergency Lending Secret, Banks Vow to Tell Supreme Court The biggest U.S. commercial banks will take their fight against disclosure of Federal Reserve lending in 2008 to the Supreme Court if necessary, the top lawyer for an industry-owned group said.

New York University Challenged on Four Fronts in 40% Expansion of Campus Greenwich Village preservationists have a four-word response to New York University’s plan to expand its campus by 40 percent: Not in our backyard.

Credit-Card Swipes by U.S. Truckers Show Recovery Spreading From Factories The amount of diesel fuel bought using credit cards at U.S. truck stops increased in March to the highest level in more than a year, indicating the recovery is broadening beyond manufacturing.

Harvard Competes With UnitedHealth for $3 Billion in Obama Drug-Test Cash Harvard Medical School professor Jerry Avorn, a critic of drug industry marketing, hired five faculty members in the past nine months to study whether prescription medicines are as good as advertised.

Yale Man Makes Presidents Out of Provosts as Jack Welch Made CEOs From GE When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was searching for a new president in 2004, it skipped past college leaders with long resumes and instead turned to Susan Hockfield, a neurobiologist who had been Yale University’s provost -- its No. 2 position -- for less than two years.

Batista Cancels EBX Offering as Billionaire Changes Plans After OSX Plunge Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista canceled his planned initial public offering of holding company EBX Group Ltd. after raising $3.9 billion less than he first sought from the sale of shipbuilding unit OSX Brasil SA.

Citic Securities, Credit Agricole's CLSA Are Said to Discuss Asia Venture Citic Securities Co., China’s largest brokerage by market value, and Credit Agricole SA’s Asian broking affiliate are in talks to create a venture in the region, said four people with knowledge of the matter.

Ousting Abhisit May Not End Protests as Thais Target `Autocratic Rulers' For all the pressure on Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step aside, his removal might not be enough to end the deadliest political unrest in 18 years.

Don't Look Down When Strata Luxury Tower Opens With Best Views of London Strata, a luxury-apartment building in London’s Elephant and Castle district, will offer residents the best views of the city when it opens in July -- as long as they don’t look down.