A nglo-Australian miner BHP Billiton has approved $240-million (U.S.) in spending to kick off development of its Jansen potash project in Saskatchewan. The company says the cash layout will pay for the initial stages of construction at the mine about 140 kilometres east of Saskatoon.

Christmas and New Year are now well and truly over, and the extreme cold weather has past, in the meantime at least. The ground is no longer covered with snow and ice in most areas of the UK and when you waken in the morning you can hear the little birds chirping and happily singing outside your window, allowing thoughts of better weather, lighter nights and Spring time to enter your head. With the nicer weather in mind, it may well be time to consider preparing the interior and exterior of your home ready for the approach of Spring, and this is the ideal time to put these plans in motion to be in a position to enjoy your home and garden when the sun starts to shine

A credit reference agency, or often called a credit bureau, is a company that gathers data about credit from different sources pertaining to consumers and then supplies this information for various uses, including bill paying and borrowing habits, court judgments and credit history. A lending company performs a process called a credit reference to determine what kind of repayment abilities someone has before they are given any type of credit. This type of credit reference service can be provided once joining a credit reference agency.

Peter R. Fisher, who was co-head of BlackRock’s fixed-income business with Scott Amero, today was named sole head of a revamped fixed-income executive team following the company’s internal announcement that Mr. Amero will retire by the end of 2010.

H ydro-Qu�bec is more than pleased with the revised deal hammered out with New Brunswick for most of its power-generating stations but excluding its transmission and distribution assets, says president and chief executive officer Thierry Vandal. “This is a simpler transaction, less costly at $3.2-billion. We’re buying quality assets, getting access to an important market and obtaining access to the New England market,” he said in an interview

W ells Fargo WFC-N is seeing early signs of improvement in its lending portfolios as it reports an unexpected fourth-quarter profit. Wells Fargo & Co.