Voters brave enough to cast ballots for governors amid gruesome drug violence in the run-up to Sunday's Mexico election helped the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) to win nine states handily.

Something of a rock star among business school teachers Srikumar Rao offers a class that gives his students broader perspectives on their lives.

Acting president Bronislaw Komorowski edged out Jaroslaw Kaczynski, opposition leader and twin brother of the late President Lech Kaczynski, with just over 52 percent of the vote in Sunday's Poland election.

AP - BP's costs for the disastrous Gulf of Mexico oil spill climbed nearly half a billion dollars in the past week, raising the oil giant's tab to just over $3 billion for work on cleaning and capping the gusher and payouts to individuals, businesses and governments.

AP - Israel dropped its long-standing restrictions on allowing consumer goods into the Gaza Strip on Monday but retained limits on desperately needed construction materials, redefining the rules of its heavily criticized Gaza embargo on the eve of the Israeli prime minister's trip to the White House.

AP - Bronislaw Komorowski's election as president offered Poland's pro-business ruling party an opportunity but also a challenge Monday as it prepared to govern without the obstacle of a hostile head of state.