THE WOODLANDS, Texas (AP) -- Huntsman Corp. said Tuesday two investment banks will pay it a $1.7 billion settlement over its accusation they schemed to scuttle a $6.5 billion buyout of the chemicals maker last year.

The agreement with Switzerland's Credit Suisse and Germany's Deutsche Bank ends a trial in Texas state court on fraud charges. Huntsman, based in Salt Lake City but operated from suburban Houston, was seeking up to $4.6 billion in compensatory damages.

The settlement will give Huntsman a cash infusion and access to financing at a time when chemical producers are struggling with weak sales linked to the recession.

The banks will pay Huntsman $620 million in cash and provide $500 million in senior-debt financing, $600 million in unsecured note financing and $12 million in legal costs.

Huntsman claimed the banks worked behind the scenes to renegotiate a funding agreement with Hexion Specialty Chemicals' owner, the private equity firm Apollo Management.

Hexion had agreed to buy Huntsman in July 2007 for $6.5 billion, with Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank providing the financing. Hexion began backpedaling last summer and Apollo pushed in court to have the agreement canceled, citing Huntsman's deteriorating finances.

A Delaware judge ordered Apollo to try to close the deal anyway, but Credit Suisse and Deutsche bank said they wouldn't fund it. The two chemical companies parted ways and Huntsman received a $1 billion

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- The weakened dollar boosted oil prices once again Tuesday, ending a two-day slump.

Benchmark crude for August delivery rose $1.74 to settle at $69.24 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

There has been some optimism about an economic rebound, which would tend to lift energy markets, but the value of the U.S. currency is playing an even bigger role in prices for everything from oil to gasoline on Nymex.

Crude is priced in the U.S. currency and a lot of money has flooded into the market with big investors using oil as a hedge against inflation. The dollar fell 2.37 cents against the euro Tuesday.

Energy experts believe the falling dollar has resulted in artificially high prices for the past couple of months. Retail gas prices rose every day for nearly two months until Monday, though they remain well below last summer's prices.

Just how much the dollar is influencing energy prices may become clear Wednesday, as the Federal Reserve meets to talk about U.S. interest rates.

Few expect that rates will be raised right now, but everyone will be parsing the language of the Fed statement to determine if a rate hike is even possible in the near term.

Another sign of how much demand there is for crude and gasoline arrives Wednesday when the

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The world's 65-and-older population will triple by mid-century to 1 in 6 people, leaving the U.S. and other nations struggling to support the elderly.

The number of senior citizens has already jumped 23 percent since 2000 to 516 million, according to U.S. census estimates released on Tuesday. That is more than double the growth rate for the general population.

The world's population has been graying for many years due to declining births and medical advances that have extended life spans. As the fastest-growing age group, seniors now comprise just under 8 percent of the world's 6.8 billion people. But demographers warn the biggest shift is yet to come. They cite a coming wave of retirements from baby boomers and China's Red Guard generation that will shrink pensions and add to rising health care costs.

Germany, Italy, Japan and Monaco have the most senior citizens, with 20 percent or more of their people 65 and older.

In the U.S., residents who are 65 and older currently make up 13 percent of the population, but that will double to 88.5 million by mid-century. In two years, the oldest of the baby boomers will start turning 65. The baby boomer bulge will continue padding the senior population year after year, growing to 1 in 5 U.S. residents by 2030.

"The 2020s for most of the developed world will be an era of fiscal crisis, with a real long-term stagnation in economic growth and ugly political battles over old-age benefits cuts," said Richard Jackson, director of

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama on Tuesday squared off with the insurance lobby over industry charges that a government health plan he backs would dismantle the employer coverage Americans have relied on for a half century and overtake the system.

The harsh exchange came after months of polite White House photo-ops at which the administration and insurers emphasized their search for common ground. It happened just when Congress seems to be floundering in its attempt to move sweeping legislation embodying Obama's top domestic priority, although leading lawmakers say they remain confident.

"If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best quality health care ... then why is it that the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business?" Obama said in response to a question at a White House news conference.

"That's not logical," he scoffed, responding to an industry warning that government competition would undermine the employer coverage.

At issue is whether to set up a government-sponsored health insurance plan that would compete with private companies. Individuals and small businesses would get to pick either the public plan or a private one through a new kind of insurance purchasing pool called an exchange. Eventually, the exchanges could be opened to large companies as well.

"The public plan, I think, is an important tool to discipline insurance companies," Obama said.