Court rejects BP appeal over oil spill

A US federal court has rejected BP's efforts to halt payments relating to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Fifth Circuit Court also said an earlier injunction stopping payments to claimants should be lifted. BP had argued that some firms filed fictitious spill claims. However, "the settlement agreement does not require a claimant to submit evidence that the claim arose as a result of the oil spill," wrote the court in its verdict. BP has said it disagrees with the ruling. In 2012, BP agreed to make payments to those who suffered economic losses as a result of the disaster aboard the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig. The explosion killed 11 workers and spilled an estimated four million barrels of oil into the gulf, making it the worst offshore oil spill in US history, according to BBC.