BBC news 2010-11-10 加文本

2010-11-10 BBC

BBC News with David Legge

The American government commission looking into the causes of April's huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico says the three main companies involved all made serious mistakes in the run-up to the disaster. The commission's co-chairman William Reilly said the three firms - BP, Transocean and Halliburton - shared a culture of complacency rather than safety. It was the final day of hearings before the panel reports back in January. Paul Adams is in Washington.

William Reilly didn't mince his words; the three companies were, he said, in need of top-to-bottom reform. The accident in April had been caused by what he described as a "sweep of bad decisions", with the companies apparently rushing to complete the well. Meanwhile, the former BP chief executive Tony Hayward has told the BBC that his company was "uNPRepared" for the oil spill and had made up its response day by day. Mr Hayward, who stepped down as CEO in October, said he resented his treatment at the hands of a hostile US media and said he might have done a better public relations job if he'd studied acting, not geology.

The cholera epidemic in Haiti has been declared a matter of national security after it spread to the capital Port-au-Prince. The health ministry gave details of the first case in the city. Greg Morsbach reports.

A three-year-old boy from a poor shantytown is the first cholera patient in the capital. Apparently he'd not had any contact with people living in the countryside where the disease was first reported. That suggests that a new cluster of cases may now emerge in the capital. The authorities are taking no risks and are testing more than 100 people in Port-au-Prince who'd shown some symptoms of the disease. The health ministry fears that if cholera gets a foothold in the capital, the urban slums are likely to be hardest hit.

The European Commission has fined 11 airlines more than $1bn between them for fixing air cargo prices. The carriers include British Airways, Air France and Japan Airlines. Here is Mark Gregory.

The fines come after a four-year investigation that spanned both sides of the Atlantic. The airlines were accused of running a price-fixing cartel involving illegal collusion on air freight charges. Air France must pay the single largest penalty, with British Airways also fined more than $100m. The German carrier Lufthansa has not been fined as it provided the information that led to the investigation.

US defence officials say they have been unable so far to explain the sighting of an apparent missile vapour trail off the coast of California on Monday. A long condensation trail was filmed by a news helicopter arcing into the evening sky west of Los Angeles. The video shows the billowing trail apparently rising from the water. Pentagon spokesman said the cause was not clear.

World News from the BBC

A prison riot in northern Brazil has ended with 18 inmates killed after fellow prisoners took their warders hostage. A number of the men were decapitated by their own cellmates, their severed heads tossed out of the windows of the prison block. On Monday, a group of prisoners went on the rampage around the prison, killing rival gang members and capturing other guards at gunpoint.

President Barack Obama, who's currently in Indonesia, says progress is being made on ending the mistrust between Muslim countries and the United States. He said the relationship between the Islamic world and the West often dominated by fears of terrorism must expand beyond security issues.

"Security is important, but I want to make sure that we are interacting with a wide range of people on a wide range of issues. And I think by broadening the relationship, that strengthens it, it builds trust, creates more people-to-people contact. That will be good for our security, but it will also be good for the larger cause of understanding between the United States and the Muslim world."

Mr Obama also announced a wide-ranging partnership with Indonesia.

The latest round of talks aimed at breaking the deadlock in Iraqi politics has ended inconclusively. Negotiations are due to continue on Wednesday. Talks on forming a new government have been deadlocked since parliamentary elections in March.

Russia's parliament is to consider toughening punishments for attacks on journalists after two were badly beaten in recent days. MPs will debate a bill that would impose a sentence of up to 20 years for causing serious harm to journalists, the same as for state officials. The authorities in Moscow are allowing a rare public demonstration on Thursday in support of one of the journalists. But human rights groups say Russia is not doing enough to protect journalists. A newspaper editor crippled by an attack two years ago went to court on Tuesday accused of libel.

BBC News