BBC news 2011-01-12 加文本

BBC news 2011-01-12

BBC News, this is Mike Cooper.

A United States presidential commission investigating last year's catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has recommended a series of wide-ranging reforms. In its final report, the commission calls for the creation of an independent safety agency, tougher government regulation, and more money and training for federal agencies. From Washington, here's Paul Adams.

The report urges adoption of a safety case approach similar to that used in Europe's North Sea since the British Piper Alpha disaster in 1988. This requires that companies conduct a thorough evaluation of all risks associated with drilling a particular well before work begins. In a strongly-worded statement, one of the commission's co-chairs, William Reilly, said last year's accident was the almost inevitable result of years of industry and government complacency and carelessness.

The head of the American negotiating team on Sudan has hinted at the possibility of the normalisation of relations between Sudan and the US. US ambassador Princeton Lyman told the BBC Arabic Service that to achieve this, the Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir would need to recognise the eventual outcome of the referendum on possible independence for the south which is currently taking place.

"If the referendum is effective and the results are recognised by the government of Sudan, the president would indicate his intention to start the process for removing Sudan from the list of state sponsors of terrorism. And then it takes several months to complete that process and consultations with Congress."

Following another day of violence in Tunisia, the communications minister has told a news conference that the number of dead has reached 21 since the weekend. But local residents say the number is much higher.

Thousands more Australians have been forced to leave their homes around the Queensland capital Brisbane as the state's worst floodwaters for 50 years continue to rise. Further upstream, the town of Toowoomba was hit on Tuesday night by what was described as a terrifying "inland tsunami" raging through the streets. Ten people were killed, and almost 80 are said to be missing.

Egypt has recalled its ambassador to the Vatican. The move comes a day after Pope Benedict's strongly-worded appeal to the governments of predominantly Muslim countries to do more to protect their Christian minorities. Here's David Willey.

Egypt has accused the Pope of meddling in its internal affairs. The Egyptians insist that they are capable of protecting all their citizens and blame foreign elements for the New Year's Day suicide bomb that killed more than 20 worshippers and policemen at a Coptic church in Alexandria, and left dozens more injured. There was no immediate comment from the Holy See, but off the record, the Pope's advisers admit that they were expecting this type of reaction from the Muslim world.

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Doctors treating the American congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords say she's breathing on her own. However, they say she remains critically ill. Ms Giffords was shot in the head in Tucson, Arizona on Saturday in an attack in which six people were killed, including a nine-year-old girl. President Obama is expected to travel to Tucson on Wednesday for a memorial service.

German investigators looking into the contamination of animal feed with dioxin say it's now been found in pork. The chemical had already been detected in eggs and poultry. Several hundred pigs at a farm in northern Germany were slaughtered after levels of dioxin were found to be 50% above permitted levels. From Berlin, here's Tristana Moore.

The farm used contaminated animal feed that has been traced back to a company in northern Germany which distributes oil for use in animal feed production. Government officials say polluted fats may have been used in making up to 150,000 tonnes of animal feed, which ended up in hundreds of farms all over Germany. While government experts insist the dioxin levels are not dangerous, consumer groups accuse the authorities of playing down the risk to human health and are calling for tougher regulations to be imposed on the animal feed industry.

The online social networking site MySpace is to cut nearly half its global workforce. Around 500 jobs will go in the company, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. MySpace has been eclipsed in popularity by Facebook, but its founder Mark Zuckerberg is also facing problems. A court in San Francisco is hearing a fresh claim by two brothers, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, who say they invented Facebook.

European astronomers have given a jubilant account of what they say are stunning discoveries made by the Planck space telescope. In its quest to search for more clues to the origin of the Universe, it's identified 15,000 new objects, among them clusters of galaxies that are some of the largest structures ever seen in the cosmos.

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