BP ignored warnings and cut corners, says Congress
Oil giant’s decisions ‘increased danger of catastrophic well failure’
By David Usborne in New York Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Leaders in the US Congress claimed last night that BP officials cut corners to save money that increased the dangers of disaster in the days and hours before the devastating oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.BP was accused of ignoring warnings from employees and contractors and of choosing faster and cheaper options for drilling operations. Five days before the blast, one BP engineer wrote in an email about the “nightmare well” that had “everyone all over the place”.
Anthony Burgess: More than ultraviolence
A new archive reveals how the novelist Anthony Burgess’s polymathic vision went way beyond mere dystopian allegory, says Sophie Morris
Tuesday, 15 June 2010We’ve reserved three graves for you, Mr Burgess,” went an anonymous letter delivered to the Midland Hotel, where Anthony Burgess was staying on a rare visit home to Manchester. “One for your body, one for your books and one for your ego.”
Burgess, according to his biographer Andrew Biswell, was delighted by this witty piece of hate mail. “He thought it was characteristic of how Mancunians responded to what he had to say. Maybe that’s changing now.”
USA
Concern on Capitol Hill about Afghanistan war grows
By Karen DeYoung and Greg Jaffe
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
A series of political and military setbacks in Afghanistan has fed anxiety over the war effort in the past few weeks, shaking supporters of President Obama’s counterinsurgency strategy and confirming the pessimism of those who had doubts about it from the start.The concerns, fed largely by unease over military operations in southern Afghanistan that are progressing slower than anticipated, spurred lawmakers to schedule last-minute hearings this week to assess progress on the battlefield and within the Afghan government.
Stakes rise for Obama amid oil spill crisis
The president returns to the troubled Gulf Coast, beckoning tourists to the region as he plans to address the nation and meet with BP officials this week.
By Peter Nicholas, Richard Simon and Richard Fausset, Los Angeles Times
June 14, 2010 | 7:27 p.m.
Kicking off a week of high-stakes maneuvering around an oil slick threatening to bog down his first term, President Obama returned to the troubled Gulf Coast on Monday, warning of hard times to come – but also taking time to tout the region’s continued viability for tourists.“There’s still a lot of opportunity for visitors to come down here; a lot of beaches that are not yet affected or will not be affected,” Obama told reporters after a meeting with Republican Govs. Haley Barbour of Mississippi and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana in Gulfport, Miss.
Europe
Markets braced as Greek credit rating cut to junk again
Many investors say they expect the country to default on its debt payments; meanwhile, internal protest over budget cuts grows
Elena Moya
The Guardian, Tuesday 15 June 2010
European markets are set for another week of turmoil after Moody’s cut Greece’s credit rating by four notches to junk level. The move follows that of rival agency Standard & Poor’s, which also downgraded Greece’s sovereign debt to “junk” last month.The cut, from A3 to Ba1, comes despite the EU’s €750bn rescue package, available to any member state that might fail to raise funds in the financial markets, and despite Greece’s draconian efforts to cut its budget deficit.
Sarah Carlson, Moody’s sovereign lead analyst for Greece, said: “The macroeconomic and implementation risks associated with the programme are substantial and more consistent with a Ba1 rating.”
EU rule-breakers ‘should lose their voting rights’
By John Lichfield in Paris Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Governments which breach European Union budgetary guidelines should have their EU voting rights “suspended” to prevent any resurgence of the debt and euro crisis, France and Germany said last night.In a show of unity after reports of sharp Franco-German divisions on the future governance of the euro, Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy said that they would put forward common proposals – including amendments to the EU treaties if needed – to punish member states who ignored debt and deficit rules.
Middle East
Turkish aid flotilla was bringing wheelchairs, toys – and hope
From The Times
June 15, 2010
James Hider: Commentary
For the people of Gaza the most precious commodity on board the Turkish flotilla stormed by Israel last month was not electric wheelchairs or children’s toys or medicine: it was hope.On the surface, Gaza appears relatively unscathed by more than three years of air strikes, invasions and blockade. There are bullet holes on many buildings, some minarets are still hollowed-out shells and former ministries stand in ruins but the shops are still open.
For the 1.5 million people living in the Gaza Strip however, isolation has left them as depressed as their shattered economy. Fathers are unable to provide for their children or protect them from bombs; children are traumatised by memories of war and the ever-present threat of a new one and young people are despondent at the lack of any prospects for employment.
Iraq’s new parliament meets for first time, and promptly suspends
By Jane Arraf, Christian Science Monitor | Christian Science Monitor
Baghdad – Iraq’s parliament was sworn in Monday in an abbreviated session that some politicians said marked the beginning of greater political problems.Almost all the 325 members gathered along with foreign diplomats at Saddam Hussein’s former convention center to pledge to protect Iraq’s sovereignty and independence.
“The will of the people has been implemented,” acting speaker Fouad Massoum said in opening the second parliamentary term since Hussein was toppled. The chambers were a sea of tribal robes, business suits, headscarves, and glittering Kurdish dresses.
Asia
Uzbekistan closes borders to refugees
From Times Online
June 15, 2010
Times Online and Tony Halpin
Uzbekistan last night closed its borders to refugees fleeing neighbouring Kyrgyzstan as the numbers killed in the ethnic violence spiralled and aid agencies reported fresh allegations of atrocities from the survivors.With over 100,000 refugees pouring into Uzbekistan, Central Asian state’s Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Aripov said the border would be shut, despite pleas from aid groups and the UN to leave it open.
“Today we will stop accepting refugees from the Kyrgyz side because we have no place to accommodate them and no capacity to cope with them,” he said.
American on solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden arrested in Pakistan
An American builder allegedly claiming to be on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden has been arrested in northern Pakistan.
Published: 10:02AM BST 15 Jun 2010
Gary Brooks Faulkner, 52, was detained after being discovered in a forest in the Chitral region late on Sunday, allegedly armed with a pistol, a 40-inch sword and night-vision equipment, according to local police.
The Californian allegedly told investigators he was on a solo mission to kill the al-Qaeda leader, who has evaded a massive US effort to capture him since 2001.
“We initially laughed when he told us that he wanted to kill Osama bin Laden,” said Mumtaz Ahmad Khan, a local police officer. But he said when officers seized his weapons, “our suspicion grew”.
Africa
Kenya MP held for hate speech, minister Ruto accused
Police in Kenya have arrested an MP for hate speech in the campaign for a new constitution, which turned violent on Sunday.
The BBC Tuesday, 15 June 2010
Fred Kapondi was one of six MPs, including Higher Education Minister William Ruto, accused of hate speech on Monday.The six all deny the accusations.
Six people died on Sunday after a grenade attack at a prayer meeting in the capital, Nairobi, organised by the “No” campaign.
Church leaders accused the government, which is mostly campaigning for a “Yes” vote, of being behind the attack.
Many Kenyans doubt the Church leaders’ claim that the government could be behind the blasts, especially as it seems most people are already backing the “Yes” campaign, says the BBC’s Will Ross in Nairobi.
Egypt in awkward position on Gaza following Israeli attack on aid flotilla
By Janine Zacharia
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
GAZA CITY — With pressure building on Israel to lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, Egypt finds itself in the uncomfortable position of continuing to help enforce the siege while watching Turkey outflank the region’s traditional Sunni Arab heavyweights in championing the Palestinian cause.Egypt, the only nation aside from Israel to control a crossing into Gaza, has its own domestic political reasons for wanting the strip to remain closed.