Disasters

"NEW ORLEANS (AP) -- BP finished pumping fresh cement into its blown-out oil well Thursday as it aimed to seal for good the ruptured pipe that for months spewed crude into the Gulf of Mexico in one of the world's worst spills."

"The government is still keeping crucial information about the extent of the damage a carefully guarded secret--from everyone except BP."

"The dispersants used to break up the BP PLC oil spill came under new scrutiny Wednesday in the U.S. Senate, where a panel warned that the U.S. government lacks critical information about whether the chemicals threaten sea life in the Gulf of Mexico."

"With a startling report that some researchers call more spin than science, the government said Wednesday that the mess made by the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is mostly gone already."

An oil-industry-funded PR 'War Room' stands ready to kill or counter any public discourse unfavorable to the oil industry. The conservative non-profit group running it has been accused of shaking down BP. They are working hard to elect Republiicans to the Senate.

"Democrats on Tuesday gave up trying to pass even a scaled-back energy bill this summer that would have removed liability ceilings on oil companies, a reaction to the BP oil spill."

"BP says it has reached the 'desired outcome' in a procedure in which it pumped mud down the throat of the blown-out well that is leaking in the Gulf of Mexico. ... The company said Wednesday that the well pressure was being controlled, 'which is the desired outcome of the static kill procedure carried out yesterday.'"

"The House of Representatives on Friday approved the toughest reforms ever to offshore energy drilling practices, as Democrats narrowly pushed through an election-year response to BP's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico."

"The worst floods in memory in Pakistan have devastated the lives of more than 3 million people, a U.N. spokesman said on Tuesday, while outrage over the unpopular government's response to the suffering spreads."

"Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill asked Russians to pray for rain on Sunday as wildfires raged across the European parts of the vast country, sweltering since June in an unprecedented heat wave."