A day after the oil company BP failed to seal an underwater oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, the White House has given a somber assessment of the likely outcome. President Obama's adviser on energy Carol Browner suggested that six weeks after it began, the leak could continue until August.
"This is probably the biggest environmental disaster we've ever faced in this country. It's certainly the biggest oil spill, and we’re responding with the biggest environmental response. More oil is leaking into the Gulf of Mexico than at any other time in our history; it means there's more oil than the Exxon Valdez."
After failing to block the leaking well with mud, BP is now to try remote-controlled robots. They’ll try to slice through a broken pipe and fit a device to transfer the leaking oil to the surface. BP warned though that the procedure has never been carried out before at such a depth.
The Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled a visit to Argentina after the city of Buenos Aires called off a ceremony to honour the founder of modern Turkey, Kemal Ataturk. The Turkish foreign ministry accused the Buenos Aires authorities of acceding to the demands of the Armenian community there and deciding not to unveil a bust of Ataturk in the city. Genc Lamani reports.
The Turkish foreign ministry accused the Buenos Aires authorities of bowing to pressure from the Armenian community there. Turkey and Armenia are in a long-running dispute over the mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago. The foreign ministry in Ankara said Argentina's President Cristina Kirchner spoke with Mr Erdogan to explain she could not overrule the decision - an explanation Mr Erdogan had found unacceptable.
The organizers of a flotilla of ships trying to deliver aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip say the boats have sailed from an anchorage off the coast of Cyprus. They planned to get to Gaza on Monday. The territory has been under an Israeli blockade over the past three years, and Israel says it's ready to intercept the flotilla and deport the activists. This Palestinian campaigner Jamal Khudari urged the international community to give their support.
"We welcome them and we support them and we also send a message for all the world, all the international community and Arab and Muslim community to support them and to give them more support against Israel."
Polls have just closed in Colombia where people are voting for a new president to replace Alvaro Uribe who’s completed two terms in office. Opinion polls predict a close contest between the two main contenders - Mr Uribe's former Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos, and the Green Party candidate Antanas Mockus. Mr Santos has promised to continue Mr Uribe's tough stance against left-wing rebels, while Mr Mockus has put more emphasis on education and rule of law. No candidate wins a majority. There will be a second round run-off in three weeks’ time.
World News from the BBC.
The remains of 12 Mexican independence leaders have been exhumed in a solemn military ceremony led by President Felipe Calderon. Bands played and crowds threw white flowers as the bones of the national heroes were paraded through Mexico City with an escort of hundreds of soldiers. The crypts were opened as part of celebrations to mark 200 years since the start of Mexico's War of Independence from Spain.
Iraq has sent its first ambassador to Kuwait since it invaded the country 20 years ago. The new ambassador Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Ulum faces many challenges in helping to repair the relationship between the two states. These include the issue of Iraq paying Kuwait millions of dollars in war reparations.
Civil liberties groups have criticised African leaders who’re gathering for the Africa-France summit in the French city of Nice which starts on Monday. The organizations say that only two of the 38 African heads of state attending the meeting could not be accused of human rights violations. Estelle Nkounkou-Ngongo from West African Human Rights Defenders Network described it as a fake summit and said it was hypocritical for African leaders to talk about good governance and democracy at the event.
The Secretary General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon and the President of Uganda Yoweri Museveni are taking part in a football match in the Ugandan capital Kampala. The match involving diplomats, aid agency workers and local players at the Mandela Stadium was intended to highlight the plight of war victims, particularly those who suffered at the hands of the Lord's Resistance Army rebels during the conflict in the north of the country. Mr Ban said he enjoyed the game.
"It was a great game, and I like to play football, but I never thought, I never expected that I would play with president of Uganda."
Mr Ban is attending a conference of the International Criminal Court in Kampala on Monday.
BBC News.
BP石油公司封閉墨西哥灣水下漏油點宣告失敗壹天之後，白宮對可能產生的後果作出了嚴峻的評估。奧巴馬總統能源顧問羅爾·布朗納爾(Carol Browner)表示，石油泄漏已經長達六周的時間，可能將壹直持續到八月份。
“這可能是美國歷史上面臨的最大的環境災難。這當然是規模最大的漏油事件，我們也做出了最大的反應。這些泄漏入墨西哥灣的石油量超出歷史上任何時刻。這意味著比瓦爾迪茲號(Exxon Valdez)油輪漏油事件還要嚴重。”
使用泥漿封堵漏油鉆井宣告失敗之後，BP石油公司現在開始嘗試遙控機器人，將破裂的管道切斷，然後安裝壹個裝置，將漏油轉移至水面。然而，BP石油公司警告稱，這種方法以前從未在海面以下如此深的位置使用過。
布宜諾斯艾利斯市取消紀念現代土耳其的建立者凱末爾的儀式後，土耳其總理埃爾多安取消了對阿根廷的訪問計劃。土耳其外交部長指控布宜諾斯艾利斯官方答應亞美尼亞社區的要求，決定不揭幕凱末爾在該市的半身像。Genc Lamani報道。
土耳其外交部長指控布宜諾斯艾利斯向當地亞美尼亞社區的壓力屈服。土耳其和亞美尼亞因為壹個世紀前奧斯曼大規模屠殺亞美尼亞人而長期存在爭議。這位外交部長在安卡拉表示，阿根廷總統克裏斯蒂娜·費爾南德斯·德基什內爾(Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner) 向埃爾多安表示，她不會推翻該決定——埃爾多安表示該解釋是難以接受的。
試圖向加沙地帶巴勒斯坦人運輸救援物質的小型艦隊的組織者表示，這些船只已經離開塞浦路斯海岸的停泊處。他們計劃周壹抵達加沙地帶。過去三年，該地區壹直處於以色列的封鎖下，以色列聲稱已經做好準備攔截這支小型艦隊，並驅逐活動積極分子。巴勒斯坦活動家Jamal Khudari希望國際社會給予支持。
“我們歡迎他們，我們支持他們，我們也向全世界發出信息，希望整個國際社會，所有阿拉伯和穆斯林社會都能支持他們，給他們更多支持來反抗以色列。”
哥倫比亞民眾舉行投票，選舉新的總統來代替現任總統烏裏韋，烏裏韋已經完成了兩屆任期。民意調查顯示兩位候選人之間競爭激烈，分別是烏裏韋政府前國防部長桑托斯(Juan Manuel Santos)和綠黨候選人安塔納斯·莫庫斯(Antanas Mockus)。桑托斯承諾繼續執行對左翼反叛分子的強硬立場。莫庫斯則更加強調教育和法治。任何壹個候選人都沒有贏得大多數。三周後，他們將進行第二次角逐。
BBC世界新聞。
在由墨西哥總統卡爾德龍領導的莊嚴肅穆的軍事儀式中，墨西哥獨立的12位領袖的遺體被挖掘出來。在樂隊伴奏和數百位士兵的護衛下，這些國民英雄的骸骨緩緩穿越墨西哥城，人們紛紛獻上白色的鮮花。這些棺木被打開，作為紀念墨西哥獨立戰爭開始200周年慶祝活動的壹部分。此前，墨西哥是西班牙的殖民地。
伊拉克向科威特派遣了自20年前入侵科威特以來的首位大使。新任大使Mohammed Hussein Bahr al-Ulum在幫助兩國修補外交關系方面面臨諸多挑戰。其中包括伊拉克向科威特賠償數百萬美元損失賠償金的問題。
法非峰會周壹將在法國城市尼斯舉行，民權組織對與會的非洲領導人提出批評。這些組織表示，參加該會議的38位非洲國家元首中，只有兩位不被指控侵犯人權。西非人權衛士組織的Estelle Nkounkou-Ngongo稱這是壹次虛假的峰會，非洲領導人在這次峰會上討論良好的管理和民主是非常虛偽的。
聯合國秘書長潘基文和烏幹達總統約韋裏·穆塞韋尼(Yoweri Museveni)在烏幹達首都坎帕拉***同進行了壹場足球比賽。參賽人員還包括外交官，救援機構工作者和當地球員，比賽在曼德拉體育館進行，目的是強調戰爭受害者的困境，尤其是在該國北部受聖主抵抗軍摧殘的人們。潘基文表示他非常喜歡這場比賽。
“這是壹場非常偉大的比賽，我喜歡踢足球，但是我從未想過可以跟烏幹達總統壹起比賽。”
周壹，潘基文將在坎帕拉參加國際刑事法庭會議。
BBC新聞。