BP says effort has started to try to stop leaking Gulf oil well by filling it with mud
COVINGTON, La. (AP) — BP on Wednesday launched its latest bid to plug the gushing well in the Gulf of Mexico by force-feeding it heavy drilling mud, a maneuver known as a "top kill" that has never before been tried 5,000 feet underwater.
The oil giant's chief executive earlier gave the procedure a 60 to 70 percent chance of working, and President Barack Obama cautioned Wednesday there were "no guarantees."
BP spokesman Steve Rinehart said the company will pump mud for hours, and officials have indicated it may be a couple of days before they know whether the procedure is working. The top kill involves pumping enough mud into the gusher to overcome the flow of oil, and engineers plan to follow it up with cement to try to permanently seal the well.
A live video stream showed pictures of the oil gushing and the blowout preventer, the five-story device the mud was being pumped into. A weak spot in the device could blow under the pressure, causing a brand new leak.
Gene Beck, a petroleum engineering professor at Texas A&M in College Station, said the endeavor would likely fail quickly if the mud could not overcome the pressure of the oil.
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Obama tackles border security with plan to send 1,200 National Guard troops to US-Mexico line
PHOENIX (AP) — President Barack Obama's plan to send as many as 1,200 National Guard troops back to the U.S.-Mexico border quelled demands that he must do more to battle illegal immigration and drug smuggling, but advocates for tougher enforcement say the troops need authority to make detentions.
The new plan looks similar to the National Guard initiative under former President George W. Bush, but on a much smaller scale: Troops will work on intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support, and will eventually be replaced by more border patrol and customs agents. The plan at this point doesn't call for the ability to round up suspected illegal immigrants and smugglers.
U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual, speaking to journalists Wednesday in Mexico City, said the troops will serve as a bridge until the American government can get more agents on the border. He emphasized that the troops won't be working on the front lines or interacting with people crossing the border.
"It's much more back office functions of receiving reports that are coming in from other intelligence entities," he said. The troops will "review and analyze" intelligence, then "feed that to the people who are actually the presence on the border itself." In addition, he said the troops will observe the border from remote surveillance points, then communicate with Customs and Border Protection officers.
The comments came a day after the Mexican government issued a statement saying it hoped the troops would be used to fight drug cartels and not enforce immigration laws. Mexico has traditionally objected to the use of the military to control illegal immigration.
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Clinton says world must respond to 'unacceptable provocation' in sinking of South Korean ship
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday the world must respond to the "unacceptable provocation" represented by the sinking of a South Korean warship blamed on Pyongyang, as the regime shelled out more blistering rhetoric against Seoul and Washington.
Tension on the divided Korean peninsula has risen dramatically since international investigators said last week that a torpedo fired by a North Korean submarine tore apart and sank the South Korean warship Cheonan on March 26, killing 46 sailors.
Relations are at their lowest point in a decade, when South Korea began reaching out to the North with unconditional aid as part of reconciliation efforts. South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has taken a harder line against Pyongyang since taking office in 2008 amid delays in the North's promised denuclearization and has suspended aid.
South Korea, backed by the U.S., Japan and other allies, began implementing a package of punitive measures against the North on Tuesday — ranging from slashing trade, resuming propaganda warfare and barring the North's cargo ships. Those were seen as among the strongest it could implement short of military action.
"This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea, and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond," Clinton told reporters in Seoul, the final leg of a three-nation Asian tour.
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44 civilians reported dead in Jamaica raids on gang chief's stronghold
KINGSTON, Jamaica (AP) — Jamaican security forces claimed a tenuous hold over the slum stronghold of a gang leader sought by the U.S., but only after battles that killed at least 44 civilians, the country's official ombudsman said Wednesday.
Officers and soldiers were still fighting holdout defenders of Christopher Coke, known as "Dudus," in pockets of the Tivoli Gardens area. He was still at large after nearly three days of street battles.
Bishop Herro Blair, Jamaica's most prominent evangelical pastor, told The Associated Press that independent evaluations have put the number of civilian dead at 44 in West Kingston alone. Police have said that at least four soldiers and police officers also have died in fighting in West Kingston and elsewhere around the capital.
Police earlier reported at least 26 civilian deaths and the country's embattled Prime Minister Bruce Golding promised an independent investigation into all civilian deaths during the operation.
Blair and Jamaica's public defender were escorted by security forces into Tivoli Gardens, where supporters of Coke began massing last week after Golding dropped his nine-month refusal to extradite him to the U.S.
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Stocks give up early gains and end lower after the euro sinks again; Dow closes under 10,000
NEW YORK (AP) — A drop in the euro set off a late-day slide in stocks Wednesday and sent the Dow Jones industrial average to its first close below 10,000 in nearly four months.
The Dow, up 135 points in morning trading, ended down about 69. It was the eighth drop for the Dow in 10 days. Wednesday's trading extended a streak of volatility since stocks went to their highest level of the year in late April.
The late reversal underscored how jittery traders are about Europe. They are worried that heavy debt loads in European countries and more rounds of cost-cutting will hamper a recovery there, which could spread quickly to other regions.
"We had a nice rally all day and we expected it to have had legs," said Phillip Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated investors in New York, which manages about $400 billion. The sudden sell-off, he said, suggests "that investors are as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a roomful of rocking chairs."
The euro fell in late trading, pulling major stock indexes lower, following a Financial Times report that China is reviewing its holdings of European government bonds because of the crisis in government debt there.
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Facebook, acknowledging many users `upset,' to simplify privacy controls in coming weeks
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is simplifying its privacy controls amid growing unrest from many of its users.
Protesters have been organizing campaigns to quit Facebook and privacy groups have complained to regulators after Facebook announced new features last month, including "instant personalization" that tailors other websites to users' Facebook profiles.
"A lot of people are upset with us," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged at a news conference Wednesday at the company's Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters.
One complaint has been over the fact that while Facebook allows users to hide their list of interests on their personal profile pages, the user would still show up elsewhere as "liking" that band, company or hobby. Zuckerberg said that under the simplified controls, privacy preferences will be extending to those other places as well.
Zuckerberg said the company is also making it easier for users to decline the instant personalization feature.
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Google Earth tool offers online preview of World Trade Center memorial site
NEW YORK (AP) — Visitors to the website of the planned World Trade Center memorial can explore a 3-D model of it, thanks to a partnership between the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum and Google Earth.
Museum officials said Wednesday that the model will help the public visualize the memorial and its lower Manhattan setting. Visitors can zoom in and look at each tree and cobblestone or zoom out and look at the entire project.
Those who visit the museum in person will see recreations of the vigils and makeshift memorials that sprang up around the city after the attacks. They also will see portraits of the victims.
The museum is scheduled to open in 2012.
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Art Linkletter, host of 'People Are Funny' and 'House Party,' dies at LA home, son-in-law says
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Art Linkletter, who as the gently mischievous host of TV's "People Are Funny" and "House Party" in the 1950s and '60s delighted viewers with his ability to get kids — and grownups — to say the darndest things on national television, died Wednesday. He was 97.
Linkletter died at his home in the Bel-Air section of Los Angeles, said his son-in-law, Art Hershey, the husband of Sharon Linkletter.
"He lived a long, full, pure life, and the Lord had need for him," Hershey said.
Linkletter had been ill "in the last few weeks time, but bear in mind he was 97 years old. He wasn't eating well, and the aging process took him," Hershey said.
Linkletter hadn't been diagnosed with any life-threatening disease, he said.
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Flood of 'millions' of frogs forces Greek officials to close major northern highway for hours
THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Greek officials say a horde of frogs has forced the closure of a key northern highway for two hours.
Thessaloniki traffic police chief Giorgos Thanoglou says "millions" of the amphibians covered the tarmac Wednesday near the town of Langadas, some 12 miles east of Thessaloniki.
"There was a carpet of frogs," he said.
Authorities closed the highway after three car drivers skidded off the road trying to dodge the frogs. No human injuries were reported.
Thanoglou said the amphibians probably left a nearby lake to look for food.
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On day of dreams and defeat, Beasley, Buddle & Gomez make US World Cup roster; Ching cut
BRISTOL, Conn. (AP) — The phones started ringing at 2 a.m., and players were told to come down to the third floor for a meeting. As Herculez Gomez pressed the elevator button on 17, his mind raced.
Were his dreams about to be fulfilled — or crushed?
This is the way the U.S. World Cup team was finalized, in the dead of night in a Hartford hotel.
"It's been such a crazy and unbelievable journey," Gomez said.
And the big trip hasn't even begun.
Copyright 2010  AP News
