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Barack Obama has blasted oil giant BP and demanded it step up efforts to stop the Gulf of Mexico leak which is threatening an environmental catastrophe. The US President held a meeting of his cabinet to discuss the continuing crisis and said he shared the "anger and frustration" of people living in the affected are, Sky News writes.
 "The potential devastation to the Gulf Coast, its economy and its people require us to continue our relentless efforts to stop the leak and contain the damage," he said.
The president also hit out at BP and the two other oil companies linked to the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig. He denounced what he called the "ridiculous spectacle" of them "falling over each other" to blame someone else at Congressional hearings this week. "I will not tolerate more finger pointing or irresponsibility," he said. "The American people could not have been impressed with that display and I certainly wasn't. The people of the Gulf Coast need our help." Mr Obama also outlined plans to break up the watchdog which oversees the oil business and vowed to end the "cosy relationship" between the regulator and oil firms. He said the rule from now on will be "trust but verify". He tried to allay the fears of environmentalists over new offshore drilling with a review of safety in the Gulf. Experts have said the spill may actually be at least 10 times worse than the US Coast Guard's official estimate of 210,000 gallons gushing from the ruptured well each day. Bucharest Herald
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