2010-07-11 BBC

BBC News with Gaenor Howells.

The oil company BP has begun its latest attempt to halt the catastrophic oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. It's used underwater robots to remove a cap that was placed over the fractured wellhead last month. A new cap will be fitted later. However, a permanent solution to stopping the oil - two relief wells - is still weeks away. Madeleine Morris reports.

The delicate operation to replace one cap with a more tight-fitting one could take up to a week. During that time, oil will flow unabated into the Gulf of Mexico. But BP and the US Coast Guard believe it's worth the potential environmental damage. The current cap is gathering only around half the gushing crude. It's hoped the new one will be able to gather all of it ready to siphon up to three ships on the ocean surface. The Coast Guard said the switch was being made now because of a predicted week-long lull in the Gulf storm season.

President Obama has promised more help for war veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim is to make it easier for US veterans to receive federal benefits. In the past, they've had to provide records of a specific event that caused their condition. Under new rules, they'll only need to show that their conditions of service caused the disorder. President Obama called it a long overdue step.

"For years, many veterans with PTSD who have tried to seek benefits have often found themselves stymied. They've been required to produce evidence proving that a specific event caused their PTSD. Well, I don't think our troops on the battlefield should have to keep notes just in case they need to apply for a claim. And I have met enough veterans to know that you don't have to engage in a firefight to endure the trauma of war. So we're changing the way things are done."

Israeli and Greek officials say a ship carrying aid for Gaza is now heading for Egypt instead, following diplomatic intervention by the Israeli government. They said the ship chartered by a Libyan charity had set sail from Greece to the Egyptian port of el-Arish which is close to Gaza. The head of the charity, Youssef Sawwan, said he still hoped international pressure would persuade Israel to let the vessel dock in Gaza itself.

"We are conducting a purely humanitarian mission. Its sole aim is to deliver humanitarian goods - foodstuffs, medications - to the people of Gaza who no one can dispute that they are in urgent needs because they have been under boycott, siege, you name it. They went through it because of the Israeli action. We hope that the Israeli authorities would not ban the ship from entering the port of Gaza."

More than a million people have been marching through the Spanish city of Barcelona to support the autonomous status of the region of Catalonia. The demonstration was called after the Spanish constitutional court decided there was no legal basis to recognize Catalonia as a nation, and the Catalan language should not take precedence over Spanish.

World News from the BBC.

Polls open shortly in Japan in elections to the upper house of parliament. Opinion surveys suggest the governing Democratic Party (DPJ) may lose its majority which would constrain its reform agenda. The Prime Minister Naoto Kan has denied reports that he is about to increase the country's sales tax, something correspondents describe as a taboo in Japanese politics. His party swept to power last year, ending half a century of conservative rule. It has since lost much of its popularity.

The governing body of the Church of England has narrowly rejected a compromise on the issue of ordaining women bishops. Proposals supported by the spiritual head of the church, the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and the Archbishop of York John Sentamu would have given traditionalist parishes exemption from serving under a woman bishop. Robert Pigott reports from the synod in York.

With liberal Anglicans impatient to promote women to the most senior positions in the church's leadership but traditionalists insisting they will not serve under them, the issue has produced an increasingly serious split in the church. Archbishop Rowan Williams put his personal backing behind a plan that would have allowed traditionalist parishes and dioceses headed by women bishops access to male alternatives. Dr Williams said it was necessary to preserve unity. The vote could barely have been closer. Most of the synod voted in favour of the plan. It failed only because lay members voted against it by a majority of five.

Germany have finished third in the football World Cup in South Africa after beating Uruguay 3-2. Sunday's World Cup final will be an all-European affair between the Netherlands and Spain.

In cricket, Bangladesh have beaten England for the first time ever. They won by five runs in a one-day international in Bristol in western England. The victory means Bangladesh have now beaten every test-playing country in the world. It was also their first win this year.

BBC News