2010-07-21 BBC
The leaders of Britain and the United States have spent nearly three hours in talks in Washington. President Obama said they saw virtually eye to eye on every major challenge before them. The British Prime Minister David Cameron said they discussed the war in Afghanistan, sustained global economic recovery and the Middle East. But in a joint news conference, they faced questions about BP and the Lockerbie bombing, as Paul Adams reports. The two leaders spoke with enthusiasm about their close relationship in the wide range of common interests which bind their two countries. David Cameron and Barack Obama were peppered with questions about allegations that BP played a role in securing the release of the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi. Mr Cameron said he and the president had had what he called "a violent agreement" on the subject. He urged people not to confuse BP's responsibilities in the Gulf of Mexico with the Libyan bomber, but he said his government would look again to see if any further light could be shed on the whole affair. For his part, Mr Obama said he was confident the Cameron government would make sure the facts were known. The British energy firm BP says it will sell businesses in Vietnam and Pakistan to help meet the costs of dealing with its oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. These are the first major asset sales BP has announced since saying it would raise 10 billion dollars to pay for the spill. A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) says China has overtaken the United States to become the world's top energy consumer. Vivien Marsh reports. Provisional figures from the IEA indicate that China's energy consumption has doubled in a decade, fueled by a rising population and rapid economic growth. Last year, the figures show, it consumed about 4% more energy than the United States. And though China's ascent through the IEA rankings was faster than expected, it comes as American energy use is stagnating, with the US suffering much more than China in the global economic crisis. The average Chinese person still consumes just a fifth of the energy of an American. But as city dwellers become more prosperous, future energy demands could be huge. Cuba says it's ready to release more jailed dissidents in addition to the 52 whose release it announced earlier this month. The president of the Cuban National Assembly said they could remain in Cuba if they so wished. Michael Voss reports. The 52 prisoners who are being freed are the last remaining opposition figures who were arrested during a major government crackdown in 2003. But according to the unofficial Cuban human rights commission, there are more than 100 additional political prisoners on the island. None of them were included in the recent deal brokered between the Cuban authorities, the Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish government. Now a senior Cuban official has indicated that the government is prepared to release the majority of these prisoners. World News from the BBC. An Afghan army soldier has killed two American civilians and a fellow soldier at a military base in northern Afghanistan. Several other people were wounded. The shooter was also killed, and an investigation is under way into the circumstances of the deaths. The incident happened during a routine weapons training session. Last week, three British soldiers were killed by a renegade Afghan soldier. The British Defence Secretary Liam Fox has said that military spending plans inherited from the previous government are unaffordable. Dr Fox said the defence industry would have to find cost savings in existing contracts, or the government would cut procurement programmes. Britain is reviewing its defence spending as part of a wider effort to reduce its budget deficit. Dr Fox said Britain wanted to maintain a strong defence industry, but the long-term prosperity of the companies involved depended on providing better value for money. "We can't prepare for the threats that we might face in the future if we are constantly funding the legacy programmes of the Cold War. We can't have lots of flicks of different things doing the same thing, so we've got to become much more efficient. We can't carry the costs of unnecessary infrastructure and spares and training, so we've got to become much more efficient across defence." Two French international footballers, Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, have been put under formal criminal investigation over accusations that they'd paid for sex with an underage woman. Their accuser said she was less than 18 at the time of the alleged incidents. Under French law, paid sex with somebody under 18 is regarded as intercourse with a minor. Both players have denied any wrongdoing. Two prisoners have escaped from a jail in Argentina which was using a dummy to man one of its guard towers. Prison staff said a lack of resources meant that only two out of their 15 guard towers were occupied at any given time. They had a football with a prison officer's cap in a third to create the illusion of an extra guard. The escaped convicts are still on the run. That's the latest BBC News.
BBC News with David Austin.