IN BRIEF (Page 12)

UNITED STATES

Gulf spill tops Exxon Valdez

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has surpassed the Exxon Valdez as the worst in US history, according to new estimates released on Thursday, but the Coast Guard and BP said an untested procedure to stop it seemed to be working.

Scientists trying to figure out how much oil has been flowing since the offshore rig Deepwater Horizon exploded April 20 and sank two days later found the rate was at least twice and possibly up to five times as high as previously thought. Even using the most conservative estimate, that means the leak has grown to nearly 72 million liters (19 million gallons ), surpassing the size of the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster, which at about 42 million liters had been the nation's worst spill. Under the highest estimate, nearly 148 million liters may have spilled.

Agency head quits under fire

The head of the Minerals Management Service federal agency that oversees US offshore oil drilling has resigned, US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said on Thursday.

"She has resigned," Salazar said of Liz Birnbaum during a House subcommittee hearing on the growing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Many US lawmakers and environmental groups blamed the lax regulation by MMS of offshore drilling rigs and production platforms for helping cause the oil spill.

Salazar told the subcommittee she was "a good public servant."

Storms threaten Haiti, oil clean-up

US National Hurricane Center director Bill Read said that earthquake-ravaged Haiti was his biggest concern as another Atlantic hurricane season gets under way.

Read acknowledged that a powerful storm could wreak havoc with efforts to fight the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

AUSTRIA

Vienna rated top city to live in

Vienna has the world's best quality of life and Baghdad the worst, with wildly popular but less organized cities like New York and London falling between, according to a survey Wednesday. Mercer consultants' city rankings for 2010 lists Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Vancouver and Auckland the top five urban living destinations. Paris comes in only at 34, London at 39, Tokyo 40, Madrid 48 and New York at a lowly 49.

THAILAND

Ex-PM asked to face the music

Thailand's government urged former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to come out of hiding Thursday and face the terrorism charges that accuse him of fomenting the violent unrest that scarred the capital and exposed deep rifts in society. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup but has wide support among the "red shirt" protesters whose rallies in the capital disintegrated into deadly street clashes. The former premier denied on the weekend that he was behind the deadly violence.

FRANCE

Protest attacks retirement plan

Strikes across France delayed flights, closed schools and frustrated commuters Thursday as workers protested government plans to raise the retirement age past 60 - one of the lowest in Europe. President Nicolas Sarkozy says retiring so young is now untenable given growing life spans, but unions see his planned reforms as a new blow to Europe's cherished social model.

Reuters - Associated Press

(China Daily 05/28/2010 page12)