Pope ends 'successful' UK visit

Pope Benedict XVI has completed a four-day state visit to the UK, with the Roman Catholic Church hailing the trip as a "great success."

The Vatican said on Sunday that it believed the Pope had reached out to the nation despite anger there at the sex abuse scandal surrounding the Church and weariness about his message.

Reverend Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the UK public had received "with profound interest" the Pope's warnings over increasing secularisation in society.

Lombardi described the trip as "a spiritual success."

Beatification

David Cameron, the prime minister, met with the Pope before his departure from Birmingham Airport, and stated: "Faith is part of the fabric of our country. It always has been and it always will be."

Cameron added that the visit had made the UK "sit up and think."

Earlier in the day, Benedict had beatified Cardinal John Henry Newman, a 19th century Catholic priest, in front of 55,000 pilgrims in Birmingham, central England.

He said that Newman, a intellectual convert to Catholicism, had "outstanding holiness," and that his teachings are as relevant today as they were more than a century ago.

The Pope renewed his criticism of the abuse of children by Catholic priests, stating at a meeting of Bishops that it "seriously undermines the moral credibility of Church leaders."

As he met five victims, he apologised for the uncovered sex-abuse of children in the Catholic Church on Saturday, saying that the crimes had caused "immense suffering."

On the same day the Pope held a prayer vigil in London in front of a crowd of 80,000, however, a significant opposition to the visit manifested itself beforehand. About ten thousand people took to the streets to express their opposition to the Pope.

The visit was also said to have brought Catholics and Anglicans closer together.

Benedict on Friday met with Rowan Williams, the worldwide Anglican leader and Archbishop of Canterbury.

It was the first papal visit to the UK since John Paul II in 1982 and the first ever state trip.

Daily Update

BP declares deep-sea well 'sealed'

US officials have declared that BP, the British oil giant, has finally sealed the deep-sea well that gushed millions of oil into the Gulf of Mexico since April.

"We can finally announce that the Macondo 252 well is effectively dead," retired Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, who oversees the US government response to the disaster, said in a statement on Sunday.

Last Thursday, a relief well bored into the bottom of the Macondo well to pump in cement and seal the reservoir for good. BP pumped cement for seven hours on Friday, and finished a pressure test early on Sunday that showed the well was "effectively dead," Allen said.

BP had pumped cement into the well from the top on August 5. That attempt provided the first cement plug. The second round into the bottom through the relief well was considered the final assurance that the well was plugged for good.

Rich Robson, the offshore installation manager on the Development Driller III vessel, said that while the declaration will be a significant milestone, it would be difficult to celebrate too much given the tragedy of the oil spill.

"It's kind of bittersweet because we lost 11 men out here," he said.

"There isn't going to be any real celebration. To a lot of people, the water out here is a cemetery."

Barack Obama, the US president whose approval ratings were hurt by public discontent over government's initial response to the spill, welcomed the long-awaited development as an "important milestone".

Obama said his administration was now focused on making sure the Gulf Coast "recovers fully from this disaster".

"This road will not be easy, but we will continue to work closely with the people of the Gulf to rebuild their livelihoods and restore the environment that supports them," Obama said in a statement.

Worst oil spill

The catastrophe began on April 20, when an explosion killed 11 workers, sank a drilling rig and led to the worst offshore oil spill in the US history.

The Gulf well spewed 206 million gallons (780 million litres) of oil before the gusher was first stopped in mid-July with a temporary cap.

Mud and cement were later pushed down through the top of the well, allowing the cap to be removed.

BP is a majority owner of the well and was leasing the rig from owner Transocean Ltd.

The spill posed major environmental challenges and has been an economic nightmare for people along the Gulf Coast.

With oil still in the water - some of it still washing ashore - fishermen are still fighting the perception that their catch is tainted.

The oil spill, which has brought increased governmental scrutiny of the oil and gas industry, also wiped about $70bn from BP's market value and spurred BP to replace its gaffe-prone Chief Executive, Tony Hayward, with an American, Bob Dudley, effective October 1. It also triggered civil and criminal investigations.

A costly moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling is still in place as a result of the spill.

Daily Update