Around the world in 60 seconds - 6 August 2010

This week’s events include:

• Obama says three quarters of the leaked oil has gone
• Wild weather of extremes – Pakistani floods and Russian fires
• Japan searches for missing elderly over pension scandal

Obama says three quarters of the leaked oil has gone

The US government has confirmed that almost three quarters of the oil spilt in the Gulf of Mexico has already been cleaned up or broken down by natural causes.

4.9 million barrels (780 million litres) of oil has leaked into the Gulf making it the largest accidental oil spill in history (1.7 billion litres was deliberately spilt in Kuwait and the Persian Gulf after Iraqi troops destroyed oil infrastructure).

25% of the oil was removed by skimming it, burning it or collecting it in the various capture attempts. Another 25% has evaporated or dissolved. And 24% has been widely dispersed throughout the Gulf either naturally or with chemicals.

The remaining 26% is still at sea or on shore but is believed to be “degrading quickly.”

The well-sealing effort is in its closing stages as BP is undergoing its “static kill” method of pumping mud from the surface into the well.

Now it is weighing up whether to pump cement into the well the same way, or to wait until the relief well intersects the damaged well later in the month.

Wild weather of extremes – Pakistani floods and Russian fires

Extreme weather of two different kinds has been terrorising people in Pakistan and Russia this week.

Pakistan has experienced its worst flooding in over 80 years after monsoon rains decimated the country’s north-west. Over 1,500 people have been killed and at least one million forced from their homes as rescue attempts were hampered by ongoing rain.

Recent flooding in China has also affected over 140 million people and destroyed 1.1 million homes and 22 million acres of crops.

Meanwhile, an extreme heat wave and high winds in Russia have caused severe wildfires in various regions around the capital Moscow.

250,000 people have been mobilised to try and stop the fires that have ripped through towns killing 50 people and destroying properties.

July was Russia’s hottest month since records began with temperatures between 35C and 40C.

Japan searches for missing elderly over pension scandal

Japanese authorities have begun a nationwide hunt for elderly pensioners in an attempt to uncover a peculiar pension scandal.

The frantic search was triggered last week after officials visiting the home of Tokyo’s oldest man, thought to be 111, found his skeleton in his bed with a newspaper from 1978.

After confirming he had died 30 years earlier and that his children had been collecting his pension payments, they quickly tried to locate Tokyo’s oldest woman at 113.

Her children confessed they hadn’t seen her in decades and consequently the government ordered a nationwide search.

Japan’s ageing population means it has 40,000 centenarians (people over 100) and the government is now demanding urgent face-to-face contact with several hundred that are unaccounted for.

Photo – Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inspects the damage