Gulf Oil Spill Was Top Story in 2010

31 December 2010

A US Coast Guard picture of attempts in May to control oil in the Gulf of Mexico through burning.

This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.

At the end of each year, the Associated Press releases a list of the top ten news stories of the year. American editors and news directors are asked to vote for what they consider the top stories.

This year, the story with the most votes was the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. An oil rig operated by BP exploded in April. The explosion killed eleven workers. Close to five million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf until the leak was contained in the middle of July. BP agreed to set aside twenty billion dollars to pay claims and damages to people working in the area’s fishing and tourism industries.

The AP says the second most important story was health care reform in the United States. President Obama won a major political victory with congressional passage of his health care reform plan. Among other things, it will extend health care insurance to thirty-two million Americans now without it. But many Republicans in Congress oppose the law and want to cancel parts of it.

The congressional elections in November were another big story. The Republican Party gained a majority in the House of Representatives. But Democrats kept their majority in the Senate.

The American economy was another major story. Economists reported in twenty-ten that the worst recession since the nineteen-thirties had ended. Americans began to spend more as the year ended. But the unemployment rate stayed above nine percent.