Panel: Huge oil spill could happen again

Panel: Huge oil spill could happen again

WASHINGTON

The presidential panel investigating the BP oil-well blowout says that a series of risky decisions that saved time and money caused the disaster — and the incident could happen again without significant reforms.

That conclusion is the final word on what led to the massive Gulf oil spill from the seven-member panel appointed by President Barack Obama to investigate it.

In a 48-page excerpt obtained by The Associated Press, the commission says that the largest offshore oil spill in history can be explained by a single failure — industry management.

Personnel working for the three main companies — BP, Halliburton and Transocean — did not adequately consider how decisions would increase risk. If they had, the blowout would have been prevented, the commission says.

Postal Service to test prepaid cards

WASHINGTON

The post office wants to get into the gift-card business.

Prepaid cards have become one of the most popular gift items, and postal officials want to do more than just deliver them to the lucky recipients.

So they plan a two-year test beginning in May, with about 2,000 post offices selling cards issued by companies such as American Express, Discover, MasterCard or Visa, according to papers filed Wednesday with the independent Postal Regulatory Commission.

In works: Windows for phone chips

LAS VEGAS

Microsoft Corp. confirmed Wednesday that it is developing a version of its main Windows operating system that will run on cell-phone chips, providing an alternative for the first time to the chips based on Intel technology.

The new version could take advantage of the power savings provided by cell-phone chips, and give Microsoft a better chance of gaining a foothold in the emerging world of tablet computers. Apple Inc.’s hit iPad tablet runs on a cell-phone-type chip, which is part of the reason it can last 10 hours on one charge.

Associated Press