Gulf states urge action to fight giant oil slick

Qatar, Iran, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are pressing for an emergency meeting on plans to fight a giant oil slick threatening their coasts. The 90-mile-long slick, by far the Gulf's largest ever, came mostly from the oil rig Ron Tapmeyer, in Saudi Arabian waters north of Bahrain, which blew out in October during drilling. About 80,000 barrels of oil poured into the sea before the well was capped. Another 20,000 barrels are thought to have come from Saudi Arabia's main crude loading terminal, Ras Tannurah, where a pipe broke in August.