Lagos, Nigeria (CNN) — Authorities were searching for more than 680 inmates Wednesday who escaped after gunmen attacked a prison in northern Nigeria, police said.

The prison was attacked by suspected members of an Islamist sect called Boko Haram on Tuesday.

One police officer was killed and two prison officials were injured, police said.

The group freed 721 inmates, said Emmanuel Ojukwu, a police spokesman.

Police captured 35 of the escapees and were searching for the others, Ojukwu said.

About 200 members of the Boko Haram sect attacked the prison, triggering a massive gunbattle, according to authorities.

Police suspect the prison was attacked because it was holding 80 members of the sect.

Boko Haram has been at odds with Nigerian officials because the group wants the government to impose Islamic law, known as sharia, in the entire Muslim-dominated northern half of Nigeria.

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries have developed mechanisms in preparation for the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Mexico later this year.

A CARICOM Secretariat statement said that the mechanisms were developed at a “fruitful and productive” joint meeting of the Councils for Trade and Economic Development (COTED) and Human and Social Development here last week.

It said that one of the “major outcomes” of the meeting was “a common approach” to the UN conference in December.

“The mechanisms included the expansion of the membership of the CARICOM Task Force on Climate Change and Development to involve regional negotiators and members of the political directorate; and  an agreement to adhere to the principles of the Liliendaal Declaration (2009) as the Community’s position in any Climate Change Negotiations.”

The statement said that the meeting also noted that significant strides had been made on the development of the Caribbean Community Environment and Natural Resources Policy Framework which should be completed by 2012.

This policy is expected to provide guidelines for the conduct of business at the regional level and to provide guidance at the national level with respect to managing the environment and natural resources. The CARICOM Secretariat, which is steering the process, reported that base line information had been gathered and member states had been engaged in relevant activities to ‘kick start’ the framing of such a policy.

The joint meeting also discussed the “critical importance of water management and security which had become a growing concern for the Community.

“While acknowledging the attempts made to rationalise the interventions in the Community with respect to water as well as the progress made towards the development of a common water framework, the Joint Meeting expressed the urgent need for work to be further expedited in the development of harmonised standards in water management,” the statement said.

It said that to support this process, the meeting approved the Terms of Reference for the CARICOM Consortium of Water Institutions, which is responsible for the development of the common water framework, to be guided by a set of 15 principles.

The statement said that on the issue of sustainable land management, there was consensus on the approval of a two year work plan for the Partnership Initiative on Sustainable Land Management (PISLM) Task Force.

The Trinidad and Tobago-based PISLM will facilitate the exchange of experiences and good land management practices between participating countries. It also serves as a mechanism for stimulating the replication of various approaches, tools and methodologies throughout the region.

The meeting also discussed the issue of crime prevention and the environment and agreed that the Draft CARICOM Action Plan for Social Development and Crime Prevention provided “opportunities for synergies in several critical areas and in particular in the implementation of Multi-lateral Environment Agreements (MEAs).”

(CNN) — Oil company BP shouldered some responsibility for the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster Wednesday after an internal investigation of the spill, but assigned much of the blame to contractors Halliburton and Transocean.

Faulty cementing, a misread pressure test and an improperly maintained blowout preventer all contributed to the April 20 explosion that killed 11 workers aboard the Deepwater Horizon drill rig and uncorked the worst oil spill in U.S. history, BP’s nearly 200-page report on the disaster concluded.

“The team did not identify any single action or inaction that caused this accident,” BP’s report states. “Rather, a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces came together to allow the initiation and escalation of the accident. Multiple companies, work teams and circumstances were involved over time.”

Wednesday’s report found weaknesses in the design of the cementing job that allowed oil and gas to burst out of the well, and states that BP investigators found “potential weaknesses” in Transocean’s maintenance of the rig’s blowout preventer — the massive fail-safe device that failed to shut down the well after the explosion.

The company said its team aboard the doomed platform “incorrectly accepted” results of a negative pressure test on the rig before the blast and mistakenly rejected equipment that cement contractor Halliburton requested to complete the well’s casing. But as BP executives have done in the past, the report spread a large portion of the blame to Halliburton and to rig owner Transocean, which blasted the findings as “a self-serving report” that tries to distract attention from BP’s own flawed well design.

“In both its design and construction, BP made a series of cost-saving decisions that increased risk — in some cases, severely,” Transocean said in a statement issued Wednesday morning.

Halliburton had no immediate response to the BP report, but one of its engineers also criticized BP’s well design during an August hearing by the Coast Guard-Interior Department board probing the disaster. And Rep. Ed Markey, the head of a congressional subcommittee also investigating the spill, said the report was no “mea culpa” on BP’s part.

“Of their own eight key findings, they only explicitly take responsibility for half of one,” said Markey, D-Massachusetts. “BP is happy to slice up blame, as long as they get the smallest piece.”

Several other investigations are still going on, including probes by Congress and the Justice Department. Retired Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, the Obama administration’s point man for the disaster, said the BP report was “not the be-all and end-all” on the matter.

“I would just say the more we know about this event in general, the better off we are,” Allen told reporters Wednesday. “It’ll add to a larger body of evidence that, or body of work, that might be, won’t be completed until we finish the joint investigation by the Department of Interior and Homeland Security, and the other various investigations that are going on.”

And Aaron Viles, a spokesman for the Louisiana-based Gulf Restoration Network, largely dismissed the report.

“While any investigation headed up by BP has as much credibility as my 3-year-old daughter’s nightly assertions that it’s not bedtime yet, BP cops to much, but not all here,” Viles said in a statement issued Wednesday afternoon. “Ultimately, the report is going to be used to bolster BP’s case against the other potentially responsible parties, such as Transocean and Halliburton.”

Viles said that while tracking the cause of the explosion is important, “fighting the last war won’t necessarily prepare us for the next, inevitable mess.”

As the well owner, BP is responsible for the cleanup and has set aside a $20 billion escrow fund to pay for damages. But BP, Halliburton and Transocean have repeatedly pointed fingers at each other over the cause of the explosion, which resulted in an estimated 4.9 million barrels (205 million gallons) of oil spilling into the Gulf over 87 days.

In Wednesday’s report, BP said its team aboard the rig misread a critical pressure test in the hours before the explosion.

“In retrospect, pressure readings and volume bled at the time of the negative-pressure test were indications of flow-path communication with the reservoir, signifying that the integrity of these barriers had not been achieved,” the report states. “The Transocean rig crew and BP well site leaders reached the incorrect view that the test was successful and that well integrity had been established.”

Neither of BP’s well site leaders, Robert Kaluza and Donald Vidrine, have appeared before the investigative board. Kaluza has invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination, while Vidrine was excused for medical reasons.

BP’s investigation found Halliburton used a “likely unstable” cement mix that was not fully tested before it was used. Mark Bly, BP’s head of safety and operations, said in a video accompanying the report, that Halliburton “did not conduct comprehensive lab tests that could’ve identified potential problems with the cement.”

But he added, “We believe that BP and Halliburton working together should have better identified and addressed the issues underlying the cement job.”

“Improved technical assurance, risk management, and management of change by BP personnel could have lead to awareness and better decisions regarding acceptance and implementation of the cement proposal,” Bly said.

The conclusions follow July remarks by outgoing BP CEO Tony Hayward, who said that the disaster “was the result of multiple equipment errors and human error involving many companies.” Bob Dudley, who is replacing Hayward, said Wednesday’s report “makes that conclusion even clearer.”

But Halliburton engineer Jesse Gagliano testified in August that he warned BP that its well design was inadequate. Appearing before the investigative board, Gagliano said he told BP that the well design did not have enough centralizers — devices used to position the cement casing around the well bore.

The design called for six centralizers, but Gagliano recommended 21 because of the “severe gas flow problem” in the well. BP engineer Brian Morel replied by e-mail that “It was too late and we had to deal with what we had on the rig,” Gagliano testified.

In addition, e-mails from BP engineers, released by a congressional committee in June, suggest that the oil company had its own concerns about the well. Drilling engineer Brian Morel called it a “nightmare well which has everyone all over the place,” while Mark Hafle called it “a crazy well.”

Both Hafle and Morel invoked their Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination during the most recent round of hearings by the investigative board. Hafle told the investigative board in May that BP was confident about the safeguards on its Gulf well, but documents released by the House Energy and Commerce Committee showed the company reported problems controlling the well and won a delay in testing the blowout preventer in March.

Eventually, 15 more centralizers were shipped to the rig. BP’s well team “erroneously believed that they had received the wrong centralizers” and decided not to use them, according to Wednesday’s report — but the decision not to use them “likely did not contribute to the cement’s failure to isolate the main hydrocarbon zones or to the failure of the shoe track cement.”

And BP’s report faults Transocean’s crew for failing “to recognize and act on the influx of hydrocarbons into the well until the hydrocarbons were in the riser and rapidly flowing to the surface.”

“Indications of influx with an increase in drill pipe pressure are discernible in real-time data from approximately 40 minutes before the rig crew took action to control the well,” the report states. “The rig crew’s first apparent well control actions occurred after hydrocarbons were rapidly flowing to the surface.”

And the report states that service records for the blowout preventer and the condition of critical components “suggest the lack of a robust Transocean maintenance management system” for the device, which is meant to shut down the well in case of trouble.

In its response, Transocean said BP made decisions that increased the chances that flammable gas would come flowing out of the well. It also failed to run a common test on the integrity of the cement or employing a “lockdown sleeve” that would have helped contain the eventual blowout, it said.

Don Van Nieuwenhuise, an oil geoscience professor at the University of Houston, said the report points “a clear finger” at Halliburton in particular. But the report isolates several points at which someone should have said, “Hey, stop,” as he put it.

Van Nieuwenhuise told CNN’s “American Morning” that BP’s representatives on the rig usually have “the ultimate decision,” but added, “Someone from Transocean, if they suspect something is wrong, they certainly have the right to speak up and contradict the company man.”

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – The Guyana Defence Force (GDF) says it will review the procedures used for the return of ammunition after several breaches were discovered recently.

But the GDF has dismissed suggestions that guns and grenades had disappeared from the army following a recent exercise.

Army Chief of Staff, Commodore Gary Best, announced that a search conducted in the rooms of officers, warrant officers and senior non- commissioned officers had uncovered live and blank ammunition, pyrotechnics, defragmentation vests, weapon magazines and cleaning kits, which should have been returned to the stores after use at the recently concluded training exercise.

“I would not say here that the ammunition was kept for any unsavoury purpose; it’s a clear breach of procedures and the ammunition was outside of our depot,” he said, adding “this represents a clear breach of regulations and as such strong disciplinary action will be exacted against the offending ranks”.

Best insisted that no weapons were found nor was there any ammunition missing from the army.  He said whilst there is no information to suggest any complicity among the offending ranks, the integrity of the force is more important and that the search had been ordered after an internal audit determined that the missing items were not returned in a timely manner.

“This represents a clear breach of regulations and as such strong disciplinary action will be exacted against the offending ranks,” he said.

A Government Information Agency (GINA) statement said that disciplinary action will range from suspension to court martial, depending on rank and responsibility.

BELMOPAN, Belize, CMC – The psychic whose predictions led a group of angry persons from the southernmost village of San Marcus in Belize to destroy a sanctuary for crocodiles will re-appear in court next month on a charge of “pretending to tell fortune”.

Delfina Alvarez, 42, is reported to have told villagers that the owners of the American Crocodile Sanctuary for Education (ACES), Vince and Cherie Rose, were harbouring the two children reported missing since August 30.

The villagers descended on the compound killing17 crocodiles as well as setting fire to the compound. The owners have estimated the loss to be in the vicinity of one million dollars (US$513, 377).

Alvarez pleaded not guilty to the charge and was released on bail of BZE$1,500 (US$769). She will reappear in court on October 12.

The American couple who established ACES six years ago has taken their case to the international media, calling for the Mayan villagers and the country of Belize to be held accountable for the violent attack that destroyed their property.

Meanwhile, members of the Maya village are due to gather in Punta Gorda on Friday to hold a prayer vigil for the return of Benjamin Rash, 11 and Onelia Rash, 9.

Chairman of the Toledo Alcalde’s Association Ligorio Cho said the group is “very concerned” about the well-being of the missing children and called on all Maya villagers to “join hands and hearts with the parents of the missing children in prayer.”

The prayer vigil is being held in the town’s main park and Coy says the hope is that “we can see them back here in Toledo with their parents safely.”

The Police, members of the Belize Defence Force and local groups and organizations are participating in a massive search for the children.

NASSAU, Bahamas, CMC – The Bahamas is seeking to improve trading relations with China and as a result will participate in a three-week import and export fair in Beijing next month,  Deputy Prime Minister Brent Symonette has said.

He said the country will participate in the October 14 to November 4 fair as part of the efforts to deepen relations particularly in the area of trade and commerce.

“This fair has a long historical tradition and is the largest trade fair in China. It also epitomizes the essence of strategic planning, organization and presentation, which we have come to associate with the People’s Republic of China,” Symonette told a Bahamas Chamber of Commerce Promotional Conference..

The Canton Fair, as the event is billed, began in 1957 and is hailed as the biggest buyer event in the world.

“The Canton Fair represents a first step for Bahamians to tap into the potential large Chinese market. But the fair does not just present an opportunity for vendors to display their wares. It is also an opportunity for participants to forge business links and to network,” Symonette said.

He commended the Bahamas Chamber of Commerce for its part in strengthening relations between the two countries and encouraging the business community to participate in the event.

“The Chamber’s board has also assisted in the compilation of packages for Bahamians to be in concert with what it really means to be in a globalised society. It has also contributed to the creation of the Bahamas-China Friendship Association,” Symonette said.

He said the Chamber had recently signed a Trade Co-operation Agreement with the China Foreign Trade Centre that would add another dimension to the growing relations between both countries.

The agreement calls for the strengthening and sustaining of co-operation between Bahamian and Chinese business institutions, through sound and accepted standards that will keep them informed of their domestic advancements for mutual benefits.

It also aims, amongst other things, to facilitate the participation of Bahamian businesses and to increase access and information dissemination between markets.

“This is a welcome development, particularly as China is a global player with the second largest economy in the world, and trade between our two countries is increasing annually with exports from The Bahamas having surpassed $10 million in 2007,” Symonette said.

Prime Minister David Thompson

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Prime Minister David Thompson has confirmed that he is in United States for a “medical procedure” but shied away from questions as to whether or not he is healthy enough to led a government in Barbados.

Speaking in a telephone link-up with local radio and television reporters, Thompson, 48, said that his personal medical physician, Dr. Richard Ishmael, will inform Barbadians about the state of his health next week.

“I want to let Barbadians know that during the two months I was away I kept abreast of what was happening and I am most grateful and heartened by the outpouring of love and support for me and the good wishes and prayers.

“It has been a tough time unfortunately…and being away from Barbados is something for me is obviously unfortunate, but I believe that the time has to be taken,” he said.

Thompson, who had been out of office for two months, returned to Barbados on August 29, and a statement issued then from his office residence said that he was back at the head of government. The statement quoted him as saying that he was feeling fine and eager to get back to work.

But the Prime Minister said that by Saturday he had developed “a complication which required me to travel back to New York.

“I think Barbadians would remember that I did indicate that the nature of my sickness would require me to travel to see the doctors here from time to time, but I don’t expect to be here long on this occasion all things being equal. But it was necessary for me to come back.”

He told the interviewers that he had also authorised Dr. Ishmael, who has  accompanied him to New York, “on his own independent position to give a medical update to Barbadians so you could have a very clear picture as to what is happening.

Thompson said that while he is not reluctant to state his medical problem he would rather allow the population to hear from the medical experts.

“I am not a medical expert, I have an idea as to what’s wrong with me but I …think it is better for him to speak first and for me to come later”.

During the brief telephone interview, Thompson, who led his Democratic Labour Party (DLP) to power just over two years ago, disagreed with suggestions that he should step down as head of the government.

“The people of Barbados elected me and I am not here to deal with that particular issue…but when I see Barbadians their first concern is for me to restore my health and that is what I have been focusing on.

“In the circumstances I believe that should I need to take any course of action that would be in the course of the country that I love I will take that course of action. At the same time one does not want to unsettle the social, political or economic environment and therefore don’t get excited about those things as yet.

“I believe this is me speaking to you, that you could work out from that that my brain is still functioning, that I am able to talk lucidly, that I am able to carry out my functions, maybe not with the same level of physical intensity as before…and I will in my circumstances do my best, but all this at the end of the day depends on the grace of God,” the Prime Minister said.

Thompson also brushed aside suggestions that he may have to re-shuffle his Cabinet, saying “ if you were in my condition…and you heard the calls of Barbadians… their first interest has been for me to get better and in those circumstances I am saying to you my interest is in the success of Barbados.

“We have a government in place, there is an acting Prime Minister, we have a full government in operation and in the circumstances those are matters that will be discussed and dealt with at another level,” he added.

“I want to thank Barbadians for their prayers, for their love, for their support,” he said.

Chairman of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), Bishop Juan Edghill addressing the 13th Annual Caribbean Postal Union Conference

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, CMC – Caribbean postal officials were meeting here amidst concerns that the future of the region’s postal services was under severe threat.

“We have to start thinking of how we can establish and strengthen already established partnerships; to ensure that the postal sector remains viable, and in many instances profitable,” Chairman of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), Bishop Juan Edghill, said.

He told delegates attending the 13th Annual Caribbean Postal Union (CPU) conference that the postal sector in the Caribbean is under tremendous stress and that there are are great demands for a change in strategies.

He said the Caribbean is still a small place and as such, a common group must be established so as to make firm decisions when faced with the reality of globalisation.

“If we are going to rise to the challenges that exist then we will have to start thinking about changing some of our structures to meet the challenges faced. The Caribbean postal sector needs a overhauling, if it is to become profitable.”

He said for example, Guyana need to “get rid of the monopoly approach because if there are no competitors we will not do what we do better.

“As such, Customs and the airlines need to work closely with us so as to look at what needs to be enhanced to be able to provide better service.

“Your performance and our performance need to be like hand in glove because we are working for the same cause of which is for the satisfaction of the people we serve. We have to break down the bureaucracy by ensuring that they establish those strategic networks,” Bishop Edghill said.

CPU Secretary General, Michael Gentles, said that the region’s postal service faces a serious threat to its survival and it was necessary for the postal services in the region to function as a viable business given the many challenges.

“The keynote of this conference for me is the involvement of CARICOM (Caribbean Community). This is something that we have been trying at the Secretariat to get on board for the longest time, because we feel that CARICOM is probably the best vehicle for us to get postal matters at the national and regional levels,” he said.

The meeting here is being attended by delegates from the 15 CARICOM member countries as well as the United States, France, Holland, Bermuda, Aruba and the Netherland Antilles.

CASTRIES, St. Lucia, CMC – Police have shot and re-captured 20 year-old Merkin Marquis,  who escaped from the Bordelaise Correctional Facility on Sunday.

Acting Police Commissioner Vernon Francois told the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) that Marquis was found hiding in the hills of the nearby east coast village of Dennery and was now under police guard at the hospital.

Marquis, who was serving a one-year concurrent sentence for possession of marijuana and causing grievous harm, was the fourth person within a month to escape from the Correctional Facility built nearly eight years ago at a cost of EC$45 million (US$16.6 million).

In August, two Venezuelans and a St. Lucian made their way out of the prison yard after a group of armed men fired on prison guards while cutting the prison fence from outside to facilitate their escape.
There has been no trace of the convicts who police informants say have made their way out of the country.
Francois said that while investigations were continuing into the latest incident, it appears that Marquis was able to scale the prison fences.

National Security Minister Guy Mayers told reporters Tuesday that a number of recommendations were made following the visit of two teams of officials to the Bordelaise Correctional Facility.

He said the recommendations called for greater authority to be granted to the prison director and the installation of security cameras.

“Once all the cameras are up and running and are being monitored on a 24 hour basis if there is a break out, we would not have to wait and review the camera footage well after the fact but we will be able to see the action as it happens and your SWAT team can be alerted immediately,” he said.

Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Dr. Kenny Anthony has renewed his call for the resignation of the National Security Minister.

“I really believe that Guy Mayers should vacate his Ministerial position and do so as quickly as possible. I am convinced that he is not enjoying the confidence of the staff of the Bordelaise Correctional Facility and they cannot trust him to deliver on the resources he has repeatedly promised them,” he said.

Anthony also dismissed claims by the Stephenson King government that his St. Lucia Labour Party (SLP) administration should take the blame for the problems at the multi-million dollar facility.

“Are you trying to tell me that you did not have high security prisoners prior to 2010? How come they never got away so something is significantly wrong at the prison and it’s about time they stop passing the buck and look at the problems that exist in a realistic way.

“The fact of the matter is that the perimeter fences were designed in a way to facilitate security on a continuous basis. Why is it that the security is not there,” he said, reiterating a call for an independent Commission of Inquiry to unearth the causes of these latest security breaches.

KINGSTOWN, St Vincent, CMC – The leader of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) Arnhim Eustace has denied allegations that his organisation has received millions of dollars by a foreign entity to assist in its campaign for the upcoming general elections.

In a radio broadcast on Monday night, Eustace said the allegation by Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves that the NDP had received five (EC) million (US$1.85 million) from the London-based Strategic Communications Laboratories (SCL) was unfounded.

“I know that the New Democratic Party did not receive any funds from SCL and this five million that he is talking about – whether it’s EC$5M or US$5M. I wish I had $5M EC in truth; he would have seen a campaign, he never saw before.

“But to make it appear that we receive five million from SCL for Behavioral Dynamics – as they call it – is a lie, a downright lie on the part of the Prime Minister of this country. We have received no such money,” he added.

Eustace acknowledged that SCL is assisting the party in its campaign for the general election due next year even as political observers say it is likely to be held later this year.

“We have to pay SCL,” he said.

Eustace also dismissed any suggestion that his party is receiving funds from drug dealers.

“We don’t deal with drug dealers in terms of raising funds for the New Democratic Party. I notice the whole trend now is trying to paint us as some corrupt bunch,” he told listeners.

“You have to be careful also with your source of funding; you don’t want to be caught up with any criminal activity and so forth. So you have to monitor what is going on,” he added.