News Update: Political, Economic, Business and Environment

Political

British Prime Minister to Meet with Obama

Washington (CNN) — Prime Minister David Cameron makes his first White House visit as Britain’s leader Tuesday.

There will be a number of difficult issues on the agenda, ranging from Afghanistan to the early release from prison of the Libyan convicted of the 1988 Lockerbie airplane bombing that killed 270 people.

But Cameron and Obama also have much in common, although they represent different parts of the political spectrum.

Economy

Senate could extend jobless benefits, Times says

The US Senate is expected to break a stalemate today over extending unemployment benefits for millions of out-of-work Americans, The New York Times is reporting.

The debate has been stalled since June, with Democrats being one vote short of Senate approval.

Today Carte Goodwin is scheduled to be sworn in to succeed Robert C. Byrd, the Democratic Senator from West Virginia who died last month. Along with the support of Senators Susan Collins and Olympia J. Snowe, both Maine Republicans, Senate Democrats believe they have the 60 votes needed to prevent a Republican filibuster of the measure, The Times is reporting.

Business

Bank bonus tax cost Goldman Sachs $600m

Alistair Darling’s one-off bank bonus tax cost Goldman Sachs $600m (£395m), the Wall Street bank said today as it revealed that its wage and bonus bill reached $9.2bn in the first half of the year – $235,000 per employee.

The firm also took a $550m hit from its record-breaking settlement with the securities and exchange commission over its Abacus collateralised debt obligation, which Goldman admitted had contained some misleading sales material.

Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman’s chairman and chief executive, acknowledged that activity had dropped off in the second quarter of the year, a trend that has been reported by other US investment banks.

Environment

Oil giant falls short on spills

Exxonmobile failed to meet its target to reduce oil spills in 2009, according to its annual Corporate Responsibility Report.

The number of non-marine spills from the company’s operations was 241 over the year, up from 211 in 2008. Its environmental framework required it reduce the number of spills in the course of the year.

The report says the company, which is the world’s largest oil producers, has introduced a number of measures to redress the failure, the majority of which transfer responsibility to staff. It highlights the need to reduce human error, increase training and inspections.