Obama’s popularity plummets amid Gulf spill

THE Gulf of Mexico oil spill piled pressure on Barack Obama yesterday as the hurricane season closed in and voters angry at his crisis management hammered the US president in a poll rating.

BP was able to restart one of its containment operations after a delay caused by a collision of equipment, and coastal fishermen, cut off for weeks from the Gulf fishing grounds, were allowed back in some waters.

But weather changes could hamper clean-up efforts and make collecting the spewing crude more difficult.