BBC News, this is Mike Cooper.

President Obama says the battle to stop the massive BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is finally close to coming to an end. A government report has calculated that three quarters of the oil has now either been captured, burnt off, evaporated or broken down by nature. But the report also warned that beaches and marshes in the area were still at risk and that the long-term impact was unclear. From Washington, here is Iain MacKenzie.

The White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said the operation in the Gulf was now moving to a second phase, one of clean-up and damage assessment. He promised that the administration would maintain its commitment to the families and communities along the coast. His comments come as BP confirmed it had successfully secured the well by pumping it full of heavy drilling mud, a procedure known as "static kill".