More oil flows into Gulf of Mexico after accident

HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Oil gushed largely unchecked from BP's ruptured Gulf of Mexico well on Wednesday after a collision involving an undersea robot halted efforts to contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

While the energy giant struggled to restart its oil collection operation, the U.S. government said it would impose a more flexible ban on new deepwater drilling, a day after a federal judge overturned an initial moratorium as too broad.