Posted on Tuesday, January 11 @ 21:12:53 PST by JWSmythe
On Dec. 25, President Fidel Castro said he had some information to lift the spirits of Cuba's 11 million people: two Canadian energy companies, Pebercan and Sherritt International, had discovered oil in the Gulf of Mexico in an area under Cuba's control.
Mr. Castro, in an announcement that raised eyebrows in the executive suites of energy companies here, disclosed that the Canadian companies had discovered estimated reserves of 100 million barrels. That was the good news. It was also the bad news.
The deposits, which are expected to produce oil as early as next year, may provide Cuba's government with some relief as it presses forward with efforts to use hard currency for purposes other than petroleum purchases from abroad. Shortly after Mr. Castro announced the discovery, the central bank said it was tightening measures intended to centralize the control of dollars circulating in the Cuban economy......
British flight forced to turn back
1/12/2005, 2:16 p.m. ET
The Associated Press
LONDON (AP) — A British Airways flight from London to New York was forced to turn back Wednesday after U.S. authorities refused to allow one of the passengers to land, the airline said.
Flight BA175 was three hours into its journey to John F. Kennedy International Airport when it was forced to turn back to London's Heathrow Airport, where the male passenger was met by police.
"The flight returned to Heathrow after we received a request from the U.S. authorities saying that a passenger aboard the aircraft was not to be allowed to land in New York," an airline spokesman said. "We stress that there was no threat to the safety of the aircraft."
The passenger's nationality was not immediately available.
Airline officials said the rest of the passengers on the flight would leave later Wednesday evening.