Cuba Hits Black GoldCubapetroleo, Cuba’s nationalized oil company has released an estimate that the country may have more than twenty billion barrels of oil off it’s shores, breaking even with US reserves.-BBC

Big Brother pays Britain a VisitBritain has just approved an expansion of government ability to monitor citizens’ mobile devices. In response to criticism of the bill, transport secretary Geoff Hoon responded that “The biggest civil liberty of all is not to be killed by a terrorist.”-BBC

Somali Pirates At it AgainSomali pirates are currently occupying two ships off their coast. For the last two weeks, they have held a Ukrainian freighter that is carrying arms to demand ransom. Friday a Greek ship with a Panamanian flag was seized and they are also holding out for ransom on that. Currently six US Navy warships have surrounded the Ukrainian ship.- New York Times

Chinese Families Having Difficulty Winning Tainted Formula CasesDue to pressure from the Chinese government to keep high rates of economic growth, families in China whose infants were sickened by tainted baby formula are losing lawsuits with the producer as the company has many connections to the government-New York Times

Explosion Hits Gas Pipeline in British ColombiaExplosions targeting EnCana gas pipelines hit Saturday October 11th and Thursday October 17th about 30 miles east of Dawson Creek. That blast left a small crater under the line, but the company said it did not rupture and no gas was released.-Washington Times