Grouper fight flares in Gulf of Mexico:-
Recreational and commercial fishermen are being pitted against each other by a plan to limit hauls of red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico.
Federal fishery management officials have proposed closing Gulf of Mexico grouper fishing to recreational fishermen, allowing commercial boats to continue their catch, the Christian Science Monitor reported Friday.
Florida state officials have said they do not intend to enforce that ban, since tourists pay $26 million a year to Florida charter boats to fish in the gulf.
The Monitor said recreational fishermen pull in about 18 percent of the 5.3 million pounds of grouper allowed to be caught each year. The rest is caught by commercial fishermen trying to meet a growing demand from across the country.
More: news.webindia123.com
Mexico warns of long drug fight, more deaths ahead
Mexico warned on Tuesday of a long fight against drug traffickers and more deaths among security forces after two police chiefs were shot dead near Texas.
A spokesman for President Vicente Fox said the fatal shootings on Monday would not deter the government in its "frontal attack against organized crime."
More than 1,000 people died last year as gangs battled for control of lucrative smuggling routes to Texas from northeast Mexico, many in Nuevo Laredo across from Laredo, Texas.
"The Mexican state will emerge victorious, but there will still be a long period of conflict
Mexico's Televisa, Univision legal fight heats up
A legal dispute between Televisa and its U.S. partner, Univision, has escalated, with the Mexican broadcaster filing two more claims in a fight over royalties,
Televisa (TV.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (TLEVISACPO.MX: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Friday it amended an existing suit against Univision to include new claims that the U.S. company aired sports programs from Televisa outside an existing programming deal and has refused to air Televisa advertising.
In May, Televisa filed suit against Univision Communications Inc. (UVN.N: Quote, Profile, Research) in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California over royalties, and its
Oil Production Down 78 Percent in Gulf of Mexico
The U.S. government says oil production in the Gulf of Mexico was nearly 80 percent below normal as of Saturday, five days after Hurricane Katrina tore through the region.
A report from the U.S. Minerals Management Service said Katrina had cut oil production in the Gulf by about 1.18 million barrels of oil per day. It said more than 280 offshore oil-drilling rigs and platforms remained evacuated.
The figures represent a slight improvement from Friday, when oil production in the Gulf was nearly 90 percent below normal.
Katrina's disruption to Gulf-area oil production and refineries
Shell, BP evacuate Gulf of Mexico workers due to Hurricane Katrina
Royal Dutch Shell PLC and BP PLC have evacuated workers from their platforms in the Gulf of Mexico as Hurricane Katrina heads towards the area.
Shell, in a statement, said it will evacuate around 120 non-essential staff from the eastern part of its Gulf operations as a 'precaution'.
A BP spokesman said it will also evacuate a still undetermined number of workers.
Both companies said the move will not affect their Gulf production.
Katrina came ashore in Florida on Thursday, killing at least three people and leaving about 1.5 mln
Gulf of Mexico acts as gale
Millions of people cowered in fear yesterday as Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and the Gulf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama with 225-kilometre-an-hour winds fuelled by the warm waters of the the Gulf of Mexico.
After stumbling across southern Florida as a weak category one storm late last week, Katrina wobbled into the Gulf and surged in strength over the next four days, becoming several times stronger before coming ashore yesterday as a category four hurricane with a storm track almost 640 km wide.
In terms of Gulf hurricanes, Katrina was almost the perfect storm.
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UPDATE 3-Mexico nears cement deal with US after epic battle
Mexico is close to a deal with Washington to end a 15-year cement fight over U.S. duties after cement shortages in the United States forced the neighbors to end the dispute.
A Mexican government source said on Tuesday the deal would triple Mexican cement exports to the United States, opening the door for more business for the world's No. 3 player Cemex (CX.N: Quote, Profile, Research) (CEMEXCPO.MX: Quote, Profile, Research).
The source said negotiations were 90 percent complete and should be finished within a week. "I think we've sorted out the most difficult
Woodside chases Gulf of Mexico deal
Woodside Petroleum Ltd will expand its interests in the Gulf of Mexico, if a $US883 million ($A1.17 billion) takeover bid for US-based explorer and producer Energy Partners Ltd (EPL) is successful.
Woodside, through its wholly owned subsidiary ATS Inc, has offered $US23 cash per share for the 38.396 million of EPL shares on issue in the US.
Woodside said the acquisition would immediately increase its production and reserves in the Gulf of Mexico, with EPL producing around 28,000 barrels of oil a day on average.
More : theage.com.au
Senate Pushes Expanded Oil Drilling in Gulf of Mexico
In the 1980s, Senators and Representatives introduced legislation to protect the Gulf of Mexico, to restrict drilling. This Congress plans to expand drilling. This week the Senate quadrupled the Presidents request (map - pdf) for new acreage in the Gulf of Mexico.
Less than two weeks after S. 3711 was introduced, the Senate voted 71-25 to open up an additional 8.3 million acres of east-central Gulf of Mexico to drilling, ostensibly to provide relief for consumers.
However, no new crude will hit the market for 4-5 years -- and when it does,
Mexicos president-elect promises to fight for equality, jobs, justice
MEXICO CITY President-elect Felipe Calderon promised Thursday he would work tirelessly to construct a nation of equal opportunities and thanked outgoing President Vicente Fox for laying the groundwork for that goal.
Calderons declarations followed his second public appearance with Fox at the presidential residence, Los Pinos, since the nations top electoral court confirmed him as the countrys new leader earlier this month. He takes office on Dec. 1.
The former energy secretary was not Foxs first choice for the job but received his blessing after he won their conservative partys primary.
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Katrina Could be in Gulf of Mexico by Saturday
Most of southeast Florida is under a hurricane watch as Tropical Storm Katrina moves closer to the state. Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center in Miami have posted tropical storm warnings and a hurricane watch from Florida City just south of Miami north to Vero Beach.
Katrina has maximum sustained winds of 40-miles per hour, but the storm is expected to grow stronger and become a minimal hurricane before it comes ashore Friday morning.
Katrina is expected to emerge over the Gulf of Mexico by Saturday morning and could re-strengthen before making
