According to a letter Thursday from Fred Bartlit, Jr., the lead investigator for a federal probe of the Gulf oil disaster, BP and Halliburton knew of potential flaws in the cement slurry used to reinforce the oil well below the Deepwater Horizon rig before it exploded on April 20, 2010. 

The letter, to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, said that tests in February on a cement slurry similar to what was used on the Macondo well showed instability -- and that both companies had the data.  The news caused Halliburton stock to drop in value by almost 8 percent by the end of trading Thursday, to $31.68 a share. 

Bartlit emphasized in his letter that cementing failures are a known hazard in the oil industry, with specific tests such as a "negative pressure test" and "cement evaluation logs" designed to identify cementing problems. However, he wrote, workers at BP and possibly the company that operated the Deepwater Horizon rig, Transocean, "misinterpreted or chose not to conduct such tests at the Macondo well."

A commission hearing on the disaster is scheduled for November 9, but Bartlit's letter said he was notifying the commission about the cement slurry issue immediately in order to "facilitate [its] consideration of their implications for offshore drilling safety."

Russia's state-run United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC) may sell 20 to 30 percent of its shares in an initial public offering in 2013, according to USC President Roman Trotsenko.  Russia accounts for approximately only 0.4 percent of global civilian shipbuilding and slightly over three percent in military shipbuilding, and USC is currently engaged in exclusively military production.  However, USC has announced plans to move towards added civilian output in the future in an attempt to create a Russian corporation analogous to the American shipbuilder Northrup Grumman.  In addition to its potential IPO, USC is currently in the process of valuing the shipbuilding assets of United Industrial Corporation with an eye towards purchasing those assets.

A Somali pirate who pleaded guilty to charges that he and three other men hijacked a U.S.-flagged vessel off the coast of Somalia and took hostage its captain.  That man, Abduwali Abdukhadir, will be sentenced Today, Tuesday, October 19, 2010. 

Prosecutors say that Muse acted as the ringleader when he and this three cohorts seized the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama by force about 350 miles off the coast of Somalia on April 8, 2009.  Once on board, the armed men demanded the ship be stopped, then abducted and held the captain of the ship, Richard Phillips, hostage on a lifeboat for four days. The USS Bainbridge, a U.S. Navy destroyer, came to the assistance of the vessel, and in radio communications, the pirates threatened to kill Phillips if they were not guaranteed safe passage away from the scene, authorities have said.  Four days after the hijacking began, Muse boarded the Bainbridge and demanded safe passage for himself and the others in exchange for Phillips' release, according to a criminal complaint.  According to authorities, Muse was then taken into custody, and while he was away from the lifeboat, Navy SEALs shot and killed the three remaining pirates.

During his plea on May 18, 2009, Muse apologized for his actions and blamed the incident on the Somali government.  "What we did was wrong. I am very sorry for all of this," Muse said. "All of this happened because of the government in Somalia," he added.  In addition to the Maersk Alabama, Muse was charged with participating in the hijacking of two other vessels in late March and early April of 2009.  Muse told the court that he and the three other men had agreed to "capture any ship that came by."  He added that he did not recognize the U.S. flag on the Maersk Alabama.

Muse could receive a maximum sentence of almost 34 years behind bars.