Crude oil rose above $89 a barrel for the first time this week as the US dollar declined to a record low against the euro. Analysts say the market is reacting to concerns over Turkish military incursions into northern Iraq. On Oct. 15, prices passed the previous all-time inflation-adjusted record reached in 1981 when Iran cut oil exports. The cost of oil used by US refiners averaged $37.48 a barrel in March 1981, according to the Energy Department, or $84.73 in today's dollars. (Bloomberg, Oct. 18) Prices fell to about $87.30 a barrel after the government reported a larger than expected increase in overall crude and gasoline inventories—but shot back up to over $88 a barrel on Oct. 17, when an explosion halted operations at the ExxonMobil refinery in Lockwood, MT. (AP, Oct. 17) The fire continues to burn at the refinery outside Billings. The explosion created a fireball that shook surrounding homes and businesses—and, writes AP, "exacerbated growing concerns about the adequacy of crude oil supplies." (AP, Oct. 18)

From the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Oct. 14, links added:

Vernon Bellecourt, a longtime leader of the American Indian Movement, died Saturday. He was 75. Bellecourt died at Abbott Northwestern Hospital of complications of pneumonia, said his brother, Clyde Bellecourt, a founder of the group.

On Oct. 14, Iranian authorities arrested Emaddedin Baghi, a prominent activist who who heads the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners' Rights and has campaigned against the death penalty "He is charged with spreading propaganda against the regime and publishing secret government documents," his lawyer Saleh Nikbakht told AFP. Baghi is a former journalist who served a three-year prison term from 2000-2003 over his writings in several pro-reform newspapers. In recent months, he has publicly protested against a wave of public hangings that has swept Iran as part of a "security" campaign. In September he wrote an open letter to the heads of reformist parties—including former president Mohammad Khatami and ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi—complaining of their silence over the hangings. At least 207 executions have been carried out in Iran so far this year, already well above the figures for 2006. Baghi, who in 2005 was awarded a human rights prize by France for his work against the death penalty, was particularly prominent in cases in Khuzestan province, which has seen a spate of executions following the emergence of armed Arab separatist activity.

Mexico's Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN), now convening an international forum on indigenous rights at Vicam, Sonora, are protesting comments by Supreme Court Justice Aguirre Anguiano dismissing the rebel movement as "folklore." The statement came in a case brought by 44 indigenous-majority municipalities, led by Coxcatlán, San Luis Potosí, challenging several articles of the federal telecommunications laws as failing to comply with constitutional changes on indigenous rights approved in 2001. Justice Aguirre argued for cutting off the debate, finding the claim without merit. When Justice Genaro Góngora Pimentel stated that the constitutional changes were part of the San Andrés Accords, which emerged from the government's peace dialogue with the Zapatistas, Aguirre responded: "For me... this is an ideological group and part of the national folklore...whose leaders...13 years ago declared war on the Mexican Army and have not fired one shot." (Proceso, Oct. 9)

From NY1, Oct. 15:

Toddler Dies In Livery Cab Accident In East Harlem
A two-year-old child was killed in a car accident at the corner of 111th Street and Fifth Avenue in East Harlem Friday afternoon. Police say a livery cab carrying a mother and child crashed into a van at about 1 p.m. as it was pulling out of a parking lot. The girl was thrown through the window.

Forgive our cynicism but it smells to us like a quick cash-in (albeit a year late, so as not to seem unseemly) on the Da Vinci Code hype. The official website of the Holy See has a link right on the front page, for God and everyone to see, to something luridly if paradoxically entitled the "Vatican Secret Archives." Reading the history page on the archives, it turns out (surprise!) they aren't really all that secret, but were thusly named because when they were established by Paul V c. 1610 they were housed in halls adjacent to (not in) the so-called "Secret Library" or Sale Paoline. Some of the documents, however, really are only being released to the public now. These conveniently concern the oh-so-sexy Knights Templar—and are bound in an exorbitantly priced edition. From Reuters , Oct. 11 (link added):

From BBC News via Sufi News & World Report, Oct. 11:

More than 130 Muslim scholars have written to Pope Benedict XVI and other Christian leaders urging greater understanding between the two faiths. The letter says that world peace could depend on improved relations between Muslims and Christians.

At least two people were killed and nearly 20 injured when a bomb exploded inside the revered Sufi shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Ajmer in India's western state of Rajasthan Oct. 11. The attack came when the shrine was packed with hundreds of worshipers during evening Eid al-Fitr prayers. (Sify, Oct. 11) A day after the attack, a second explosive device was found in the shrine and defused by police. Six people were detained for interrogation, including two pilgrims of Bangladeshi origin. No group has claimed responsibility for the blast. (The Hindu, Oct. 13)