From the BBC, Nov. 2:

A new Sultan of Sokoto, the spiritual leader of Nigeria's 70m Muslims, has been announced.

Colonel Muhammadu Sada Abubakar, 53, is the younger brother of Sultan Mohammadu Maccido, who was killed in a plane crash on Sunday, along with 95 others.

On Oct. 30, activists in Naples rallied at the local Mexican consulate in protest of the repression in Oaxaca, where Mexican President Vicente Fox has sent in a massive force of federal police. (Chiapas IMC) But Naples itself may soon be facing a similar dilemma. Following a crime wave which has left 12 dead over the past ten days, Prime Minister Romano Prodi is under growing pressure to send the army to patrol the southern port city. To his credit, he is thus far resisting the pressure. Meanwhile, the openly chauvinist Northern League frames the problem in its typically helpful and sensitive way. From AGI, Nov. 2:

Zapatista Subcommander Marcos and supporters joined arms to block traffic at the Stanton-Lerdo International Bridge over the Rio Grande for an hour in protest of the repression in Oaxaca Nov. 1. More than 100 cars were halted by the blockade on the bridge linking Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, and El Paso, Texas. (Cronica de Hoy, Nov. 1)

Mexican federal police pushed through barricades on roads leading to Oaxaca's state university Nov. 2, firing tear-gas canisters and water cannons at protesters, who fought back with rocks, slingshots and molotov cocktails. But the police stopped short of crossing onto the campus. At least eight people were injured in the fighting, including a newspaper photographer who was "hit by fireworks" launched by protesters, according to the New York Times. Flavio Sosa, a leader of the Popular People's Assembly of Oaxaca (APPO) pledged "we will not surrender." (WP, NYT, Nov. 3; La Jornada, Nov. 2)

From LA's NBC4-TV, Nov. 2:

FORT HUACHACA, Ariz. — The federal government has unveiled a new multimillion-dollar gadget to patrol and protect the U.S.-Mexican border.

From India's Daily News & Analysis (DNA), Nov. 2:

LAHORE: The October 30 pre-dawn air strike on a religious seminary in the Bajaur Agency on the Pak-Afghan border was carried out by US predator drones to sabotage the signing of yet a another peace deal between the Pakistan Army and the Taliban backed militants, which was to be inked a few hours later inside the compound of the Madrassa Ziaul Uloom where 82 people were killed as a result of the deadly missile attack.

From Raw Story, Nov. 1, emphasis added:

During an interview with conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh, US President George Bush expressed deep concerns about the possibility of the United States leaving the Middle East, raising fears that extremists could topple governments to "control oil resources."

From AP, Nov. 2:

BAGHDAD - An Iraqi journalist who was kidnapped last month was found dead nearly two weeks after his abduction, a media advocacy group said Thursday.