Latin American markets continued to be shaken by a global financial crisis set off in September by bad mortgages in the US. On Oct. 7 the stock exchange in Sao Paulo, Brazil, fell 4.66%; Mexico's market was down 3.97%; stocks in Santiago, Chile, fell 4.29%; and the market in Buenos Aires, Argentina, lost 2.72%. Latin American losses that day were smaller those in New York, where the Dow Jones lost 5.11%. (La Jornada, Oct. 8 from Reuters, AFP, DPA and Notimex) But fallout from the global crisis is likely to get worse. Speaking in Durango on Oct. 6, Mexican Labor Secretary Javier Lozano Alarcón said his department expected some 200,000 Mexicans now working in the US to come home during the next year; he denied the number would be in the millions. (LJ, Oct. 7)

Several large operations by federal and local Mexican police from Oct. 7 to Oct. 9 broke up protests by striking teachers and their supporters in Morelos state, south of Mexico City, leaving dozens of people detained or injured. Morelos teachers have been on strike since Aug. 13 to protest the Alliance for Quality Education (ACE), a national plan promoted by Mexican president Felipe Calderón Hinojosa and national teachers union head Elba Esther Gordillo Morales.

The Dominican Republic deported 691 people into Haiti at the border town of Belladere in the Central Plateau department from Sept. 4 to Sept. 30, according to the local Human Rights Committee, which is part of the Jeannot Succes Border Network. Witnesses say the deportees were imprisoned for two to five days before their repatriation.

As of Oct. 7 Puerto Rico's teachers had been voting for a week on whether the Puerto Rican Teachers Union (SPM) should represent them. The island's 40,000 teachers were previously represented by the 42-year-old Teachers' Federation of Puerto Rico (FMPR), but the Labor Relations Commission excluded the FMPR from running in the new election, even though 12,000 teachers had already endorsed the union as their bargaining agent. Earlier this year Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila's administration withdrew the union's certification because of its refusal to accept a ban on strikes by public employees in Law 45. The FMPR mounted a militant 10-day strike in late February and early March over wages, classroom size and health issues, winning several key demands.

The Turkish military said that its warplanes hit targets of the PKK guerillas in the Zap region of northern Iraq Oct. 12. The Turkish General Staff said in a statement that this was the seventh time that Turkey's warplanes have bombed PKK targets in Iraq since Oct. 4. Rather than protesting the raids, Iraq's ambassador to Turkey Sabah Umran Oct. 14 pledged his government's support in cracking down on the PKK.

A coast guard patrol from the independent Somali region of Puntland on Oct. 14 freed the 11-man crew of a hijacked ship and captured the 10 pirates who seized the vessel last week. Puntland's special Rescue Commando Forces raided the Panama-flagged ship—the Wail—in the Gulf of Aden, Puntland Foreign Minister Ali Abdi Aware told CNN, adding that all of the rescued crew are now safe.

One of India's most isolated tribes, the Dongria Kondh, is preparing to stop British FTSE 100 company Vedanta from mining aluminum ore on their sacred mountain, after police and hired thugs forced protesters to dismantle a barricade over the weekend. About 150 people had blocked the road in Orissa state Oct. 8 when hearing that Vedanta intended to start survey work for the planned mine which would destroy an ecologically vital hill, and the Dongria Kondh's most sacred site. Vedanta employees visited the blockade repeatedly, threatening the protesters. On Oct. 10 the villagers gave in and took down the barricade, but about 100 are still at the side of the road, blocking traffic when Vedanta vehicles approach.

Indians from the Enawene Nawe tribe in the Brazilian Amazon occupied and shut down the site of a huge hydroelectric dam Oct. 11, destroying equipment, in an attempt to save the river that runs through their land. The Enawene Nawe say the 77 dams to be built on the River Juruena will pollute the water and stop the fish reaching their spawning grounds. Fish is crucial to the Enawene Nawe's diet as they do not eat red meat. It also plays a vital part in their rituals. "If the fish get sick and die so will the Enawene Nawe," said one member of the tribe.