Oil prices surged Aug. 11 on concerns that fighting between Russia and Georgia could threaten the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. Crude was up by $1.19 to $116.39 a barrel in New York. It rose $1.81 to $115.14 a barrel in London. (London Evening Standard, Aug. 11) Georgia's Black Sea ports of Supsa and Batumi, key transfer points for crude exports from Azerbaijan, have been reduced to partial operation as a result of the fighting. A third Georgian port, Poti, is completely shut following air-strikes. (Lloyd's List, Aug. 11) The Baku-Supsa pipeline, completed in 1999 by the Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), has a capacity of 115,000 barrels per day (bpd). (Alexander's Oil & Gas, May 17, 1999) The Baku-Ceyhan pipeline has a capacity of 1 million bpd (1% of daily world consumption). (Reuters, Aug. 7)

Pakistani warplanes and helicopters bombed Lowi Sam and other areas of the Bajaur Tribal Agency near the Afghan border Aug. 10, forcing thousands of people to flee their homes. Witnesses said seven people were killed and dozens of houses were damaged in Lowi Sam and adjacent localities. The air-strikes were said to target homes being used by thelocal Taliban commander Faqir Mohammad. Taliban militants started moving towards Khar, the regional headquarters, where they have dug trenches and seized a section of the main highway. Nine soldiers have been killed over four days of fighting and over 100 militants, authorities said. (Dawn, Pakistan, Aug. 11)

Chinese police shot and killed five people who hurled homemade bombs at a police station and the office of industry and commerce in Kucha, Xinjiang, early Aug. 10. Two police officers and a security guard were reportedly wounded in the attacks. The oasis city is on the northern rim of the Taklimakan Desert, about halfway between Xinjiang's capital of Urumqi and Kashgar, where a deadly attack took place last week. (WP, Aug. 10)

The Philippine military launched attacks on Muslim guerillas in Mindanao Aug. 9 after hundreds of fighters with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) defied an ultimatum to withdraw from Christian villages. At least six soldiers were wounded in clashes with the MILF in the villages in Aleosan and Pikit. The fighting has displaced up to 100,000 villagers in North Cotabato province. Residents of the predominantly Christian province have struggled to recover after Typhoon Fengshen ravaged farmlands in June. (AlJazeera, Aug. 10) On Aug. 10 there were reports of Philippine Air Force planes bombing MILF positions. The contested villages lie outside the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), where regional elections were to be held on Aug. 11. (Inquirer.net, Philippines, Aug. 11)

Georgian authorities say Russian warplanes are targeting the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, and have carried out over 50 air-strikes near the conduit. A BP-led consortium operates the pipeline, which transports one million barrels a day from Azerbaijan to the Mediterranean. "They need control of energy routes," Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili said of the Russians. "They need sea ports. They need transportation infrastructure. And primarily, they want to get rid of us." (The Telegraph, Aug. 11)

Kurdish PKK guerillas claimed responsibility for an Aug. 5 blast near Refahiye, in eastern Turkey's Erzincan province, that shut down the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline. "Attacks on economic interests have a deterring effect... As long as the Turkish state insists on war, such acts will be naturally carried out," PKK commander Bahoz Erdal told the pro-rebel Firat news agency. The conduit is expected to remain shut for about 15 days. (AFP, Aug. 8)

After days of Republican attack ads that compared him to Britney Spears and Moses, Barack Obama celebrated his 47th birthday Aug. 4 by releasing his own TV spot accusing John McCain of being "in the pocket" of Big Oil. The ad came as Obama unveiled his energy plan to combat the US "addiction" to foreign oil, "one of the most dangerous and urgent threats" the country has ever faced. McCain campaign spokesman Tucker Bounds responded that the ad "shows his celebrity is matched only by his hypocrisy" because Obama has also received $400,000 in campaign contributions from oil companies. (CanWest, Aug. 4)

Canadian lawyers for Guantánamo detainee Omar Khadr filed suit with the Federal Court of Canada Aug. 8 demanding that Prime Minister Stephen Harper intervene on behalf of the 22-year-old Canadian citizen, who has spent the past six years at the military camp. Lawyers are asking the court to require that Harper demand Khadr's release before his military tribunal begins in October. Khadr was 15 when he was captured in a 2002 Afghan firefight. He is alleged to have thrown a grenade during that battle that fatally wounded a US soldier.