Japan has ordered the withdrawal of its two ships supporting US-led operations in Afghanistan following the government's failure to agree a deal with the opposition to extend the mission beyond the end of its mandate on Nov. 1. The administration of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has said it would try to pass new legislation to allow a more limited mission. "The government will make its utmost effort... to resume an important mission in the Indian Ocean," chief Cabinet spokesman Nobutaka Machimura said. Japan has refuelled coalition warships in the Indian Ocean since 2001.

Police used tear gas and water cannons to disperse student protesters who turned out by the tens of thousands in Caracas Nov. 1 to protest constitutional reforms that would permit Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to run for re-election indefinitely. Chanting "Freedom! Freedom!," protesters marched on the National Electoral Council (CNE) to deliver a document calling for the referendum on the reforms, scheduled for Dec. 2, to be postponed. Authorities broke up the protest outside the CNE headquarters, where six police officers and one student were reported injured. Protesters said the 69 amendments drafted by Venezuela's Chavista-dominated National Assembly would derail democracy. But as the march passed through the poorer area of Parque Central, the protest was met with spontaneous cries from Chavez supporters of "Chavez is not going" and "They will not return"—a reference to the political leaders of the pre-Chavez era. (AP, Nov. 3; VenezuelAnalysis, Nov. 2)

Setting a new standard for accuracy in the blogosphere, the New York Times editorial board makes a major error in their Oct. 31 blog post, "A Visit From: Eli Khoury, Lebanese Activist." On "The Board," the editorial staff of the newspaper of record declares: "Israel, which is pounded daily by Hezbollah rockets coming across its northern border with Lebanon..."

The Spanish parliament Oct. 31 passed a landmark bill that condemns the 1939-75 fascist dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco and mandates restitution to its victims. The Law of Historical Memory, approved by the lower house, will expand benefits to victims of Spain's 1936-39 civil war and nearly four decades of dictatorship that followed. Approval by the Senate is considered a formality. Right-wing opposition politicians bitterly fought the law, arguing it reopens wounds that would further divide the country. The Socialist government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero—whose grandfather was among thousands executed by Franco's forces—maintains that while Franco supporters who suffered during the war have been honored and compensated, those who opposed him faced only persecution. Details of the bill from the LA Times:

Judge Javier Gomez Bermudez read out the verdicts Oct. 31 in the long-running Madrid 3-11 terror trial. Three of the defendants—Jamal Zougam, Emilio Suarez Trashorras, and Osman Gnaoui— were found guilty of murder and handed prison terms of up to 38,000 years. Eighteen other defendants were found guilty of lesser charges such as belonging to a terrorist organization. Of 28 standing trial, seven—including the alleged mastermind of the attacks, the Egyptian Rabei Osman—were acquitted of all charges.

With the price of oil creeping ominously and seemingly inexorably towards an unprecedented $100 per barrel, the long and equally unprecedented mega-profit-fest for Exxon and the other industry majors is nonetheless starting to level off. It seems that consumption is starting to slow down, the high prices (and perhaps—dare we hope?—concern over the Iraq war, global warming, etc.) finally taking their toll—even with motorists basically captive consumers, dependent on filling their tanks every day to get to work due to urban infrastructure decisions not of their own making. Unable to pass on the costs at the pump sufficiently, Exxon and their ilk are increasingly having to eat the high costs themselves. Resurgent oil nationalism in Venezuela and elsewhere is also taking its toll. It's still a very small victory—but, hey, we'll take what we can get these days. From Business Week, Nov. 1:

The northern Israeli village of Pekiin turned into a battleground Oct. 30 as clashes between police and Druze protesters left some 16 police officers and a similar number of medics and residents injured. One resident was in serious condition after being shot in the stomach, and a police officer was reportedly hospitalized with serious head wounds. The clashes broke out after a force of more than 100 police entered the village before dawn to arrest five men suspected of having vandalized a cellphone antenna installed in the neighboring community of New Pekiin. When the force tried to carry out the arrests, they were attacked with rocks and metal bars by masked Druze youth, and police responded by opening fire. The villagers believe that radiation from the antenna causes cancer. (NYT, Oct. 31)

An appellate court in Tehran confirmed a five-year sentence against imprisoned union leader Mansur Osanlu Oct. 30. The court also upheld a two-year prison sentence against another senior member of Osanlu's union, Ebrahim Madadi, for acting against Iran's national security. Osanlu, head of the Syndicate Workers of the Tehran Bus Company, has been incarcerated at Tehran's Evin prison since July, when he pulled from a bus, beaten, and abducted. Madadi was detained along with four other union members in August after they visited Osanlu's home.