Elite police units raided properties across New Zealand Oct. 15, apparently seizing weapons in what the media are calling "anti-terrorist" sweeps targeting Maori activists. An armed roadblock was set up around the inland Maori settlement of Ruatoki on the North Island, gateway to the Urewera mountains, home of the reclusive Tuhoe tribe. The raid allegedly followed sightings by hunters in the region of armed men in camouflage at a camp in the Ureweras. TV reports said that a napalm bomb had been tested at one camp, and a threat made against Prime Minister Helen Clark. Locations in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch were also raided. Among the 17 arrested was Tame Iti, 55, a prominent campaigner for Maori independence. He appeared before Rotorua District Court on eight charges relating to possession of firearms and petrol bombs. (Radio New Zealand, Stuff.co.nz, London Times, Oct. 15)

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.

Heavy rains have caused floods and landslides throughout Central America, leaving at least 18 dead, thousands displaced and many roads impassable and communities cut off. Fourteen were killed in Costa Rica Oct. 11 when a mudslide brought down a hillside community at Atenas, 50 kilometers west of the capital, San José. Some 1,400 have been evacuated from their homes in Guatemala, where an "orange alert" has been declared throughout most of the country, with the highland department of Huehuetenango hardest hit. Some 2,000 have been evacuated in Nicaragua's western department of Chinandega. (Nuevo Diario, Nicaragua, Oct. 14; Nuevo Diario, Oct. 14; Prensa Libre, Guatemala, Oct. 12)

At least 21 Afro-Colombian barequeros, or small-scale miners, are dead and 28 others injured after a hillside collapsed Oct. 13 following several days of heavy rains on the banks of the Rio Cauca, near Suarez, Cauca department. The open-pit mine was alongside electrical generators of La Salvajina hydro-electric dam, built by the parastal Valle del Cauca Autonomous Regional Corporation (CVC) in 1985 and since privatized to the Pacific Energy Corporation (EPSA). The landslide was said to be caused by local deforestation, and erosion related to the operation of the hydro-dam. One of the tubes that carry the water to the generators imploded, bringing down the hillside. (Terra, Spain, Oct. 14; El Tiempo, Bogotá, Oct. 13)

An Oct. 13 New York Times story, "Energy Crunch Threatens South American Nations," poses the problem in terms of "growth...outpacing fuel supplies"—but actually sheds much light on the continent's political fault lines, which persist despite the predominance of populist or left-of-center governments. The analysis reveals a centrifugal aspect to the populist program which ostensibly pits a united continent against the Behemoth to the North...

From the Colombia Support Network (CSN), Oct. 12:

The Colombia Support Network (CSN) has received word from the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó that two members of the Peace Community, Arley Tuberquia and Martha Basquez, were detained by the Israeli secret service in the Tel Aviv airport. They had arrived to participate in the Grace Peace Pilgrimage from Eilat, over Bethlehem to Jerusalem. These members of the Peace Community, itself a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, apparently are being treated by the Israelis as terror suspects. They are, of course, in no sense terrorists. They have been the sister community of Dane County, Wisconsin for many years. The San Jose Peace Community is totally committed to peace and rejects arms.

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.