The "peak oil" phenomenon, which has so far received more serious treatment in the foreign press than here in the USA, is starting to break through to the mainstream--at least among the business media. On May 4, Bloomberg.com opinion columnist Matthew Lynn asks "Are You Ready to Sign Up for the $100 Oil Club?" He writes:

CNN reports May 5:

New York - Two "improvised explosive devices" made from "novelty-type grenades" have exploded in front of the building that houses the British Consulate in New York City, police and officials said. The early Thursday morning blasts shattered windows but did not cause significant damage or any injuries, the New York Police Department said. The devices, which contained black gunpowder and a fuse, blew out a chunk of concrete in the flower box where they were planted outside the building. The explosions occurred as voters in Britain were casting ballots in a general election in which Prime Minister Tony Blair is seeking a historic third term for his Labour Party. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said police had no indication who was responsible for the blasts. "It is true the British Consulate is in that building, but I don't think anybody should jump to conclusions," Bloomberg told reporters at the scene in midtown Manhattan.

Its back to the drawing board yet again for the fractious fraternity of moguls and bureaucrats charged with overseeing redevelopment of Lower Manhattan's Ground Zero, site of the 9-11 disaster, which still sits empty (but for a new trans-Hudson rail line station) three-and-a-half years after the day the World Trade Center collapsed.

Sent to us by New York's Coalition for the Human Rights of Immigrants is this action alert in the case of two Muslim immigrant girls detained following spurious suspicion of plotting suicide attacks:

Vigil to Release Detained Youth!

Get on the Bus to York, PA on WED 5/11 for 16-year old girl's hearing

Demand the Release of Bangladeshi & Guinean 16 Yr Old Young Women Detained by Department of Homeland Security!

GET ON THE BUS from NYC to York Courthouse in Pennsylvania:
Wednesday, May 11th, for a VIGIL at the BOND HEARING of the Bangladeshi Young Woman from Queens

From VOA, May 4:

At least 14 people are now dead following an explosion that rocked a soccer stadium in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as the prime minister addressed his supporters. The cause of Tuesday's blast is still unknown. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, who was not harmed, has insisted the explosion was accidental. But other unnamed Somali officials and diplomatic sources have told various news agencies the blast was an attempt to assassinate Mr. Gedi... This is his first visit to the Somali capital since he was appointed to the nation's first central government in 13 years. Mr. Gedi's tour was designed to boost support for his adminstration and end a dispute among lawmakers about where and when the Somali government, now based in Kenya, should relocate.

WHY US? (On the academic boycott)
Tanya Reinhart

Yediot Aharonot, May 4, 2005. Translated from Hebrew by Mark Marshall.

A boycott decision, like that passed by Britain’s Association of University Teachers to boycott two Israeli universities, naturally raises a hue and cry among Israelis. Why us? And why now, “just when negotiations with the Palestinians might be renewed

On the 35th anniversary of the murder of four non-violent protestors at Kent State, comes this press release from the International Solidarity Movement:

School Children Murdered by Israeli Military at Anti-Wall Protest

Beit Liqya, Ramallah, West Bank

Two cousins, 14 and 15 years old, were shot dead today by Israeli
soldiers who opened fire on a demonstration against the Apartheid
Wall in the village of Beit Liqya.

After school ended for the day students went out to protest against
the illegal Wall which is right now cutting through their homes and

Larry Franklin, the Pentagon analyst suspected of passing classified information to American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) bigs, has been arrested by the FBI. Franklin, who recently went back to work at the Pentagon, turned down goverment offers to cooperate. Previously, it was reported that the information Franklin passed to AIPAC had to do with Israeli agents in Kurdistan. Now Ha'aretz is reporting Franklin is charged with passing the lobbying group "classified information about potential attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq." If this is not a reporting error, it sounds like a potentially more serious charge. Ha'aretz also writes, maybe a little too hopefully, "Franklin's arrest indicates that the AIPAC affair may be nearly over."