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Low oil prices are causing a drop in new drilling and exploration in North Dakota, but not as much as you might expect.

Take the boom town of Watford City, over in the northwestern corner of the state and in the heart of the Bakken oil patch. Its population has tripled since 2010, and today, continues to climb.

SERIES: The Great Plains Oil Rush

A massive oil boom is dramatically transforming North Dakota's western plains.

When I visited a year ago for our series on the Great Plains Oil Rush, the price of oil was above $100 a barrel. When I went back recently — with the headlines warning of a crash coming fresh in my mind — it was below $50; a 50 percent decrease in a year. I figured I'd come upon empty hotels, the skeletons of half-built condos and people out of work ...

Yeah, not so much.

'Still Hiring'

My hotel room still cost about $200 a night. The Cashwise grocery store was still packed with roustabout men hauling out cases of Red Bull and boxes of Hungry Jack pancake mix (just about every state in the nation was represented via the license plates in the parking lot). And outside town, the drill rigs were still lighting up the frozen prairie like Christmas trees.

If there's a slowdown in North Dakota, it isn't really being felt in Watford City.

"I think it's still growing," said Ashley Bones. "There are still people buying homes and a lot of people coming in here still looking for jobs."

A view of the main street in downtown Watford City, which is usually bustling as people shop and work. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption David Gilkey/NPR

I met Bones, 28, in the airy lobby of a local bank where she works as a loan officer. She told me that she moved to Watford City from Wyoming two years ago to be closer to her Dad. Well, that, and the promise of good jobs.

"They're still hiring," she said. "There are still signs for $14 an hour, $17 an hour at Walmart."

Most nights Bones also helps out with the bookkeeping for the oil field services company her husband works at. The two met here a year ago. He came from Oregon. And one telltale sign that the oil boom is still cruising along here is that the couple rents a trailer for $2,000 a month. And they consider that a deal.

"It's about a thousand dollars a room right now [in town], it's been like that ever since I got here," Bones said. "It's not going down any, in fact, some are going up."

Growing Pains

Make no mistake, you definitely still detect some anxiety in Watford City about what might happen in the next few months if oil prices stay where they are, or drop further. There are stories about layoffs and some businesses in town closing.

After all, the number of active drilling rigs — the "rig count" as the industry tracks it — has dropped by 40 percent compared to this time last year in North Dakota. But you have to remember that last year set records. And the most oil-rich parts of the Bakken formation happen to lie beneath Watford City. That's why production is actually increasing, despite the low oil prices, and it's why the situation over at the schools seems unchanged in the year since I last visited.

At the elementary school, the friendly assistant principal, Kerry Stansfield, showed me a crowded gym — students were having recess inside because it was below -10 wind chill. Next it was a quick peek at modular homes that many of the teachers have to live in. Then it was over to see four portable classrooms where the third grades are packed into.

"We've had to remodel this several times," Stansfield told me.

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Ashley Bones talks to her stepdaughter, Faith, as she picks her up from elementary school in Watford City, N.D. David Gilkey/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption David Gilkey/NPR

Ashley Bones talks to her stepdaughter, Faith, as she picks her up from elementary school in Watford City, N.D.

David Gilkey/NPR

Like Watford City's population, the school district's enrollment has tripled in five years. And they're planning for it to grow another 50 percent in the next five years. Last Spring, voters approved a plan to build a new high school. It was a big relief around here.

"We're going to be moving," Stansfield said. "High school is going to the new high school, middle school is going to stay at the old high school."

A Slow Down Ahead?

One thing that has changed with oil prices being more volatile is that teachers and staff are seeing more of what they call "boomerang kids." That is, those that are here for five or six weeks at a time, then their parent heads to another oil field down south, then, they're back.

Sometimes teachers like Pam Moen only get one or two days notice.

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Low Oil Prices Could Stall Explosive Growth In Montana Boom Town

West Virginia Derailment Raises Concerns About Volatility Of Bakken Oil

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"It's a challenge," she says. "A lot of spots, spottiness, with what they've learned and where we're at."

A native of North Dakota, Moen moved to Watford City after spending more than a decade teaching in the Las Vegas area. She taught through the housing boom, then bust, there. Like a lot of people, she doesn't see a bust happening around here.

"We're not really seeing the slow down here, necessarily, in Mackenzie County," Moen said. "I think we still have 50 plus rigs drilling right now, it's just busy where I live."

Busy and still growing, that definitely sums up life in Watford City right now. But at the same time, it's easy to see why people like Moen maybe wouldn't mind a bit of a slowdown. It would give them a chance to breathe a little, to catch up.

oil prices

The graying city mayor agrees to meet a few hours before he heads to the battlefront. He is haggard after living in exile since June, when the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, swept into his city — al-Sharqat, Iraq, a hour's drive north of Tikrit.

Ali Dodah al-Jabouri has a reason for fight: Islamic State militants killed his brother and 18 other relatives. But as part of a prominent Sunni Arab tribe, he is joining an unusual alliance with Iraqi Shiite militias backed and armed by Iran.

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Al-Shargat Mayor Ali Dodah Khalaf Jabouri sits with Hani Abdul Karem Jabouri and Sabri Ahmed Jabouri. Each lost family members who were killed by Islamic State fighters, and all are now working with Iran-backed Shiite groups to retake their city. Deborah Amos/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Deborah Amos/NPR

Al-Shargat Mayor Ali Dodah Khalaf Jabouri sits with Hani Abdul Karem Jabouri and Sabri Ahmed Jabouri. Each lost family members who were killed by Islamic State fighters, and all are now working with Iran-backed Shiite groups to retake their city.

Deborah Amos/NPR

He was once fought Iran in a long and costly war an officer in Saddam Hussein's army. Now, he is changing his business suit for a military uniform to take part in the assault on Tikrit in the Sunni heartland. Tikrit is well known as the birthplace of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, but the fighting force is predominantly Shiites. Sunni tribes are a token force.

Jabouri says that the Islamic State is a common enemy, and that Tehran gained his loyalty because Iran has put boots on the ground and offered support while the Americans dithered.

"The Americans gave us nothing," he says. "No one helped us when ISIS came — not American, not Turkey. But Iran helped us, with guns, tanks and rockets."

There is a wide consensus from Baghdad to Washington that the best way — and possibility the only way — to defeat the Islamic State is to turn at least part of the Sunni Arab community against the militants, but so far the Jabouri tribe represents a minority. Many Sunnis have not risen against the Islamic State, out of fear, self-interest, or because they see the Shiite militias as even a worse option than ISIS.

Jabouri says the Shiite militias have gained momentum against the militants, pushing them out of Sunni areas south of Tikrit.

His city, al-Sharqat is a victim of the Islamic State and geography, located on a highway between the larger urban centers of Mosul, which the militants captured in June, and Tikrit. They've declared al-Sharqat part of their self-declared Islamic caliphate.

More militants have arrived in al-Sharqat recently, on a northward retreat from pro-government forces hitting Tikrit. Jabouri says he's going back to his city to kill them.

A decade ago the Jabouri tribe fought al-Qaida militants alongside Americans. Many Jabouris joined the Sunni Awakening movement organized and funded by the U.S. military. This time, Jabouri says he's fighting alongside Iraq's Shiite militias and the Iranians because they are willing to fight ISIS now.

"The Americans said we need two years" to liberate Tikrit and Mosul, says Jabouri. The Shiite militias and their Iranian advisers launched an offensive in early March.

The Tikrit assault reflects the influence Iran wields in Baghdad. Tehran set the date for the military campaign, according to Western sources, and helped train and arm the militias — paramilitary groups organized under a secretive Iraqi government group called the Popular Mobilization Committee, or Hashid Shaabi.

But as the militias have pushed out the Islamic State militants, there has been a major snag — Shiite revenge attacks, documented with photos. One particularly gruesome image that appeared on Twitter showed a Shia militiaman posing with the severed head of an ISIS fighter.

A Human Rights Watch report this week documents looting and burning of civilian homes in Sunni villages — charges the paramilitary commanders vigorously deny.

Washington has warned Baghdad of funding cuts if the militias are not reigned in. Baghdad has finally gotten the message, says Zaid al-Ali, author of "The Struggle for Iraq's Future"

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Months After Atrocities In Tikrit, Iraqi Parents Demand Answers

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Shiite Militias In Iraq: Savior Or Menace?

"The prime minister made a very negative statement about criminal elements within the Popular Mobilization Forces," al-Ali says. "He made big deal that they will be punished."

It's a crucial message for the major battles to come, he says, especially in Islamic State-controlled Mosul, where there are more than a million mostly Sunni civilians who view Shiite-dominated Baghdad with fear and distrust.

"If there are terrible abuses in Tikrit, then of course ISIS will thrive on that — and they will tell people in Mosul 'this is what is going to happen to you,' " al-Ali says. "Whereas if people are allowed to go back home in Tikrit and the city doesn't suffer terribly, it will send a powerful message to Mosul: 'This is the right side of the battle.' "

Police General Ali al-Jabouri believes he is on the right side of the battle. He's been fighting in Tikrit, another member of the Jabouri tribe who has sided with Shiite militias in the fight against ISIS. General Jabouri says he's heard about Washington's complaints.

"I don't think they have the full picture," he says. "I know who killed my brother, but I'm not going to make any trouble with civilians. Now, maybe the militias don't know that."

The Shiite militias and the charges of abuse are now a concern across Iraq, but for these members of the Jabouri trip, the fight against ISIS is a higher priority.

Islamic State

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Australia has announced that it is revoking self-government on tiny Norfolk Island, where ancestors of the original HMS Bounty mutineers settled in the mid-19th century.

The move was announced after it became clear that the island, a former penal colony with just 1,800 inhabitants, was facing bankruptcy.

"The reality is, infrastructure on Norfolk Island is run down, the health system not up to standard and many laws are out of date with all other Australian jurisdictions," Assistant Minister for Regional Development Jamie Briggs said in a statement quoted by The Australian Associated Press.

Residents of Norfolk will begin paying federal taxes to Canberra in July 2016. In return, they will get access to social services, including Medicare and the pharmaceutical benefits, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

Descendants of the Bounty mutineers – 193 men, women and children — arrived on Norfolk Island in 1856 after setting sail from Pitcairn Island 4,000 miles to the east, where only a small number of residents remained behind.

The original mutineers seized control of the Bounty in 1789, setting Capt. William Bligh and loyal members of his crew adrift in a small boat.

Bligh eventually reached Timor with all hands. The mutineers, led by Master's Mate Fletcher Christian, first called at Tahiti, where the men retrieved local brides, and then settled on isolated (and mischarted) Pitcairn Island, where they hoped to evade British authorities. Today, Pitcairn, Britain's smallest colony, is home to fewer than 50 islanders – all related to the original mutineers.

Beginning in 2000, police uncovered widespread allegations of child sexual assault on Pitcairn that went back decades on the largely autonomous island. Eventually, most of the island's residents were caught up in the scandal, either as alleged perpetrators, accomplices or victims. Four years later, seven island men, including Mayor Steve Christian, a descendant of Fletcher Christian, were found guilty of charges related to sexual offenses.

Asia Pacific

Australia

A Chanel handbag is classic, designed to withstand upheavals in fashion and taste. But not price. The Paris-based fashion house has announced that the prices will go up in Europe, and down in Asia.

The move will affect the 11.12, the 2.55, and the Boy Bag models.

At the moment, there's a significant difference in cost between the two regions. Hana Ben-Shabat, a retail and consumer goods specialist at A.T. Kearney, tells NPR that a bag that costs $3,500 in Europe can run up to $6,000 in China.

Chanel will narrow that price gap, bringing the two regions more in line. The Wall Street Journal says the classic handbags are expected to rise 20 percent in Europe and decline 21 percent in China. It says prices of those bags will also decline in Hong Kong, Korea, Vietnam and Russia, but will remain unchanged in the U.S.

In a statement, Chanel said the decision will enable the company to offer products at a "harmonized" price to customers wherever they are in the world, according to Reuters. Chanel says the decision is driven in part by the depreciating Euro, which has slid to a 12-year-low.

Ben-Shabat says the new prices are expected to eliminate this so-called gray market.

"People would actually take the trip to Europe and buy in quantities that they can go back to China and charge more than they pay for it but less than the local market and make money on that." Ben-Shabat says by aligning prices, Chanel will get rid of the incentive.

"This behavior is really undermining the brand because the product starts to show up on all sorts of websites where Chanel or any other luxury brands really don't have control any more of that," she says.

But Ben-Shabat says the move by Chanel to lower costs in China may be a way to re-energize that important market. Sales in luxury goods there have slumped recently because of slower growth, and an anti-corruption crackdown.

Chanel's price changes are set to take effect on April 8. The Swiss watchmaker, Tag Heuer, announced that it also plans to realign its prices. Other luxury goods companies are expected to follow suit.

Euro

Economy

China

Fashion

Chanel