Watch Out: The World Bank Is Quietly Funding a Massive Corporate Water Grab

Billions have been spent allowing corporations to profit from public water sources even though water privatization has been an epic failure in Latin America, Southeast Asia, North America, Africa and everywhere else it's been tried. But don't tell that to controversial loan-sharks at the World Bank. Last month, its private-sector funding arm International Finance Corporation (IFC) quietly dropped a cool 100 million euros ($139 million US) on Veolia Voda, the Eastern European subsidiary of Veolia, the world's largest private water corporation. Its latest target? Privatization of Eastern Europe's water resources.

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Nearly 1 in 5 Americans Struggle To Put Food On The Table, Survey Finds

WASHINGTON -- A staggering 18 percent of Americans surveyed last month said there have been times over the past year when they could not afford to put food on the table, recent Gallup data shows. This number is slightly lower than it was in September 2009, despite persistently high unemployment levels and record participation in the food stamp program.

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How to Control HIV Infection Naturally

The rare ability of some individuals to control HIV infection without the need for medications may be explained by the tiny variants in a protein that alerts the immune system to the presence of infection.

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Gary Younge: The "Tea Party" Does Not Exist

Lectures about fiscal responsibility from the occupants of a plush suite on the 20th floor of one of the fanciest hotels in Las Vegas stick in the craw like a slice of cantaloupe swallowed sideways. Appropriately, the Tea Party Express's open bar, trays of fruit and skyline view at the Aria hotel on election night smacked more of a corporate event than a political, let alone a populist, one.

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War Over Genetically Modified Crops Gets Ugly: Birth Defects, Superweeds and the Science of Intimidation

A delegation of politicians and community activists gathered on August 7 in La Leonesa, a small farm town in Argentina, to hear Dr. Andres Carrasco speak about a study linking a popular herbicide to birth defects in Argentina's agricultural areas.

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War Over Genetically Modified Crops Gets Ugly: Birth Defects, Superweeds and the Science of Intimidation

A delegation of politicians and community activists gathered on August 7 in La Leonesa, a small farm town in Argentina, to hear Dr. Andres Carrasco speak about a study linking a popular herbicide to birth defects in Argentina's agricultural areas.

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Oil Will Run Dry 90 Years Before Substitutes Roll Out

At the current pace of research and development, global oil will run out 90 years before replacement technologies are ready, says a new University of California, Davis, study based on stock market expectations.

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Aspirin, Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen During Pregnancy Can Cause Reproductive Problems in Male Offspring

Taking mild painkilllers such as aspirin, acetaminophen and ibuprofen during pregnancy, especially during the second trimester, can cause a sharp increase in reproductive problems in male offspring, researchers from Denmark, Finland and France reported Monday. The team found that women who used two of the drugs simultaneously during the second trimester were as much as 16 times as likely to bear a son with undescended testicles, a condition known as cryptorchidism. Cryptorchidism is known to be a risk factor for poor semen quality and testicular germ cell cancer in later life. The researchers demonstrated in rats that the drugs block the production of testosterone, which is necessary for the formation of male sex organs.

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U.S. Eavesdropping On Whole World Through "Echelon" Spy Intercepts

The United States with four of its allies are operating "a network of massive, highly automated interception stations" codenamed ECHELON that is eavesdropping on the entire world, a distinguished Washington journalist reports.

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Joseph Stiglitz: Foreclosures and Banks' Debt to Society

The mortgage debacle in the United States has raised deep questions about "the rule of law", the universally accepted hallmark of an advanced, civilized society. The rule of law is supposed to protect the weak against the strong, and ensure that everyone is treated fairly. In America, in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, it has done neither.

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