Top Stories

Environment

Humanity's demands exceed our planet's capacity to sustain us
The world’s natural ecosystems are being degraded at a rate unprecedented in human history, according to a report released today by WWF, the global conservation organization. WWF’s 2006 Living Planet Report, the group’s biennial statement on the state of the natural world, says that on current projections humanity will be using two planets’ worth of natural resources by 2050 — if those resources have not run out by then. It also confirms the trend of biodiversity loss seen in previous Living Planet reports. [...] Panda.org

Global Warming Study Predicts Wild Ride
The world - especially the Western United States, the Mediterranean region and Brazil - will likely suffer more extended droughts, heavy rainfalls and longer heat waves over the next century because of global warming, a new study forecasts. [...] CommonDreams

Top Corporate Air Polluters Named
"The Toxic 100 informs consumers and shareholders which large corporations release the most toxic pollutants into our air,” says James K. Boyce, director of PERI’s environment program. “We measure not just how many pounds of pollutants are released, but which are the most toxic and how many people are at risk. People have a right to know about toxic hazards to which they are exposed. Legislators need to understand the effects of pollution on their constituents.”[...] GuerrillaNews - PERI

World's biggest polluters won't cut back on fossil fuel - Perth.Indymedia

Arms

Nobel Peace Prize Laureates urge governments to vote for an Arms Trade Treaty at the UN tomorrow
On the eve of a historic vote to begin work on an Arms Trade Treaty in the UN General Assembly's First Committee, 15 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates including the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Oscar Arias and Amnesty International have called on governments to support the Treaty in order to stop irresponsible arms exports "which are causing the peoples of the world so much pain and destruction". The appeal is contained in a letter released today at the UN.[...] AmnestyInternational

107 governments have co-sponsored a resolution for an Arms Trade Treaty
A majority of United Nations countries are now championing an Arms Trade Treaty resoultion at the First Committee meetings currently underway at the United Nations. [...] ControlArms

Arms traffickers enjoy impunity
All United Nations arms embargoes have been breached with impunity, with only a handful of the weapons traffickers responsible for the trade in death ever facing prosecution, according to a report.
The dossier, by Oxfam International, Amnesty International and International Action Network on Small Arms describes how companies and individuals have been involved in illicit transactions in weapons. [...] Commondreams - IANSA

Middle East

Israel Admits Phosphorous Bombs Used in Lebanon
The Israeli government has admitted for the first time that it used controversial phosphorous bombs during its 34-day war campaign in Lebanon. Cabinet Minister Jacob Edery confirmed that the army had used the bombs to attack "military targets" during its war with Hizbollah in July and August. Previously, Israel had said the bombs had only been used to mark out targets. During the conflict, doctors in Lebanon reported treating civilians who appeared to have been hit by the shells, which leave their victims with severe chemical wounds that can be fatal. [...] CommonDreams

US - Human Rights

America is no longer free
Habeas corpus -- it's your most fundamental legal right, your right to go to a court and get an order requiring the government to prove that it is holding you in prison with proper legal authority to do so. Without that right, one necessarily lives in a dictatorship. President Bush on Tuesday, October 17, 2006, signed a bill repealing that law, meaning that the administration need not comply or show compliance with law any more with regard to who goes to prison or Gitmo.[...] OnLineJournal

AMNESTY REPORT 2006: WEST BETRAYS HUMAN RIGHTS - [...] AGI - Amnesty

War

"Cold War Shivers": War Preparations in the Middle East and Central Asia
The entire Middle East Central Asian region is on a war footing. US-NATO naval deployment is taking place in two distinct theaters: the Persian Gulf and the Eastern Mediterranean.The naval armada in the Persian Gulf is largely under US command, with the participation of Canada. Both the USS Enterprise and Eisenhower Strike groups have been dispatched to the Persian Gulf in a a massive display of US military might. [...] GlobalResearch

When "Diplomacy" Means War - By NORMAN SOLOMON - Counterpunch

"Fallujah: The Real Story," Documentary by Iraqi Journalist Captures the Horrors of the U.S. Siege - DemocracyNow

World/Economics

Energy Geopolitics: Putin Gets Mugged in Finland
Most people won’t pay any attention to this week’s energy summit in Lahti, Finland, but they should. It is particularly instructive for anyone who is interested in the latest developments in the global resource war. The purpose of the meeting was to work out the nettlesome issues of energy policy, but the hidden agenda was to pressure Russian President Putin into signing away the control of his country’s critical assets to the big-players in the world energy cartel. The proposed "Energy Charter Treaty" is designed to tie up Russia’s resources through legal obligations which serve the overall interests of the energy giants. The treaty is no different than the EU Constitution which was voted down last year when the "informed" European public realized that it was just another boondoggle set up by big business to override national sovereignty, environmental safety, and civil liberties. The Energy Charter Treaty and the EU Constitution focus on the very same objectives, that is, establishing the legal framework for placing the world and its dwindling resources in the hands of a small cadre of obscenely-wealthy western plutocrats. [ ...] GlobalResearch

America's Geopolitical Nightmare and Eurasian Strategic Energy Arrangements - by F. William Engdahl - Globalresearch

Not for sale

Poorest Nations Hit Hardest by WTO Agenda, Study Finds
According to "Winners and Losers" by Sandra Polaski, a researcher with the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the so-called Doha Development Round, which launched the current trade World Trade Organisation talks, will not actually generate development benefits for poor nations as initially promised.
"There are both net winners and net losers under different scenarios, and the poorest countries are among the net losers under all likely Doha scenarios," says the study. While critics of the 149-member World Trade Organisation (WTO) have long argued the same point, the findings of the report bolster their position even as the world's richest nations aggressively pursue new markets. [...] CommonDreams

G8 Deal Falls Short of Expectations, Say Many Environmental and Aid Groups - OneWorld - MediaChannel

G8 Full Coverage/In-depth: OneWorld - UKIndyMedia - ScotlandIndyMedia -InterPressService - Oxfam - CSMonitor - Zmag

Behind This New Interest in Africa - IPSNews

A truckload of nonsense - The G8 plan to save Africa comes with conditions that make it little more than an extortion racket - by George Monbiot - Guardian

Corporations

"Most Wanted" Corporate Human Rights Violators of 2005
Global Exchange developed this list of some of the world's worst corporate abusers to illustrate that on issues as diverse as assassination, torture, kidnapping, environmental degradation, abusing public funds, violently repressing political rights, releasing toxins into pristine environments, destroying homes, discrimination, and causing widespread health problems, familiar companies like Dow Chemical, Coca Cola, Caterpillar, Lockheed, Philip Morris, and Wal-Mart play a big role. [...] GlobalExchange

GM Food

GM: New Study Shows Unborn Babies Could Be Harmed
Mortality rate for new-born rats six times higher when mother was fed on a diet of modified soya
Women who eat GM foods while pregnant risk endangering their unborn babies, startling new research suggests. The study - carried out by a leading scientist at the Russian Academy of Sciences - found that more than half of the offspring of rats fed on modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Six times as many were also severely underweight. [...] CommonDreams

EU Moves to Restrict GM Maize Imports
The UK has joined EU countries in a unanimous demand for all shipments of maize feed from the US to be certified free of an illegal genetically modified (GM) maize. The agreement, discussed late yesterday [1], comes three weeks after the agrochemical giant Syngenta admitted that it had mistakenly sold unapproved GM maize seeds to US farmers for four years. Syngenta has since refused to make public the information needed for governments to test food and feed imports for the illegal GM maize. The European Commission is likely to make a final decision on action to be taken in the next few days. [...] FriendsOfTheEarth