Members of the Brazilian Landless Movement (MST) demonstrate against genetically-modified crops in front of Agricultural Ministry in Brasilia, September 23, 2003.   REUTERS/Jamil Bittar

THE GROWING CRISIS OF BIOTECH FARMING

Without public approval and often against the wishes of farmers, genetically-modified (GM) crops now blanket more than 45 million acres in Latin America. Sometimes, the crop is illegal; Mexico has banned GM corn seed in a bid to protect the important plant that originated there, but transgenetic corn can now be found throughout the nation. Other countries welcome the modified plants because any challenge to industry claims of safety are met with threats, lawsuits -- and pressure from the Bush administration. Brazil's state of Parana, which has crucial agricultural seaports, has defied the goverment by banning GM soybeans, even if they are only to be exported out of the country. Brazil also faces a dilemma because farmers with GM crops can't legally spray Monsanto's ROUNDUP, an herbicide that the give modified plants an edge because they aren't killed. But new experiments in Britian prove that allowing only the gene-modified crop to survive means fewer birds and insects that live off the weeds that normally grow with crop GM Crops Blanket Latin America Confrontation As Brazil State Rejects Government OK For GM Crops GM Crops Get Bad Marks In New Experiments GM Corn Now Widspread In Mexico, Despite Ban Book Claims FDA Blocked Probe Into Biotech Food Safety

October Attacks Mark Escalation In Iraq Resistance
More deadly and sophisticated bombs kill 35

Pentagon Not Investigating Iraq Civilian Deaths
U.S. military has not kept track of civilians killed by U.S. forces

U.S. Soldiers To Be Tried For Reporter's Death In Iraq
Opened fire on hotel with most journalists covering Iraq War combat

TV Media Misled U.S. Public On Iraq War, Study Finds "Dangerously revealing study" finds commercial networks recited what White House wanted

Bush Accusations At Iran Aimed At Justifying Regime Change
Volley of accusations another pre-emptive excuse for political or military action

Fear, Anger Grow In Iran As Nuke Deadline Nears Israel reportedly has missiles aimed at nuclear sites

Don't Attack Iran, Crisis Group Warns Bush White House under intense pressure from neo-cons to invade

U.S. Looking To Israel For Lessons In Occupation
Iraqis are to U.S. as Palestinians are to Israelis

Don't Blame Attacks In Iraq On "Foreign Fighters"
The rest of the world is not buying simplistic Bush explanation for rising attacks

Iraqi Women Face Rape, Kidnapping Rape and kidnapping cases run well into the thousands

UN Failure To Protect Staff Lead To Deadly Baghdad Bombing Report finds UN should have known "there is no place without risk in Iraq"

Daily Life Harder For Most Iraqis Since Invasion Unemployment around 80 percent, food harder to find

Iranian Peace Prize Winner: A Different Path to Mideast Freedom
Why isn't Bush supporting people like Nobel winner Shirin Ebadi?

Iran Hardliners Downplay Shirin Ebadi Nobel Prize
Conservative critics unhappy that critic getting international spotlight

Mr. Sexual Predator Goes To Sacramento

Mexico's Fox To Press Schwarzenegger On Immigrants Many aliens distrust new governor for connections to hated Prop. 187

Kudos To LA Times For Schwarzenegger "Groper" Stories
Not so much a story about sex as the abuse of power
Will Schwarzenegger Deregulate California Energy?
Promised during campaign to follow Texas model and deregulate electricity market

Enron May Have Influenced Probe On Calif Power Crisis Schwarzenegger expected to quickly settle energy crisis lawsuits, many of which name Enron

Chaos In Iraq Blocks Millions Of Refugees From Returning Home
Estimated 4 million that fled during Saddam years ready to repatriate

Iraqi Council Invites Total Foreign Ownership Of Iraqi Businesses Only oil production exempt, and because U.S. claims special rights

IMF, World Bank Consider Iraq's Future No real progress possible as long as guerrilla war continues

Bush Punishes Still More Nations For Backing International Criminal Court
The first sanction in U.S. diplomatic history targeted exclusively at democracies

In Muslim World, Anti-U.S. Feelings Now Prevail
U.S. seen as the basic problem, not the country with remedies

Afghan Crime Rate Skyrockets
Reconstruction efforts may have to be abandoned

Iraq Sunni Minority Seethes Under U.S. Occupation
Saddam's ethnic group blamed for anything that goes wrong in their region

Shi'ite Iraqi Leader Calls For United Resistance With Sunnis
Shift from call for peaceful resistance of U.S. occupation

The Pentagon Unleashes A Holy Warrior Intolerant extremist Gen. Jerry Boykin named to high Defense post

Israel defended its October 6 attack on Syria by borrowng a page from President Bush: Israel said it was only expanding its own "war on terror," and that Syria had forfeited its immunity by allowing terror organizations like Islamic Jihad to operate on its soil. Bush immediately spoke out in approval. "Israel's got a right to defend herself, that Israel must not feel constrained in defending the homeland." But what is the U.S. trying to say, by supporting the first such strike by Israel against Syria in 30 years? It serves to show how far the neo-cons have succeeded in aligning U.S. policy with the right-wing government in Israel Israel Attack On Syria Raises Fears Of Escalation Israel Declares Determination To "Change Behavior" Of Syria Attack On Syria A Top Goal For U.S. Neo-Conservative Extremists Stage Four In The Terror War Syria Hawk Given A Top White House Post

Marwan Barghouti, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member imprisoned by Israel since April 2002 for his activities as a popular leader of the uprising

Confusion reigns: what have we achieved? Where are we going? What is coming next? Nobody seems to know. "The situation" is not moving in any particular direction, despite the fact that Israeli forces have been killing a steady stream of Islamist activists in the summer and early fall, and that Islamist groups have retaliated with bombings inside Israel