News Articles
| Iraq: Introducing DisneyIraq: The Unhappiest Place on Earth by Scott Thill, AlterNet August 15th, 2008 An American financier is pitching a vast theme park in Baghdad, not out of kindness, but as he says, "for profit." |
| US: Art Auctions on Cruise Ships Lead to Anger, Accusations and Lawsuits
by JORI FINKEL, The New York Times July 16th, 2008 While overcharging for a product is not in itself illegal, misrepresenting the goods sold can be. The plaintiffs’ central argument hinges on Park West’s description of its appraisals. |
| GLOBAL: Slum Visits: Tourism or Voyeurism? by ERIC WEINER, The New York Times March 9th, 2008 Slum tourism, or “poorism,” as some call it, is catching on. |
| US: Holes in the Wall
by Melissa del Bosque, The Texas Observer February 18th, 2008 As the U.S. Department of Homeland Security marches down the Texas border serving condemnation lawsuits to frightened landowners, Brownsville resident Eloisa Tamez, 72, has one simple question. She would like to know why her land is being targeted for destruction by a border wall, while a nearby golf course and resort remain untouched. |
| US: Inuit sue US government over BP land usage by David Litterick, The Daily Telegraph (UK) November 20th, 2006 Fresh from settling a lawsuit over last year's fatal explosion at its Texas City oil refinery, BP looks set to become embroiled in a legal battle in Alaska over royalties paid on oil production in Prudhoe Bay. |
| UK: Blair admits link between party donations and seats in Lords by George Jones and Graeme Wilson, The Telegraph July 17th, 2006 Tony Blair admitted yesterday that there was a direct link between donating large sums of money to the Labour Party and being nominated for a seat in the House of Lords. |
| US: Jury Convicts HealthSouth Founder in Bribery Trial by Carrie Johnson, The Washington Post June 30th, 2006 An Alabama jury yesterday convicted HealthSouth Corp. founder Richard M. Scrushy -- acquitted last year of federal accounting-fraud charges -- of paying half a million dollars in bribes to former governor Don Siegelman in exchange for a seat on a state health-care board. |
| KATRINA: Mississippi developers' murky past includes fraud
by Mike Stuckey, MSNBC June 29th, 2006 Two brothers involved in the biggest post-Katrina development on the Mississippi Gulf Coast were key figures in an Internet stock scam that federal authorities say bilked investors out of more than $12 million, MSNBC.com has learned. |
| CANADA: Corporate SLAPP by Kim Petersen, The Dominion Paper June 22nd, 2006 The Ontario-based mineral company Platinex has slapped the Ojibwa of Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (Big Trout Lake) First Nation (KIFN) with a $10-billion damage suit for refusing the company permission to drill on territory the KIFN says is its own. |
| ARGENTINA: Kolla Indians Fight to Protect Their Land
by Marcela Valente, Inter Press News Service (IPS) June 8th, 2006 "We are here to take care of the land, because we depend on it for a living," said Andrés Sajama, cacique (chief) of Queta, a Kolla indigenous community in the northwestern Argentine province of Jujuy. "We don't want to block mining projects, but we won't allow them to take away what little we have left," he told IPS. |
| US: Critics Wary of Development Plans for Utah Land by Julie Cart, Los Angeles Times June 6th, 2006 The proposed Washington County Growth and Conservation Act would sell up to 40 square miles of federal land and use the proceeds to finance a multimillion-dollar water pipeline and other local projects. Utah Republican Sen. Robert F. Bennett and Democratic Rep. Jim Matheson are expected to introduce the bill in coming weeks. Waiting in the wings are nearly a dozen similar bills for counties in Utah, Idaho, Nevada and New Mexico where population pressure is fueling the demand for more developable land. |
| US: Privately Funded Trips Add Up on Capitol Hill by Jeffrey H. Birnbaum, Washington Post June 6th, 2006 Over 5 1/2 years, Republican and Democratic lawmakers accepted nearly $50 million in trips, often to resorts and exclusive locales, from corporations and groups seeking legislative favors, according to the most comprehensive study to date on the subject of congressional travel. |
| US: Report Says Fannie Mae Manipulated Accounting Associated Press May 23rd, 2006 Employees at mortgage giant Fannie Mae manipulated accounting so that executives could collect millions in bonuses as senior management deceived investors and stonewalled regulators at a company whose prestigious image was phony, a federal agency charged Tuesday. |
| MEXICO: Mexico and Cuba Protest Hotel's Expulsion of Havana Delegation by James C. McKinnley Jr., The New York Times February 6th, 2006 Mexico and Cuba criticized the United States on Monday for demanding that the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel here order a group of Cuban officials, who were meeting last week with representatives of American oil companies, to check out of the hotel and leave the premises. |
| PHILIPPINES: No new mining permits by Gil C. Cabacungan Jr. , Blanche S. Rivera, Philippine Daily Inquirer February 4th, 2006 PRESIDENT Macapagal-Arroyo has offered to suspend the issuance of new mining permits to try to appease Roman Catholic bishops strongly opposed to the country's new Mining Act, a top Malacanang official said yesterday. |
| BRAZIL: Indigenous People Fight for Their Rights by Mario Osava , Inter Press Service February 3rd, 2006 Land conflicts involving indigenous people have multiplied in Brazil over the last few months, generating greater tension and showing once again that the country's roughly 400,000 indigenous people still have a long way to go to win respect for their rights. |
| VENEZUELA: Indigenous Demonstrators Protest Coal Mining by Humberto Márquez, Interpress News Service January 27th, 2006 Indigenous protesters from northwestern Venezuela marched Friday through the streets of Caracas, which is hosting the sixth World Social Forum (WSF), to protest plans for mining coal on their land. |
| US: Possible big jump in tolls upsets motorists: Residents of Northern Indiana say plan isn't fair to their communities by Bill Ruthhart, The Indianapolis Star January 25th, 2006 Residents of Northern Indiana feel that a plan to privatize toll roads and raise fares does not benefit the community. |
| US: Many Contracts for Storm Work Raise Questions by Eric Lipton and Ron Nixon, The New York Times September 26th, 2005 Topping the federal government's list of costs related to Hurricane Katrina is the $568 million in contracts for debris removal landed by a Florida company with ties to Mississippi's Republican governor. Near the bottom is an $89.95 bill for a pair of brown steel-toe shoes bought by an Environmental Protection Agency worker in Baton Rouge, La. |
| US: Auditors investigate Katrina contracts by Hope Yen, Associated Press September 22nd, 2005 Government auditors are questioning whether several multimillion-dollar Katrina contracts” including one involving a subsidiary of Houston-based Halliburton Co.” invite abuse because they are open-ended and not clearly defined. |