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Bechtel has been awarded a contract by USAID for the reconstruction of Iraq's schools, as part of a deal worth up to $1.03 billion. But the question remains whether Bechtel, like the US army, is part of the solution or part of the problem.

To the Mapuche Indians in southern Argentina, the Italian clothing manufacturer Benetton is the newest conquistador in 10,000 years of land struggles in Patagonia.

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Free trade advocates and multinational corporations are pinning their hopes on Robert Zoellick, the United States trade representative, as negotiators from around the two continents gather in Miami for the Free Trade of the Americas talks.

BAE Systems has been accused of operating a $33.4 million slush fund to procure prostitutes, sports cars, and other enticements in connection with the biggest transaction in UK history -- the Al-Yamamah arms-for-oil deal with the Saudi royal family.

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Bolivia has been rocked by protests against a proposed gas pipeline to be built by Pacific LNG. The consortium is made up of notorious British and Spanish multinationals, including BP and Repsol-YPF.

At the annual meeting of the National Association of Broadcasters, Clear Channel kept a low profile. Yet its impact on media diversity is anything but casual -- it owns roughly one in every ten radio stations in the United States.

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Six days a week, US military fighter planes drop bombs a mile from the South Korean village of Maehyang-ri. The bombing range isn't run by the US Air Force and it isn't run by the US Army. It's been privatized and is under the management of Arctic Slope World Service.

Declining Wages and Loss of Jobs and Labor Protections Draws Attention of Lawmakers As the United States Negotiates More Trade Agreements (Oakland, CA)-In an open challenge to the United States Trade Representative and the Bush administration's economic policies, a delegation of America's working poor from all walks of life will expose the harsh reality behind free trade at a congressional briefing, sponsored by the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on June 12, 9:00-11:30 a.m. at 2168 Rayburn House Building, Washington, DC. This briefing will be webcast live at: http://www.foodfirst.org

Corporations are the dominant force in modern life, surpassing even church and state. The largest are richer than entire nations, and courts have given these entities more rights than people. To many Americans, corporate power seems out of control. According to a Business Week/Harris poll released in September 2000, 82 percent of those surveyed agreed that ''business has too much power over too many aspects of our lives.'' And the recent revelations of corporate scandal and political influence have only added to such concerns.

In this collaborative report we look at Bechtel's history of operations in the water, nuclear, energy and public works sectors.