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The residents of Mecosta County and the surrounding areas in central Michigan regard water as central to their identity. They fish for trout and watch ospreys and eagles feeding in the streams. They spend warm days by the ponds and small lakes that dot the woodlands. And of course the Great Lakes, which hold a fifth of the world's fresh water, are a constant presence. So when a huge multinational bottled water company decided to move in and start pumping over half a million gallons of water a day out of the springs that feed their lakes and streams, the residents took it personally.

The EU Water Fund, to be presented at the G8 summit in Evian, seems more about corporate welfare than helping the world's poorest. The EU plan builds on controversial proposals by former IMF director Michel Camdessus, to use aid money to subsidise the expansion of private water corporations. Confidential documents obtained by CEO show how the European Commission has worked in tandem with Suez and other giant water corporations in developing its international water initiatives.

Here is a fact sheet about corporate-led globalization... fifty-one of the world's top 100 economies are corporations.

Multinational corporations vie for a share of the American water market, and if they are given the opportunity, affordable drinking water may soon be a thing of the past. From Stockton, to Atlanta, to Cochabamba, Bolivia, privatization has proven a risky business with far-reaching consequences.

A report from inside the World Water Forum on the showdown between water privatizers and human rights activists.

Privatization of water services has had negative consequences in many countries, says the environmental network Friends of the Earth International, which urges global resistance to the commercialization of this essential resource.

CO. CLARE, Ireland (September 30) -- From October 1st, 2002, the De Beers Industrial Diamonds group of companies (Debid) including Drukker International, will become Element Six. The new corporate and brand name is derived from the fact that diamond is a form of carbon, and carbon is the sixth element in the periodic table. The companies feel that the choice of this name encompasses their several businesses in an imaginative and differentiating way, reflecting the modern industrial diamond industry.

The World Conference on Racism in Durban spotlights many insidious forms of racism, including anti-immigrant activity.

Yesterday, on 20th July 2002, about 400 police entered the Man dam project affected village Khedi-Balwari (Dist. Dhar, M.P.) and forcibly evicted the village using terror tactics. The women and even children were severely beaten up, the houses looted and the people were picked up and dumped at the so called "resettlement" site Kesur, 75 kms away, where they remain under a virtual arrest with large number of police guarding them.

Today, Oxfam America, in collaboration with the Global Mining Campaign, launches a new, international, online popular action to support the local people of Tambogrande, a small agricultural town in Peru, in their ongoing struggle against a proposed mining project. The campaign asks individuals around the globe to tell the mining company, Manhattan Minerals, to respect the local people's way of life. To join the online action, visit www.OxfamAmerica.org. For information on the Global Mining Campaign, see www.GlobalMiningCampaign.org.