Link: http://www.truth-out.org/foreclosuregate-explained-big-banks-brink64621

Scandal is spreading across Wall St. like a very bad case of poison ivy. A rash of fraudulent home foreclosures has exposed some of the nation's biggest banks to an even worse condition ... bankruptcy.

Link: http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53324

Paraguay's economy is currently growing at the fastest rate in Latin America, due to by growing demand and high prices for agricultural products, especially soy, which is driving the expansion. But the question is whether the benefits of the boom will trickle down to the poor majority.

Link: http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts10282010.html

Now that a few Democrats and the remnants of the AFL-CIO are waking up to the destructive impact of jobs offshoring on the US economy and millions of American lives, globalism’s advocates have resurrected Dartmouth economist Matthew Slaughter’s discredited finding of several years ago that jobs offshoring by US corporations increases employment and wages in the US.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/10/2010102822231134125.html

Internet users could be prosecuted for downloading certain content under a proposed trade agreement, critics say. A new trade agreement being negotiated behind closed doors by officials from the United States, European Union and other countries could drastically reduce internet freedom, a group of more than 70 legal experts have warned. The government of Barack Obama, the US president, could initiate the far reaching Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) at the beginning of next year, without a vote in congress, leading critics to call it anti-democratic in a letter released on Thursday.

Link: http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2010/10/20101027132136220370.html

Investigation by Al Jazeera online correspondent finds toxic illnesses linked to BP oil dispersants along Gulf coast. Denise Rednour of Long Beach, Mississippi, has been sick with chemical poisoning since July. Two-year-old Gavin Tillman of Pass Christian, Mississippi, has been diagnosed with severe upper respiratory, sinus, and viral infections. His temperature has reached more than 39 degrees since September 15, yet his sicknesses continue to worsen. His parents, some doctors, and environmental consultants believe the child's ailments are linked to exposure to chemicals spilt by BP during its Gulf of Mexico oil disaster. Gavin's father, mother, and cousin, Shayleigh, are also facing serious health problems. Their symptoms are being experienced by many others living along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico.

Link: http://www.truth-out.org/a-boot-head-michael-moore64636

There she was, thrown to the pavement by a Republican in a checkered shirt. Another Republican thrusts his foot in between her legs and presses down with all his weight to pin her to the curb. Then a Republican leader comes over and viciously stomps on her head with his foot. You hear her glasses crunch under the pressure. Holding her head down with his foot, he applies more force so she can't move. Her skull and brain are now suffering a concussion. The young woman's name is Lauren Valle, but she is really all of us. For come this Tuesday, the right wing -- and the wealthy who back them -- plan to take their collective boot and bring it down hard on not just the head of Barack Obama but on the heads of everyone they simply don't like.

Link: http://www.activistpost.com/2010/10/baby-boomers-get-out-of-stock-market.html

If you're a baby boomer who still believes in the stock market since the financial collapse of 2008, listen up. The floor of this Ponzi scheme is about to drop out, leaving you punching a clock for some time to come and holding an empty retirement bag for your effort. The engineered crash is coming and the elite are jumping ship in droves -- you should join them and get out ASAP.

Link: http://refreshingnews9.blogspot.com/2010/10/fed-is-fuelling-catastrophe-of-fast.html

The OECD predicts that by the end of the decade, average wheat and coarse grain prices will be 15pc to 40pc higher in real terms. The answer to this question, according to a recent OECD and UN Food and Agriculture Organisation report is a definitive no; global agricultural production is on track to satisfy the expected long-term increase in demand, the OECD reckons. Yet it's little thanks to public policy, which in combination with the current craze among financial speculators for commodities, seems hell bent on driving up prices to what for millions of the world's poor may be starvation levels.

Link: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/10/gulf-oil-spill-news-update.html

There is a flood of information coming out on the Gulf oil spill. Why? The reappearance of huge plumes of oil is making it hard to pretend that it has all gone away. Here's a roundup of some of the Gulf oil headlines from just the last 4 days: