Whole Foods Market, the grocery chain, announced on Friday that it would require all foods sold in its stores that contain genetically modified ingredients to be labeled as such within five years.

The company is the first retailer in the country to require the labeling, and its executives received a standing ovation when they made the announcement at the Natural Products Expo West, a trade conference being held this week in Anaheim, Calif. The show …

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Following his colossal interview ‘The Empire of Sexuality’, we arranged to interview the most prominent Arab intellectual in the post-Fatimid era, Joseph Massad (JM), about another problematic concept at the intersection of late capitalism and Euro-American hegemony, cheese. We were intrigued by Massad’s comments about western culture’s tendency to label the various stages of milk into clear-cut ‘categories’, such as butter, cheese and ice cream, so we dispatched Alex Osman Fassbinder (AOF) and Mga Mga …

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The funeral of President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela took place on International Women’s Day – a fitting day of departure for “the president of the poor” who was loved by millions, especially by women, the poorest.

When Chávez was elected in 1998, the grassroots movement took a leap in power, and women in particular were empowered. Women were the first into the streets against the 2002 US-backed coup; their mobilisation saved the revolution. When asked why, …

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In 1994, a scientist studying her company’s new medical imaging dye reached troubling findings. Her boss, she recalls, told her to “burn the data.”

That alleged request surfaced this week in a groundbreaking trial over the dye, which is injected into patients to sharpen MRI scans and has been owned since 2004 by GE Healthcare. At issue is whether GE did enough to protect patients from a rare but devastating side effect of the …

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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) took bank regulators to task once again during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday—pressing U.S. officials over a blatant lack of prosecution for banks such as HSBC, who have been caught laundering billions of dollars for international “drug cartels”.

Adding to her “too big for trial” criticism of the American banking regulation system, Warren stated:

What does it take, how many billions of dollars do you have to …

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HARTMANN: Elizabeth Warren takes on Eric Holder when he came right out and said these banks become too big to jail. And she said that is proof that they’re also too big to fail and it’s time to get rid of them.

Today we have Austin Petersen, founder and publisher of libertarianrepublic.com and Director of Production at FreedomWorks with us.

So, Austin, here …

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PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Though supporters of public education staged a massive rally Thursday at school system headquarters in the city and more than a dozen people were arrested on disorderly conduct charges, hours later officials voted to close 23 schools.

The School Reform Commission spared only four schools after hearing emotional pleas from among the hundreds of people who packed the commission meeting room and an overflow space immediately after the rally.

“This was a difficult vote, …

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(RNS) Five key Catholic bishops are opposing the newly authorized Violence Against Women Act for fear it will subvert traditional views of marriage and gender, and compromise the religious freedom of groups that aid victims of human trafficking.

The act, to be signed into law by President Obama on Thursday (March 7), is intended to protect women from domestic violence, sexual assault and human trafficking, and allows the federal government to spend money to treat victims …

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Comedian Beppe Grillo was surprised himself when his Five Star Movement got 8.7 million votes in the Italian general election of February 24-25th. His movement is now the biggest single party in the chamber of deputies, says The Guardian, which makes him “a kingmaker in a hung parliament.”

Grillo’s is the party of “no.” In a candidacy based on satire, he organized an annual “V Day Celebration,” the “V” standing for vaffanculo (“f—k off”). …

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AFP – Policemen across Egypt staged a strike on Thursday to demand the resignation of the interior minister, saying they no longer wanted to be used as a political tool, security officials said.

The discontent began weeks ago with isolated pockets of protest, but by Thursday police were on strike in areas of Cairo, Alexandria, the Nile Delta, the Suez Canal provinces, southern provinces and the Sinai peninsula.

Dozens of officers closed the Qasr al-Nil police station …

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