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Excerpts of Key News Articles in Major Media

Below are key excerpts of little-known, yet highly revealing news articles from the media. Links are provided to the full news articles for verification. If any link fails to function, read this webpage. These articles are listed by order of importance. You can also explore these articles listed by order of the date of the news article or by the date posted. By choosing to educate ourselves, we can build a brighter future.

Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news articles on dozens of engaging topics. And read excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.

Scientists announced today that they have created the first successful human-animal hybrids. The project proves that human cells can be introduced into a non-human organism, survive, and even grow inside a host animal, in this case, pigs. This biomedical advance has long been a dream and a quandary for scientists hoping to address a critical shortage of donor organs. An international team of researchers led by the Salk Institute ... created what’s known scientifically as a chimera: an organism that contains cells from two different species. Such experiments are currently ineligible for public funding in the United States. Public opinion, too, has hampered the creation of organisms that are part human, part animal. The Salk-led group [used] the genome editing tool called CRISPR to hack into mouse blastocysts—the precursors of embryos. There, they deleted genes that mice need to grow certain organs. When they introduced rat stem cells capable of producing those organs, those cells flourished. The mice that resulted managed to live into adulthood. Pigs have a notable similarity to humans. Not that these similarities made the task any easier. In order to introduce human cells into the pigs without killing them, [the team] had to get the timing just right. When those just-right human cells were injected into the pig embryos, the embryos survived. Then they were put into adult pigs, which carried the embryos for between three and four weeks before they were removed. In all, the team created 186 later-stage chimeric embryos that survived.

Note: For lots more on the disturbing topic of human-animal hybrids, see this Washington Post article. For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on genetically modified organisms and health.

After 30 years of immunology research, [Louis Picker] is on the verge of launching human trials for a vaccine that could stop AIDS, an epidemic that has become something of an afterthought decades after it began ravaging gay men in America. For many in the developed world, complacency has set in, largely thanks to a regimen of antiretroviral drugs that allow people with HIV to live long and healthy lives, and decades of failed attempts to develop a vaccine. In 1984, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Margaret Heckler expressed hope ... that science might have a vaccine for HIV within two years. Instead, a decade passed, and by 1994, AIDS was the leading cause of death for Americans ages 25 to 44. Four vaccines have made it to human trials, but none made it to market. As Picker continued his research, scientists developed a series of antiretroviral drugs that slowly downgraded HIV to a chronic disease ... in the developed world. But globally, AIDS is still killing a lot of people, largely because most of those infected in poorer countries don't have access to the drugs. According to the World Health Organization, 1.1 million people died from AIDS in 2015. In the U.S., 50,000 new cases of HIV are reported every year. Worldwide, the number is 2 million. Every time news reports come out about Picker's research, he fields a series of phone calls from HIV-infected patients, their friends and their family. "Can I be in your trial?" people ask him. "Please, can you save my son?"

Note: How is it that COVID-19 vaccines were created just months after it became a threat while many decades later no vaccine has been found for the deadly AIDS epidemic, which according to the WHO has killed 36 million - many times the number of deaths from COVID? For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on health from reliable major media sources.

At 93, Dr Charles Eugster cuts a dapper figure in his navy suit and matching silk handkerchief and tie. But he looks just as good in the Lycra gym suit he has on underneath, ready to spring into action like a nonagenarian superhero. This former dentist took up bodybuilding just six years ago, aged 87, yet looks very at home surrounded by the whirring fitness machines. His reasons for picking up weights in his 80s are simple. "The idea is to turn the heads of the sexy young 70-year-old girls on the beach," he says. He now works out three to four times a week, often for two hours at a time, with his regime varying depending on his goals. Sometimes this involves a "heavy session of muscle building or rowing on the lake". And his vigorous training has clearly paid off. At a recent championship he achieved 57 dips, 61 chin-ups, 50 push-ups and 48 abdominal crunches, each in 45 seconds. Dr Eugster is no stranger to competitions. Since starting his bodybuilding training he has won several world titles for fitness and picked up many rowing medals. For 30 years while working long hours as a dentist he didn't manage to exercise regularly and began to realise his body wasn't what he wished it to be. "I'm extremely vain and I noticed I was getting fat," he said. "In my opinion anybody can do it. But obviously it is like trading in your old car for a new one. Ageing has become something for me, an enormous pleasure, a delight, a joy."

Note: For two amazing one-minute videos of a highly inspiring 86-year-old gymnast, click here.

Cameron Macaulay was a typical six-year-old, always talking about his mum and family. He liked to draw pictures of his home too a long single-storey, white house standing in a bay. But it sent shivers down his mums spine because Cameron said it was somewhere they had never been, 160 miles away from where they lived. And he said the mother he was talking about was his old mum. Convinced he had lived a previous life Cameron worried his former family would be missing him. [He] said they were on the Isle Of Barra. Mum Norma, 42, said: Ever since Cameron could speak hes come up with tales of a childhood on Barra. He spoke about his former parents, how his dad died, and his brothers and sisters. Eventually we just had to take him there to see what we could find. It was an astonishing experience. Cameron wouldn't stop begging me to take him to Barra. It was constant. When we got to the island and DID land on a beach, just as Cameron had described, he turned to ... me and said, Now do you believe me? He got off the plane, threw his arms in the air and yelled Im back." The Macaulays booked into a hotel and began their search for clues to Camerons past. Norma said: We contacted the Heritage Centre and asked if they'd heard of a Robertson family who lived in a white house overlooking a bay." Next the family received a call from their hotel to confirm that a family called Robertson once had a white house on the bay. Norma explains: We didn't tell Cameron anything. We just drove towards where we were told the house was and waited to see what would happen. He recognised it immediately and was overjoyed. There were lots of nooks and crannies and Cameron knew every bit of the house – including the THREE toilets and the beach view from his bedroom window. In the garden, he took us to the ‘secret entrance' he'd been talking about for years. Now he knows we no longer think he was making things up. "

Note: If the above link fails, see this webpage. A powerful documentary on Cameron's story was broadcasted on the U.K.'s Channel Five.

The recent use of armed, unmanned drones in Afghanistan and Yemen has shown that America's armed forces have become good at applying new weapons technology in the field. [Electromagnetic] weapons are able to destroy electronic systems and temporarily incapacitate people, all without the mess of explosions and gunfire. Using different types of electromagnetic energy (the same stuff as radio waves, X-rays and light) ... they could disrupt a variety of enemy systems, from missile targeting and launch electronics, to command-and-control systems. So-called "active denial" technology (which earns its moniker by actively herding people out of its path) works by using a beam of millimetre-length microwaves to heat up a person's skin. The marines are planning to put a version of the weapon on to a jeep. Range and properties are classified, but military newspapers say it can heat a person's skin to 55°C (130°F) at distances of up to 750 metres. David Fidler, a law professor at Indiana University, says that, because these weapons are most likely to be used on civilians, it is not clear that using them is legal under the international rules governing armed conflict. Steve Goose of Human Rights Watch ... says that too much secrecy still surrounds them. Weapons such as the active denial system could cause severe trauma, or even death, if fired at close range or held on a target for too long. Is it acceptable to shoot or bomb somebody if you have the option only to disable them?

Note: You can read the full article free of charge on this webpage. Did you know that non-lethal weapons have already been developed and used on people, as evidenced in these news articles from the mainstream media? Investigate the series of mysterious attacks on US diplomats in recent years which are likely electromagnetic in nature. To explore even further, read about the history and scope of non-lethal weapons, along with a revealing study of the US Intelligence's use and abuse of these weapons.

A plot of Wall Street interests to overthrow President Roosevelt and establish a Fascist dictatorship, backed by a private army of 500,000 ex-soldiers and others, was charged by Major Gen. Smedley D. Butler, retired Marine Corps officer, who appeared yesterday before the House of Representatives Committee on Un-American Activities, which began hearings on the charges. [The committee] heard testimony from General Butler and Gerald P. Maguire, a bond salesman in the Stock Exchange firm of Grayson M.P. Murphy & Co., 52 Broadway, named by General Butler as having urged him to head the proposed Fascist army. There were immediate emphatic denials by the purported plotters. From Philadelephia came word that General Butler had told friends there that General Hugh S. Johnson, former NRA administrator, was scheduled for the role of dictator, and that J. P. Morgan & Co. as well as Murphy & Co. were behind the plot.

Note: General Butler, who was greatly loved by his troops, only discovered how he and his troops had been used by Wall Street bankers after retiring from the military. As a result, he wrote a seminal book titled "War is a Racket" for which you can find an excellent summary on this webpage. Explore a suppressed book on this titled "The Plot to Seize the White House." For more along these lines, see concise summaries of deeply revealing news articles on war from reliable major media sources. Then explore the excellent, reliable resources provided in our War Information Center.

A recent report by UFO-tracking app Enigma reveals that thousands of sightings of Unidentified Submersible Objects (USOs) have been logged near rivers, lakes, and oceans, suggesting that unexplained phenomena are not confined to the skies. Some of these objects reportedly rise from the depths or plunge into the water without leaving a splash, defying conventional physics. The sheer volume and consistency of these reports challenge traditional explanations for UFOs. While aerial sightings have long been treated skeptically, the underwater dimension adds a new layer of complexity. If verified, USOs could represent either highly advanced technology or an entirely unknown phenomenon, raising urgent questions about national security, scientific inquiry, and humanity's understanding of the natural world. Enigma, billed as the "largest queryable historical sighting database for global UFO sightings," has recorded over 30,000 reports since its launch in late 2022. While most detail aerial phenomena, the recent report highlights more than 9,000 USO sightings within 10 miles of U.S. shorelines or major bodies of water. Of these, 500 were reported within five miles of the coast, and over 150 involve objects hovering above or entering the water, sometimes accompanied by strange lights or unexplained movements. Retired Navy Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet said objects capable of moving seamlessly between air and water could carry "world-changing" ramifications.

Note: Our 26-minute video UFO Disclosure: Breakthrough Technology and Awakening Human Consciousness features our interviews with leading experts along with well-sourced, verifiable information to help you make sense of this fascinating issue and its immense potential to transform our world. Then explore the comprehensive resources provided in our UFO Information Center.

Virginia Giuffre says she feared she might "die a sex slave" at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein and his circle, her posthumous memoir reveals. The BBC has obtained a full copy of Nobody's Girl, written by the prominent accuser of convicted sex offender Epstein, ahead of its publication ... almost six months after she took her own life. In the memoir, Ms Giuffre also says she had sex with Prince Andrew on three separate occasions. At the centre of the abuse was Epstein and his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is currently serving a 20-year sentence on sex-trafficking charges. She says Epstein subjected her to sadomasochistic sex which caused her "so much pain that I prayed I would black out". Ms Giuffre says she first met Prince Andrew [at age 17] in March 2001. Ms Giuffre says she had sex for a second time with the prince around a month later at Epstein's townhouse in New York. She says the third occasion was on Epstein's island as part of what Ms Giuffre called "an orgy". "Epstein, Andy, and approximately eight other young girls and I had sex together," she says. "The other girls all appeared to be under the age of 18 and didn't really speak English. "Epstein laughed about how they couldn't really communicate, saying they are the easiest girls to get along with." The Metropolitan Police said it was "actively" looking into media reports that Prince Andrew tried to obtain personal information about Ms Giuffre through his police protection officer (PPO).

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Epstein's criminal enterprise.

It was early 2012 when doctors found a tumor in Kim Franzi's brain. Franzi underwent a risky two-day brain surgery to remove the mass, which doctors warned could leave her paralyzed or prove fatal. The operation was successful, but more than 13 years later, she still suffers from side effects, including issues with her reflexes, teeth, hearing, and vision. Before discovering the tumor, Franzi used the birth control shot Depo-Provera for more than 15 years. The shot has been used by roughly one in four sexually active women in the United States, bringing in hundreds of millions in profits annually for the pharmaceutical behemoth Pfizer, which manufactures and distributes the drug. But according to more than 1,200 lawsuits, Pfizer has failed to properly warn the public about long-established links between Depo-Provera and meningiomas. That includes a lawsuit submitted on Franzi's behalf, plus more than 9,500 cases that have yet to be filed. In 2024, a large study of more than 18,000 cases of women undergoing surgery for meningiomas found that "prolonged use of [Depo-Provera] was found to increase the risk of intracranial meningioma." Specifically, the scientists found that use of Depo-Provera was associated with a more than five-fold heightened risk of developing a meningioma that required surgery, and that risk increased further if patients used Depo-Provera for more than a year. Drug labels for Depo-Provera in the European Union, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada ... warn about these brain tumors.

Note: Read the full article to learn about how Pfizer omitted six studies that found significant links between patients taking the birth control shot and brain tumors. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on health and Big Pharma corruption.

The United States has long used drone strikes to take out people it alleges are terrorists or insurgents. President Donald Trump has taken this tactic to new extremes, boasting about lethal strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and declaring the U.S. is in a "non-international armed conflict" with narcotics traffickers. Trump appears to be merging the war on terror with the war on drugs. This comes as he's simultaneously ramping up the use of troops to police inside American cities. The modern drug war began during President Richard Nixon's administration. In 1994, the journalist Dan Baum tracked down Nixon aide John Ehrlichman and interviewed him. He said, "Look. The Nixon campaign in '68 and the Nixon White House had two enemies: Black people and the antiwar left. [V]ilify them night after night on the evening news, and we thought if we can associate heroin with Black people in the public mind and marijuana with the hippies this would be perfect." And [Ehrlichman] said, "Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did." This line of thinking drove policies designed to "unleash" law enforcement. The Nixon administration tried to relax wiretapping laws, roll back Miranda rights, and erode Fourth Amendment protections against unconstitutional searches and seizures. And now we're seeing the Trump administration push even harder to roll back constitutional protections.

Note: Though President Richard Nixon launched the War on Drugs by declaring drugs "public enemy No. 1," secretly he admitted in a 1973 Oval Office meeting that marijuana was "not particularly dangerous." The War on Drugs is a trillion dollar failure that has been made worse by every presidential administration since Nixon. Don't miss our in-depth investigation into the dark truths behind the War on Drugs. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on military corruption and the War on Drugs.

Each planting season, Claudia Bashian-Victoroff ventures out into Bole Woods. Laced throughout, weaving an intricate, microscopic web, are the mycorrhizal fungi she's after – fungi that have spent 400 million years learning to live in symbiosis with plants, including the trees throughout Bole Woods and at least 80 percent of all species on the planet. Bashian-Victoroff doesn't need much soil. A single spoonful can contain miles of fungal hyphae and filaments, engaged in an ancient evolutionary exchange with the trees to which they've bonded. The fungi gather up water and nutrients, and deliver them to the trees. In return, they receive carbohydrates developed through photosynthesis, which they fix into the soil as they grow. It's a prosperous cycle, and Bashian-Victoroff is among a growing global community of researchers and conservationists taking advantage of this relationship to restore forests and other degraded ecosystems. Their goal: Promote the health of the soil beneath our feet and the plants it supports, sequester carbon and make agriculture more sustainable. Mycorrhizal fungi can be an important part of a broader suite of climate solutions, says Anne Polyakov, a fungal conservation and restoration scientist with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks, or SPUN, which recently used machine learning to map the planet's mycorrhizal networks in an effort to promote conservation.

Note: Explore more positive stories like this in on technology for good and healing the Earth.

Senior officials in the Biden administration, including some White House officials, "conducted repeated and sustained outreach" and "pressed" Google- and YouTube parent-company Alphabet "regarding certain user-generated content related to the COVID-19 pandemic that did not violate [Alphabet's] policies," the company revealed yesterday. While Alphabet "continued to develop and enforce its policies independently, Biden Administration officials continued to press [Alphabet] to remove non-violative user-generated content," a lawyer for Alphabet wrote in a September 23 letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan. Administration officials including Biden "created a political atmosphere that sought to influence the actions" of private tech platforms regarding the moderation of misinformation. This is what has come to be known as "jawboning," and the fact that it doesn't involve direct censorship may make it even more insidious. Direct censorship can be challenged in court. This sort of wink-and-nod regulation of speech leaves companies and their users with little recourse. What's more, each time authorities stray from the spirit of the First Amendment, it makes it that much easier for future authorities to do so. And each time Democrats (or Republicans) use government power to try and suppress free speech, it gives them even less standing to say it's wrong when their opponents do that.

Note: Read more about the sprawling federal censorship enterprise that took shape during the Biden administration. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on censorship and government corruption.

Pesticides banned years ago in the European Union are drifting through the skies and turning up in clouds above France, raising concerns about how long these toxins persist and how far they can travel, with potentially harmful global health impacts, according to a pathbreaking new study. The research ... is the first to detect dozens of agricultural chemicals–including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other substances–suspended in cloud water droplets. That means pesticides not only linger in the environment but also move through the atmosphere and fall back to Earth in rain or snow, sometimes at levels exceeding European safe drinking water limits. The study found that clouds can carry current-use pesticides, long-banned compounds, and "emerging contaminants"–industrial chemicals that either build up in the environment or form when older pesticides break down. Some even transform into new compounds in the atmosphere itself, beyond what regulators have known to consider. Researchers estimate that French skies alone may contain anywhere from a few tons to more than 100 tons of pesticides at any given time–most carried in from distant sources. Out of 446 possible chemicals screened–including pesticides, biocides (compounds that kill harmful organisms), additives, and transformation products (breakdown products of pesticides)–researchers found 32 different compounds in cloud water.

Note: Across the US, a powerful legislative push is underway to protect pesticide manufacturers from being held accountable for the harms caused by their products. Check out our latest Substack, "The Pesticide Crisis Reveals The Dark Side of Science. We Have The Solutions to Regenerate."

Amid escalating anti-immigrant rhetoric ... private prison corporations are once again expanding their grip on U.S. detention policy. In fact, today roughly 90 percent of detained immigrants are held in privately operated facilities, the highest share in history. The industry is instead preparing for explosive growth. On recent earnings calls, CoreCivic executives announced plans to triple the number of beds in their facilities within a few months. That would mean an additional $1.5 billion in revenue for the corporation, more than doubling its annual earnings. Meanwhile, growing scrutiny of immigration detention practices has led to reports of abuse, medical neglect, and deaths in custody. Privatization, with the cost-cutting practices that define it, is the structural driver of human rights violations at these facilities. Private prisons corporations are just one piece of the sprawling prison industry. The U.S. carceral system is comprised of a vast and deeply entrenched network of public-private partnerships that make billions from incarceration and detention. Commissary corporations mark-up basic hygiene items like toothpaste or tampons by 300 percent or more. Private healthcare providers routinely deny or delay treatment, contributing to suffering and preventable deaths behind bars. Private food vendors serve meals that are frequently expired or nutritionally inadequate, all in the name of cutting costs and maximizing returns.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on immigration enforcement corruption.

Tor is mostly known as the Dark Web or Dark Net, seen as an online Wild West where crime runs rampant. Yet it's partly funded by the U.S. government, and the BBC and Facebook both have Tor-only versions to allow users in authoritarian countries to reach them. At its simplest, Tor is a distributed digital infrastructure that makes you anonymous online. It is a network of servers spread around the world, accessed using a browser called the Tor Browser, which you can download for free from the Tor Project website. When you use the Tor Browser, your signals are encrypted and bounced around the world before they reach the service you're trying to access. This makes it difficult for governments to trace your activity or block access, as the network just routes you through a country where that access isn't restricted. But, because you can't protect yourself from digital crime without also protecting yourself from mass surveillance by the state, these technologies are the site of constant battles between security and law enforcement interests. The state's claim to protect the vulnerable often masks efforts to exert control. In fact, robust, well-funded, value-driven and democratically accountable content moderation – by well-paid workers with good conditions – is a far better solution than magical tech fixes to social problems ... or surveillance tools. As more of our online lives are funneled into the centralized AI infrastructures ... tools like Tor are becoming ever more important.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Big Tech and the disappearance of privacy.

Americans working for a little known U.S.-based private military contractor have begun to come forward to media and members of Congress with charges that their work has involved using live ammunition for crowd control and other abusive measures against unarmed civilians seeking food at controversial food distribution sites run by the Global Humanitarian Fund (GHF) in Gaza. UG Solutions was hired by the GHF to secure and deliver food into Gaza. Israel put GHF in control of what used to be the UN-led aid mission. The UN, ... has called the new model an "abomination" which "provides nothing but starvation and gunfire to the people of Gaza," referring to the 1000 Gazans who have been killed near or at the GHF centers since May. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have been accused of shooting and shelling unarmed civilians. The American contractors say they have witnessed it and have been told to use live ammunition in their own crowd control efforts. UG Solutions is a mercenary group. They are not a party to the conflict in Gaza, were recruited to participate in hostilities, were not sent by the U.S. government, are not a national of a party in the conflict, are not part of a military, and are there for personal gain. Similar to Blackwater, they are primarily doing defensive operations and the U.S. State Department has helped fund the GHF but they are headquartered in the U.S. working for a foreign entity, in a combat zone, for money.

Note: Learn more about human rights abuses during wartime in our comprehensive Military-Intelligence Corruption Information Center. For more, read our concise summaries of news articles on war.

Regenerative agriculture offers a way to move beyond what I call the ‘dead Earth assumption' – this mechanistic belief that the Earth is made up of lifeless raw materials meant for extraction. Because that's the foundation of industrial agriculture: all it cares about is how many tons of food it produces, with no regard for soil health, biodiversity or the wellbeing of farmers. Regenerative agriculture, on the other hand, shows us the opposite. It means collaborating with nature and recognizing that we are all living organisms on a living Earth. That is what farming should be about: regenerating the potential of the living soil, the living seeds, the living water, the living insects, and the entire web of life. By embracing this potential, we can also transform the way we relate to nature. Because regeneration writes its own poetry – it brings the Earth back to life again in our minds and, in doing so, our relationship with the Earth is being regenerated as well. Some people say: ‘You're naive, because companies will always win.' But I don't think that companies will win, and I will give you a reason why. The first corporation ever created was the East India Company in 1600, but after the revolt of the peasants in 1857, they shut down in 1858. So the first corporation that was created to rule the world, was shut down by peasants. In today's world, meaningful change can happen too, when we unite. It all comes down to nurturing the living soil and the living seed.

Note: The above was written by Vandana Shiva. Explore more positive stories like this on healing social division and healing the Earth.

Late last month, some 14,000 baby chicks in Pennsylvania were shipped from a hatchery – commercial operations that breed chickens, incubate their eggs, and sell day-old chicks – to small farms across the country. But they didn't get far. They were reportedly abandoned in a US Postal Service truck in Delaware for three-and-a-half days without water, food, or temperature control. By the time officials arrived at the postal facility, 4,000 baby birds were already dead. More than 9 billion chickens raised for meat annually in the US are kept on factory farms – long, windowless buildings that look more like industrial warehouses than farms. Up to 6 percent die before they can even be trucked to the slaughterhouse. The average consumer, if they think about farm animal suffering at all, may only think about it in the context of factory farms or slaughterhouses. But the factory farm production chain is incredibly complex, and at each step, animals have little to no protections. That leads to tens of millions of animals dying painful deaths each year in transport alone, and virtually no companies are ever held accountable. These deaths are just as tragic as the thousands who died in the recent USPS incident, and they are just as preventable. The meat industry could choose to pack fewer animals into each truck, require heating and cooling during transport, and give animals ample time for rest, water, and food on long journeys. But such modest measures would cut into their margins.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on factory farming and food system corruption.

The U.S. intelligence community is now buying up vast volumes of sensitive information that would have previously required a court order, essentially bypassing the Fourth Amendment. But the surveillance state has encountered a problem: There's simply too much data on sale from too many corporations and brokers. So the government has a plan for a one-stop shop. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is working on a system to centralize and "streamline" the use of commercially available information, or CAI, like location data derived from mobile ads, by American spy agencies, according to contract documents reviewed by The Intercept. The data portal will include information deemed by the ODNI as highly sensitive, that which can be "misused to cause substantial harm, embarrassment, and inconvenience to U.S. persons." The "Intelligence Community Data Consortium" will provide a single convenient web-based storefront for searching and accessing this data, along with a "data marketplace" for purchasing "the best data at the best price," faster than ever before. It will be designed for the 18 different federal agencies and offices that make up the U.S. intelligence community, including the National Security Agency, CIA, FBI Intelligence Branch, and Homeland Security's Office of Intelligence and Analysis – though one document suggests the portal will also be used by agencies not directly related to intelligence or defense.

Note: For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of intelligence agency corruption and the disappearance of privacy.

A few dozen people gathered inside a graffiti-clad building in the Carabanchel district of Madrid. They had come to commiserate about the American investment banks and private equity funds that controlled their homes. Some at this meeting of the Sindicato de Vivienda de Carabanchel (the Carabanchel Housing Union) were fighting eviction orders or skyrocketing rents. Others had lost their homes through mortgage foreclosures. One attendee, Elsa Riquelme, described her yearslong battle to stay in the 600-square-foot apartment where she raised her three sons, which is now owned by Blackstone, the world's largest private equity firm. Over the past decade, Blackstone has become Madrid's largest private owner of residential real estate, and the second largest in all of Spain. Ms. Riquelme's apartment is one of 13,000 that Blackstone currently owns in Madrid, and among 19,600 it owns nationwide. Across Spain, around 185,000 rental properties are now owned by large corporations, half of those by firms based in the United States. Rental prices have increased 57 percent since 2015 and home prices 47 percent ... even as more than 4 million homes sit empty. After the pandemic pushed Spain's unemployment rate up to 15 percent, evictions nationwide spiked. In Madrid, tenant groups estimate that 20,000 renters in the city currently face the threat of eviction. These days, just 2 percent of Spanish homes available for rent are public housing. In France it's 14 percent; in the Netherlands it's 34 percent.

Note: This article is also available here. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on corporate corruption and financial inequality.

Important Note: Explore our full index to revealing excerpts of key major media news articles on several dozen engaging topics. And don't miss amazing excerpts from 20 of the most revealing news articles ever published.