MyNuW

It takes 1.5 million barrels a year just to make the plastic water
bottles Americans use, according to the Earth Policy Institute in
Washington, plus countless barrels to transport it from as far as Fiji
and refrigerate it.

The issue took a major stride into
mainstream dialogue earlier this summer, after the mayors of San
Francisco, Salt Lake City, Minneapolis and New York began urging people
to opt for tap water instead of bottled.

WASHINGTON - Farmers and other
employers who rely heavily on immigrant labor said Friday that they could be
driven out of business by the Bush administration’s plans to crack down on
workers whose Social Security numbers do not match their names, and businesses
that hire them.

Administration officials said the
stepped-up enforcement would begin in 30 days.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkeys at a farm in Virginia had antibodies
to a low-risk strain of bird flu but direct evidence of infection has
not been found, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday.

None of the birds became ill but 54,000 were being slaughtered as a
precaution, said Dr. John Clifford of USDA's National Veterinary
Services Laboratories.

Bill Gates appears to have been dethroned as
the world's richest man. But based on his past comments, he probably
isn't disappointed. The Microsoft Corp. chairman and co-founder has
been overtaken on the world's richest list by Mexican
telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim, according to a Mexican financial
news service quoted by Reuters.

A 27 percent surge in the stock price of Slim's wireless company,
American Movil, in the second quarter has put his worth at close to
$67.8 billion, Reuters reported Tuesday.

It was rumored yesterday, and it's real today. Come September 13, Japanese enthusiasts will be able to order up the hottest Civic Type R yet. The already-impressive R gets the full once-over from Mugen, and
the result is the Honda Civic Mugen RR. Designed to be perhaps the
ultimate front-engined/front-wheel-drive performance car, the Mugen RR
sheds an additional 10kg (22 lbs) off the standard Civic Type R's
weight, coming in at 2733 lbs. In addition to the weight loss, the
freer-breathing Mugen RR picks up 15 horsepower over the regular Type

BANGKOK, Thailand -
Desertification represents one of the "greatest environmental challenges of our
times" and, coupled with global warming, could set off mass
migrations of people fleeing degraded homelands, a United Nations report warned
Thursday.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Six Flags has
shut down four thrill rides at parks around the country after a gruesome
accident at an amusement park in Louisville.

A 13-year-old girl's feet were
severed just above the ankles Thursday as she rode the Superman Tower of Power
ride, park officials said. The ride lifts passengers 177 feet straight up, then
drops 154 feet, reaching a speed of 54 mph, according to the park's Web
site.

LONDON - The job markets of a booming European Union, now the largest economy in the world, has fueled a perilous, high-dollar traffic in legal and illegal migrants from Africa and Eastern Europe, and few who make the journey escape without scars.

President Bush yesterday told Hispanics to step into the middle of the
immigration debate and make sure senators who have been bombarded with
calls from opponents also hear from those who support the bill.

    "There's a lot of emotion on this issue, and it makes sense to
have people from around the country come and sit down with members of
Congress to talk rationally about the issue," he told those attending
the Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington yesterday.

WASHINGTON - President Bush,
hoping to salvage immigration overhaul legislation, has agreed to an upfront
infusion of money for federal border security efforts in a concession designed
to win over skeptical conservatives.