By JACEY FORTIN

In Sweden, monetary transactions made with physical cash are down to three percent of the national economy.

“In most Swedish cities, public buses don’t accept cash; tickets are prepaid or purchased with a cell phone text message,” reports AP. “A small but growing number of businesses only take cards, and some bank offices –which make money on electronic transactions — have stopped handling cash altogether.” This looks like the beginning of a global trend; people everywhere are noticing that physical cash is becoming less and less common. Read more »

Brandon Turbeville Prisonplanet.com

In a stunning move, on March 16, 2012, Barack Obama signed an Executive Order stating that the President and his specifically designated Secretaries now have the authority to commandeer all domestic U.S. resources including food and water. The EO also states that the President and his Secretaries have the authority to seize all transportation, energy, and infrastructure inside the United States as well as forcibly induct/draft American citizens into the military. The EO also contains a vague reference in regards to harnessing American citizens to fulfill “labor requirements” for the purposes of national defense.

Not only that, but the authority claimed inside the EO does not only apply to National Emergencies and times of war. It also applies in peacetime. Read more »

Campaigners pan global water conference for allowing business access to senior government officials and raise concerns that delegates are watering down human rights commitments
By: Claire Provostguardian.co.uk,

Diplomats, business leaders, and scientific experts are gathering in southern France this week for an international conference billed as a “platform for solutions” to the global water crisis, but denounced by critics for lacking legitimacy and promoting the interests of large transnational corporations.
Organisers say more than 20,000 delegates from 180 countries will attend the six-day World Water Forum (WWF) in Marseille. French president Nicolas Sarkozy is expected to attend, along with European Commission president José Manuel Barroso, King Mohammed VI of Morocco, and the CEOs of Nestlé and Coca-Cola. Read more »