First they wreaked havoc with the financial system. Now, speculators are buying up coffee, cocoa and other foodstuffs in a commodities futures market that was meant to help producers offset risk.
The banks profit, consumers face more costly goods, and the farmers, many of them in the developing world, benefit not at all, says the World Development Movement in a damning report on the role of hedge funds and banks.
With food to put on the table, it's a story of significance to us all.
Also of widespread importance, award-winning writer Sarah Boseley reports on a study that suggests Aids drugs not only help to keep people alive, but they can reduce the chances of the disease spreading. That is packaged with news from a UN report showing the prevalence of HIV has dropped among young people in 15 of the world's worst-affected countries.
Elsewhere, the UN seeks a probe into violence in Rwanda, the White House quietly shifts its stance in favour of talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and North Korea takes a giant leap backwards. Just a few of the stories on our international news pages.
Comment brings you Gary Younge, Polly Toynbee and the ever-outspoken Bidisha, who takes on the vacuous heroine that is Bella in the popular Twilight series.
Our features pages visit Haiti. Six months after an earthquake devastated the deeply impoverished island, many still wait for assistance. Peter Beaumont meets the survivors in a skilfully crafted and moving look at life after the big jolt.
Science weighs up a newly found hoard of Roman coins in Britain, development considers rooibos tea growing in South Africa and our books spread features an impassioned defence of religion that rewards close reading.
As always, your thoughts on the issue are welcome. Please feel free to email us here in London.
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Fact of the week: Illegal logging has dropped by between 50% and 75% across Indonesia, Cameroon and the Brazilian Amazon over the last decade. Globally, it has dropped by one-fifth since 2002.
Quote of the week: "We will take this day by day." Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer, on the capping of the leaking oil well in the Gulf of Mexico.
