Full Coverage: Corporations

22.12.2005 The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia dismissed the initiative for ruling on constitutionality of the provision of the Law on Customer Protection which bans the retailers from charging a price for shopping bags carrying logos and brand names, since such bags shall be considered advertising material. The initiative was submitted by Kaufland Croatia chain of retail stores.

21.12.2005 Asda, the UK’s second biggest supermarket, has announced its participation in the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil. The meetings will attempt to promote a sustainable solution for palm oil, the sourcing of which currently contributes to deforestation in some of the world’s most sensitive regions.

20.12.2005 Indian NGO, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), has released the green ratings of the cement industry and finds that the sector is more energy-efficient than its counterparts in the US and Europe. Still, the Indian cement industry has to clean up its act because of its preoccupation with economics, not environment.

20.12.2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 20 (OneWorld) - While trade justice advocates are declaring that the world's poorer countries were "betrayed" at pivotal trade talks that concluded in Hong Kong Sunday, negotiators managed to resist pressure from the European Union and others to open their public services--including water--to competition from private companies.

20.12.2005 The final text salvaged from around-the-clock global trade talks here sets a deadline to end farm export subsidies by rich nations, a long-time demand by developing nations, but also binds poorer countries to more dramatically open their markets to multinational corporations.

19.12.2005 Contempt of court proceedings have been started against Shell Nigeria and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation for failing to comply with a court order to stop flaring gas immediately in an area of Delta state. The court had ruled that flaring was a "gross violation" of the rights to life and dignity.

16.12.2005 India will have to pull up its socks if it has to retain its edge in the global offshoring scenario as China is rapidly catching up with improved communication and training facilities in English, world-class infrastructure and strong urban facilities. Rahul Kumar attends a seminar in New Delhi on offshoring.

16.12.2005 Can Information Dissemination create an environment which builds trust amongst all stakeholders? This aspect is of increasing importance for business, industry and governments and should be given priority. The IT/BPO industry will need to use information dissemination to develop wider stakeholder confidence related to its economic and social activities.

15.12.2005 The conclusions of the latest control made by Public Institute of Health, years 2002-2004, uncovered the following defficiencies in a number of factories: unsafe foods, fresh drinks grimed by feces, water bottled in unsanitary conditions.

15.12.2005 For many in the U.S., Hurricane Katrina opened a space for new kinds of conversation about what kind of country this is and what kind of country we want it to be. Despite all the divisive talk about Red States and Blue States, the vast majority are united in wanting government to care for its citizens, not leave those basic responsibilities in the hands of corporations.

15.12.2005 Some say it's too early for emerging Chinese industries to be held to rigorous social responsibility standards. But corporate social responsibility addresses fundamental questions of profit-making and should be mainstreamed into a company's business model from the get-go, says Worldwatch's Zijun Li, parroting the words of BP China's president.

15.12.2005 The National Social Watch Coalition and ActionAid India provide the latest information and news from Hong Kong. The information has been provided in the form of two newsletters in PDF - wto news3.pdf and wto news4.pdf.

14.12.2005 NEW YORK, Dec 14 (OneWorld) - Coca-Cola, the multinational soft drink giant, is facing the wrath of rights advocacy groups here in the United States and abroad for refusing to take responsibility for abusive practices at its bottling plants.

14.12.2005 The South-Eastern European Network of Economists and Trade Unions organized a seminar today in Prishtina about the privatization and labor market in the countries of the region.

14.12.2005 The charity Christian Aid has cited leaked documents to say that the European Union (EU) will push developing nations to privatise services such as water, healthcare and banking at the trade ministers meeting in Hong Kong this week.

13.12.2005 New Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) will present its findings of the Indian cement industry on December 16, 2005. the ratings will be released by Prof. MS Swaminathan in New Delhi. CSE has earlier conducted the ratings of pulp and paper, automobiles and chlor-alkali for their adaptation of environment friendly and non polluting technologies.

12.12.2005 Corporates can join hands with the development sector and fill up the void that governments have not fulfilled in meeting the developmental needs of the people. Professionals from the corporate and the development sector at a conference - Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in Asia - agreed that corporations in today’s globalised world could respond to societal needs even while making profits. OneWorld South Asia's Rahul Kumar reports from the two-day conference.

12.12.2005 Director of environment NGO Toxics Link Ravi Agarwal in his letter to Microsoft chairman Bill Gates says that philanthropy and info-tech are fine, but the illustrious entrepreneur and businessman should also think of a cleaner world. Agarwal says that 500 million old computers which are to be disposed off in Europe and the US head towards India, Africa and China.

12.12.2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 11 (OneWorld) - The global struggle to force Union Carbide and its current owner, Dow Chemical, to take responsibility for a deadly gas leak that occurred in India 21 years ago has gradually gained steam and is now a centerpiece in the growing movement to hold corporations accountable for the negative aspects of their business practices.

09.12.2005 New York University will begin removing all Coca-Cola products from its campus on 9 December in protest against the company’s failure to submit to an independent investigation of its bottling plants in Colombia, where workers have accused Coke of human rights abuses.