Full Coverage: Corporations

31.03.2006 An Indian group of people living with HIV/AIDS have opposed a patent application filed by global pharma major GlaxoSmithKline for Combivir, a fixed dose combination AIDS drug on the grounds that it would make the treatment unaffordable. A number of Indian NGOs have submitted their opposition, based on technical and health grounds, to a patent application filed at the Kolkata patent office by the company.

31.03.2006 On the surface, new fuel efficiency standards announced by the Bush Administration Wednesday would seem to constitute a move toward energy independence and a more stable climate. But just below the surface...

30.03.2006 The Alternative Report by NGO War on Want is the first full exposé of Coca-Cola’s activities worldwide, and forms part of War on Want’s ongoing campaign for directors to be made liable for corporate wrongdoing. The report also focusses on the harm that communities have faced because of the company.

30.03.2006 Cotton farmers in the south Indian state of Andhara Pradesh are being lured into debt by seed MNCs by selling expensive genetically modified seeds which have failed to deliver a good harvest. Farmers allege that a black market has been created for the seeds, gifts are being given to farmers and even unapproved GM seeds are being sold.

28.03.2006 India's left-leaning, United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has on the anvil controversial legislation that would see jobs reserved for 'Dalits' (people socially deemed low caste by birth) in private corporations after a pattern that has long existed in the public sector.

28.03.2006 The India Resource Center is urging delegates to the National Union of Students (NUS) in the UK to vote to end business relationships with the Coca-Cola company. The (NUS) is holding its Annual General Meeting in Blackpool from March 27-30, and the issue of whether to renew contracts with the Coca-Cola company is expected to be debated widely at the conference.

28.03.2006 Calls for the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which is meeting at Curitiba in Brazil, to end its six-year moratorium on the planting of infertile genetically modified (GM) crops have been rejected. Though Australia, Canada and New Zealand backed the proposal, but opponents say that such seeds could make farmers dependent on MNCs.

27.03.2006 Congress is considering legislation--promoted by the cable companies--that could eliminate support for Public Access TV. But the stations themselves, including New York's popular Manhattan Neighborhood Network, are at the forefront of a massive campaign to save the stations.

27.03.2006 Greenpeace activists protested in front of the New Zealand Embassy in New Delhi on Friday, with a banner exhorting New Zealand to 'Keep the Ban on Terminator Seeds'. The protestors also distributed leaflets to hundreds of passers-by in peak hour traffic.

24.03.2006 People of Mehdiganj in north India have launched an indefinite vigil against a Coca-Cola bottling plant demanding that the plant be permanently shut down. Nearly five hundred community members set up a tent in front of the Coca-Cola bottling plant in the holy city of Varanasi and declared that they will carry on the protest until the plant is shut down.

24.03.2006 As the cost of natural gas continues to climb, wind-generated electricity is gaining ground as an affordable and renewable alternative, argues eco-economy guru Lester Brown. In fact, both rural communities and big-time players are beginning to take notice--and take advantage.

23.03.2006 The mantra of development policies promoted by international lending agencies and governments - that private companies would be able to bring water to the world’s poor - has proven false. In the past decade, private companies have managed to extend water service to just 10 million people, less than one per cent of those who need it, according to a private water suppliers trade group. The UN says nearly 1.1 billion people worldwide lack access to clean water.

22.03.2006 The third annual April Fuels Day is just around the corner. Find out what you can do to help encourage the use of pollution-free alternatives by joining the Jumpstart Ford Campaign today!

22.03.2006 As fast food chains begin to take root and grow throughout Latin America, so do many Latinos’ waistlines. McDonalds and others are being accused of false advertisement and fudging nutritional facts, amplifying the problem.

22.03.2006 Mutual distrust and even suspicions of a "conspiracy" separate the organisers of the Fourth World Water Forum, taking place in the Mexican capital, and the activists holding their own simultaneous alternative gathering.

21.03.2006 The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) has decided to keep the focus of the World Breastfeeding Week (WBW) on ways to protect breastfeeding by eliminating advertising and other harmful marketing practices for infant feeding products.

20.03.2006 A "new paradox of journalism" has emerged in which the number of news outlets continues to grow, yet the number of stories covered and the depth of many reports is decreasing, according to the State of the News Media 2006. The research was done by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, a research institute affiliated with the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

17.03.2006 While participants at the official forum and attendees of a parallel civil society meeting may agree that water access is a basic human right, they don't always agree on the best ways to ensure it.

15.03.2006 Should the manufacturer of a product dubbed "toxic-cola" in India be a leading sponsor of the World Water Forum? Given its history of land and water pollution, Coca-Cola's sponsorship threatens the credibility of the entire forum, says Amit Srivastava.

10.03.2006 Oil multinational Shell has accepted an agm resolution from ethical shareholders that calls for "a major improvement in Shell’s performance in terms of community and stakeholder consultation, risk analysis, and social and environmental impact analysis".