Full Coverage: Northern Europe

30.04.2008 The UK Competition Commission’s recommendation for a food chain ombudsman has been welcomed as a way of preventing big supermarkets from imposing unfair terms and conditions on producers in developing countries.

29.04.2008 The Frontline Club is running a Congo season of films and talks, 6-15 May.

29.04.2008 A new campaign has been launched targeting British company Vedanta over its plans to mine a sacred mountain in India.

26.04.2008 A World Bank-backed carbon-reduction programme in which concessional loans would be offered to developing country governments was compared to a "protection racket" by Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper at a meeting in London at the weekend.

23.04.2008 The energy industry and government are investing in spin rather than renewable energy, said a leading development group ahead of a London meeting to discuss fuel poverty in light of rising gas and electricity bills.

22.04.2008 Two leading voices in the fight against climate change are at loggerheads over the weight given to "food miles" in a UK labelling system designed to encourage consumers to choose low-carbon products in shops and supermarkets.

22.04.2008 One of the three writers from Thailand whom the giant retailer Tesco is trying to suppress with serial libel writs has arrived in London at the invitation of the free speech body Index on Censorship.

21.04.2008 Unless cast-iron guarantees are built into plans for the 2012 Olympics, the Games will fail to leave the promised positive local legacy for the poorest residents of East London, according to a new report.

16.04.2008 The UK-based mining giant Anglo American has been accused of making huge profits while its operations are worsening poverty, damaging the environment and fuelling conflict and human rights abuse.

13.04.2008

09.04.2008 Britain's much criticised Harmondsworth immigration prison has been the centre of controversy again as around 50 police in riot gear stormed the facility to break a hunger strike by detainees protesting against the so-called fast track asylum system.

09.04.2008 Friends of the Earth and Help the Aged are taking the Government to court today for not doing enough to meet its legal obligation to eradicate fuel poverty.
From Help the Aged

09.04.2008 With judgement still awaited on a landmark judicial review of the decision to halt an inquiry into a Saudi arms deal corruption investigation, the UK Government has introduced draft legislation that would in effect prevent such a review in future.

08.04.2008 Britain should lead the way in Europe in delivering on overseas aid promises, a leading NGO said as it voiced "grave concerns" over lack of progress by EU member countries in meeting targets to increase the volume and quality of aid.
+ Concern Rises Over Aid Conference 'Flimflam'

07.04.2008 Supermarket chain Asda wants overseas suppliers excluded from a new UK code of conduct which is designed to ensure that the big grocers do not use their buying power to impose unfair trading terms.

06.04.2008 Police had to bring in reinforcements to marshal the Olympic torch relay through London after a series of protests along the 31-mile route by critics of China's human rights record.
+ IOC memo minimises events in Tibet

05.04.2008

03.04.2008 There is a deep and dangerous confusion at the heart of the Britain's approach to the threat posed by violent Islam, says Martin Bright.
From New Statesman

01.04.2008 Today's move by the UK Government to bring in new counter-terrorism legislation is condemned by a group of 27 civil society organisations as "sinister", "an attack on free speech" and "a violation of the most fundamental principles of justice".
From Campaign Against Criminalising Communities
+ Consensus against 42 days pre-trial detention grows