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 | H&M Targeted for Uzbek Cotton Allegedly Grown with Forced Labor
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
December 27th, 2012
Swedish company H&M, the world’s second-largest clothing retailer, is under pressure to cut ties with supplier South Korea-based Daewoo International and others that purchase cotton from Uzbekistan, where the government allegedly forces children and adults to harvest the white fiber for little or no pay. |
 | Global Ambulance Chasers: Lawyers Profit From Suing States for Multinationals
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
December 17th, 2012
Dozens of highly paid international lawyers are pocketing millions of dollars in fees from multinational corporations to sue governments in secretive “arbitration tribunals” for profits they claim to be owed under international investment treaties, according to “Profiting from Injustice,” a new report from Corporate Europe Observatory and Transnational Institute. |
 | Forever 21 Fails to Comply With Federal Sweatshop Investigation
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
November 30th, 2012
Clothing chain retailer Forever 21 has been sued by the U.S. government for ignoring a subpoena requesting information on how much the company’s suppliers pays the workers who make its clothes. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the salaries are well under the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. |
 | Smokeless Tobacco Lobbyists Set Off European Alarms
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
November 23rd, 2012
A clandestine lobbying effort at the European Union (EU) by Swedish Match company to get legislators to lift a ban on a special kind of smokeless tobacco has forced the resignation of a top European bureaucrat and prompted renewed calls to strengthen rules on undue business influence in Brussels. |
 | India’s Retail Sector: Ripe for the Picking
by Freny Manecksha, Special to CorpWatch
November 19th, 2012
A decision by the Indian government to allow foreign multinationals to invest in the country’s $500 billion retail market is expected to spell the death knell for thousands of small, family-owned shops and even threatens street hawkers, who have supplied local neighborhoods for generations. |
 | Contractors Alleged to Abuse Alcohol, Drugs, Guns at Parties In Afghanistan
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
November 14th, 2012
Jorge Scientific Corporation, a military contractor with nearly a billion dollars in U.S. government contracts, is being sued by former employees for “shocking misconduct” in Afghanistan. The charges include illegal and reckless use of firearms, abusing alcohol and drugs and billing the government for property destroyed during raucous parties. |
 | Indigenous Protestors Against Guatemala Energy Company Targeted
by Jennifer Kennedy, CorpWatch Blog
November 10th, 2012
Six demonstrators were killed and dozens injured when the Guatemalan military fired into a group of indigenous Maya-K'iche' gathered on the Inter-American highway to protest rising electricity charges from Energuate, a major national power company owned by a private equity firm created by the UK government. |
 | Agribusiness Buys California Votes
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
November 6th, 2012
Big corporations bankrolled candidates for the 2012 elections in both the Democratic and Republican parties and bought their votes lock, stock and barrel, contributing over $2 billion out of the $6 billion spent this year. The biggest impact was on a California battle to require labeling of genetically altered products. |
 | U.S. Sues Bank of America for $1 Billion in Bad Mortgages
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
October 29th, 2012
Federal prosecutors are suing Bank of America for selling fraudulent loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two government-sponsored mortgage finance companies. The government alleged that the multinational sold over $1 billion in bad mortgages that led to numerous foreclosures. |
 | Starbucks: Espresso for Investors, Watery Americano in UK Taxes
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
October 26th, 2012
Starbucks, the Seattle-based international coffee chain, has been accused of tax avoidance in the UK. Between 1998 and 2011 the company has made £3 billion in sales but paid out just £8.6 million in taxes on sales from its 735 stores in the country. |
 | Damming the Ngäbe: Aftermath of an AES Power Project in Panama
by Jennifer Kennedy
October 15th, 2012
Well over a year after AES Corporation, a U.S. based power company headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, inundated the lands of the Ngäbe to build a hydroelectric dam in Panama, many in the community remains dispossessed. |
 | Seven Irish Banks Investigated for Insurance Scam
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
October 8th, 2012
Seven Irish banks are being investigated by the Central Bank of Ireland for selling consumers insurance policies that they did not need. Tens of thousands of Irish consumers could get as much as €3,000 ($3,900) each in refunds. |
 | BP Wants To Blame Workers For Deepwater Horizon Spill, Says U.S.
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
September 27th, 2012
BP, the British oil company, is attempting to blame "blue collar workers" for the Deepwater Horizon spill in 2010, alleges the U.S. government. Federal lawyers say the company is trying to divert attention from management failures of "gross negligence." |
 | Private Prison for Asylum Seekers on Pacific Island
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
September 17th, 2012
Transfield Services, an Australian logistics company that provides services to the mining and oil industry among others, has won a $25.9 million contract from the government of Australia to run a detention center for asylum seekers in the Pacific island nation of Nauru. |
 | Cambodian Activists Call for International Sugar Boycott
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
September 11th, 2012
Human rights monitoring groups and Cambodian activists are calling for an international boycott of Tate & Lyle and Domino Sugar, who do business with sugar suppliers accused of participating in government-sanctioned land grabs and illegal evictions throughout rural Cambodia. |
 | Big Tobacco Battles Advertising Restrictions
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
August 30th, 2012
Big Tobacco is fighting a multi-pronged battle to defeat a global wave of laws to force them to use graphic warning labels and plain packaging. It has won a major legal battle in the U.S. this month but it has lost in Australia. |
 | Obama Administration Backs Shell in Supreme Court Case
by Puck Lo, CorpWatch Blog
August 24th, 2012
The Obama administration is backing Shell Oil after abruptly changing sides in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that could make it even more difficult for survivors of human rights abuses overseas to sue multinational corporations in federal courts. The case will be heard on October 1. |
 | Seven Banks Under Investigation for Global Interest Rate Scandal
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
August 16th, 2012
Seven international banks have been served with subpoenas over the global interest setting scandal. Barclays, Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS – have been asked to provide relevant “documents and communications” to the New York attorney-general. |
 | Blackwater Pays Millions To Settle Arms Smuggling Charges
by Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch Blog
August 9th, 2012
Blackwater has agreed to pay the U.S. government $7.5 million to settle 17 federal criminal charges that include supplying guns to the king of Jordan and offering private security and military training services to South Sudan without a license. |
 | Clash At Maruti Suzuki Car Factory Reflects Failures Of India, Inc.
by Freny Manecksha, CorpWatch Blog
July 30th, 2012
Hundreds of workers at a Haryana factory for India's biggest carmaker - Maruti Suzuki - are being rounded up by police after a violent clash left a manager dead. The incident has become a symbol of the clash between winners and losers in the country's economic boom. |
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