| UK: Two men and a website mount vendetta against an oil giant by Danny Fortson, The Sunday Times (UK) July 19th, 2009 In Colchester, Essex, John and Alfred Donovan are compiling perhaps the world's largest dossier on Royal Dutch Shell, at royaldutchshellplc.com. It's an awkward position for Shell, this month crowned by Fortune magazine as the world’s largest company, as trying to shut the website down would draw even more attention to it. |
| TANZANIA: The human cost of gold: And a deadly price to pay This Day Tanzania June 30th, 2009 Villagers living near a gold mine owned and run by Canada’s Barrick Gold Corp. in Tarime District, Mara Region are demanding the immediate closure of the project, saying they are paying a deadly price for the mining activities in the area. |
| ECUADOR: Chevron's Amazon 'fake cleanup' trial United Press International June 25th, 2009 A report submitted this week to a court in Ecuador finding dangerous levels of contamination at oil wells Chevron says it cleaned up in the 1990s is expected to reinforce a fraud indictment against two Chevron lawyers in a $27.3 billion environmental lawsuit against the oil company. |
| AFRICA: Blood diamond scheme 'is failing' BBC News June 24th, 2009 Officials are meeting to review the Kimberley Process, amid criticism that the scheme, set up to certify the origin of diamonds to assure consumers that by purchasing diamonds they are not financing war and human rights abuses, is failing. The Kimberley Process emerged from global outrage over conflicts in countries like Liberia and Sierra Leone, largely funded by the plundering of diamond resources. |
| IRAN: Iran's Web Spying Aided By Western Technology by Christopher Rhoads and Loretta Chao, Wall Street Journal June 22nd, 2009 The Iranian regime has developed one of the world's most sophisticated mechanisms for controlling and censoring the Internet. The Iranian government appears to be engaging in a practice often called deep packet inspection. The monitoring capability was provided, at least in part, by a joint venture of Siemens AG, the German conglomerate, and Nokia Corp., the Finnish cellphone company. |
| CHINA: China Disables Some Google Functions by Edward Wong, New York Times June 19th, 2009 After meeting with managers of the Chinese operations of Google on Thursday to warn them, the Chinese government disabled some search functions on the Chinese-language Web site of Google on Friday. Officials alleged the site was linking too often to pornographic and vulgar content. |
| Companies lobby (quietly) on Armenia genocide bill by Stephen Singer, Associated Press June 13th, 2009 In an effort to keep business ties with Turkey, five military contractors and one energy company (Chevron) lobby against a U.S. bill that would label Turkey's slaugther of a million Aremnians during WWI genocide. |
| NIGERIA: Shell to Pay $15.5 Million to Settle Nigerian Case by Jad Mouawad, New York Times June 8th, 2009 Royal Dutch Shell agreed to pay $15.5 million to settle a case accusing it of taking part in human rights abuses in the Niger Delta, a striking sum given it has denied any wrongdoing. Ken Saro-Wiwa, Shell’s most prominent critic at the time in Nigeria, was hanged in 1995 by that country’s military regime after protesting Shell's environmental practices in the oil-rich delta, especially in his native Ogoni region. |
| GHANA: Energy groups lured by Ghana’s Kosmos by Carola Hoyos, Financial Times June 4th, 2009 Big international energy groups and state-owned oil companies from China and India are circling Kosmos Energy for its Ghanaian oilfield assets, which have been valued at $3bn-$6bn by analysts. The sale could open an oil corridor off the west African coast, stretching as far north-west as Sierra Leone. |
 | 'We need a World Court of Human Rights' – UN expert tells Commonwealth The Commonwealth June 3rd, 2009 Multinational corporations suspected of abusing human rights should face the full force of international law through trial by a new global court, according to the United Nations’ authority on human rights and counter-terrorism. |
| US: Chevron annual meeting heats up over Ecuador suit by Jordan Robertson, Washington Post May 27th, 2009 In a combative and sometimes colorful annual meeting, Chevron's CEO and chairman exchanged barbs with activists over pollution in the Amazon rain forest and the company's human rights record. The nation's second-largest oil company is awaiting a verdict from a judge in Ecuador that could come with a $27 billion price tag. |
| EUROPE: Greenpeace warns on Shell oil sands projects by Carola Hoyos, Financial Times May 18th, 2009 A study by Greenpeace and several other environmental groups has concluded that Royal Dutch Shell's carbon intensity will rise 85 per cent as it develops its oil and gas fields in the coming years. Campaigners warn Shell’s investors that this disadvantages the company vis a vis its peers as US and European policymakers move towards a broad cap-and-trade system to limit carbon emissions. Shell’s growing carbon intensity stems from its resource base, which is heavily made up of Canadian oil and Nigerian gas. |
| UK: Shell faces investor fury over pay, pollution and human rights by Terry Macalister, The Guardian May 17th, 2009 |
| WORLD: When Chevron Hires Ex-Reporter to Investigate Pollution, Chevron Looks Good by Brian Stelter, New York Times May 10th, 2009 When Chevron learned that “60 Minutes” was preparing a potentially damaging report about oil company contamination of the Amazon rain forest in Ecuador, it hired a former journalist to produce a mirror image of the report, from the corporation’s point of view. An Ecuadorean judge is expected to rule soon on whether Chevron owes up to $27 billion in damages. |
| NIGERIA: A Writer’s Violent End, and His Activist Legacy by Patricia Cohen, New York Times May 4th, 2009 A new novel, "Eclipse," by Richard North Patterson, is based on the case of the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, executed in November 1995 by the government of General Sani Abacha. The circumstances, along with related incidents of brutal attacks, are getting another hearing. This month the Wiwa family’s lawsuit against Royal Dutch Shell over its role in those events goes to trial in federal court in Manhattan. |
| IRAN/CHINA: Iranians and Others Outwit Net Censors by John Markoff, New York Times April 30th, 2009 The Internet is no longer just an essential channel for commerce, entertainment and information. It has also become a stage for state control — and rebellion against it. Computers are becoming more crucial in global conflicts, not only in spying and military action, but also in determining what information reaches people around the globe. |
| UK: Use of Web Tracking Tool Raises Privacy Issue in Britain by Kevin J. O'Brien, New York Times April 14th, 2009 The European Commission threatened Britain with sanctions on Tuesday for allowing use of a new advertising technology, created by Phorm, to track the Web movements of customers. The country’s largest service provider, BT, acknowledged last April that it used the tool without customers’ consent in 2006 and 2007. |
| US: Prison company to pay $42.5 million in beating death by John MacCormack, San Antonio Express News April 8th, 2009 In a searing opinion, the 13th Court of Appeals has upheld $42.5 million in punitive damages against private prison operator Wackenhut Corrections Corp., now the Geo Group,for the “horrific and gruesome death” of inmate Gregorio De La Rosa Jr. in 2001. |
| US/NIGERIA: Shell: corporate impunity goes on trial by George Monbiot, The Guardian April 7th, 2009 Multinationals accused of human rights abuses can no longer feel safe now that the oil giant is facing allegations of complicity in the execution of Nigerian activist Ken Saro-Wiwa. |
| US: Oil Giants Loath to Follow Obama’s Green Lead by Jad Mouawad, New York Times April 7th, 2009 The Obama administration seeks the most ambitious transformation of energy policy in a generation. But Big Oil is not on board. Royal Dutch Shell said last month that it would freeze research and investments in wind, solar and hydrogen power, and focus its alternative energy efforts on biofuels. BP, a company that has spent nine years saying it was moving “beyond petroleum,” has been getting back to petroleum since 2007, paring back its renewable program. The list goes on. |