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Public expectations of companies are rising everywhere - but consumers' top concerns vary substantially between countries and regions, according to a new study by GlobeScan, an international opinion research company.

A major hiccup on government's effort to terminate gas flaring by 2008 has occured as oil multinational, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) said the official deadline will no longer be realistic to the firm.

Union officials have said they expressed concerns about the location of the trailer as well as BP's use of the vent stack as opposed to a flare system. Had a flare been in place, the excess liquid and vapors likely would have been burned off and the accident may have been prevented.

 A Russian court convicted Mikhail B. Khodorkovsky,
the embattled tycoon and founder of the Yukos oil company, of criminal
charges today and sentenced him to nine years in a prison camp,
bringing to an end the most closely watched trial in Russia since the
Soviet Union collapsed.

A dispute between Filipino workers and a US group in Iraq over working conditions has been resolved, said a spokeswoman for US contractor Kellog Brown and Root.

In what could be a test case, Iraq is suing over a reconstruction contract awarded by the Coalition Provisional Authority in April 2004 to manage the port at Khor Az Zubayr. A judge ``assessing the case'' will visit the facility on June 6 with a port expert.

Wristbands made to raise awareness of the Make Poverty History campaign have been produced in Chinese factories which violated ethical standards, it emerged today.

There are 50,000 to 100,000 contractors working in Iraq, experts say, though reliable estimates are hard to come by. The number of contractors killed is just as difficult to pin down, partly because the employers often keep the deaths quiet. The U.S. military death toll, now over 1,620, would be higher but for the number of military tasks contracted out to the private sector, analysts say.

Striking Filipino workers employed in a US military camp have returned to work for International (PPI) and Kellogg Brown and Root. They were protesting against the delayed payment of their wages, inadequate food, and poor accommodations, which were violations of the contract signed by the workers prior to their deployment.

A labor strike by some 300 Filipinos employed at Camp Cook in the Iraqi province of Taji who were protesting poor working conditions has been "temporarily resolved." The workers are under contract with Prime Projects International and Kellogg Brown and Root.