Environment

Sailors working for Gazprom, the Russian oil giant, used water cannons to remove Greenpeace activists who were protesting their plans to drill in the Arctic. The environmental group took action to signal the potential for a catastrophic environmental disaster as well as the impact on climate change. Read More

Grupo San Jose, a Spanish construction company, has been linked to the bulldozing the forest home of the Ayoreo, one of the last uncontacted tribes outside the Amazon. The indigenous community lives in the Chaco forests, a semi-arid zone in northern Paraguay. Read More

Serengeti national park is under threat from Ortello Business Corporation in a deal that could displace 48,000 indigenous Maasai and open it up for hunting of lions and leopards. An urgent action by Avaaz, an international campaigning group, has gathered close to a million signatures to protest the scheme. Read More

Chevron - the Northern California-based oil and gas company - has been quietly acquiring rights to drill for natural gas in Eastern Europe using "fracking" technology - a controversial technique. However, grassroots opposition in Bulgaria and Romania has thwarted the companies plans so far. Read More

Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation has won a $101.5 million license to dig for copper in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The company has been questioned by Global Witness for possible links to corrupt Congolese officials. Read More

Syabas, a private water company in Malaysia, has threatened to start water rationing in the state of Selangor after claiming that it had almost no water reserves left. Critics claim that the threat is a ploy to win more lucrative contracts and to favor a rival political party. Read More

A mysterious fire and a missing activist have contributed to the concerns of Russian activists fighting a new highway between Moscow and St. Petersburg. The highway is being built by a consortium that involves Vinci, a French construction multinational, and individuals rumored to be close to prime minister Vladimir Putin. Read More

Protestors have forced Sichuan Hongda to cancel plans to build a $1.6 billion copper alloy plant in Shifang city in southwestern China, because of pollution concerns. The halt has been hailed as a major victory by environmental activists against corporate and government power. Read More

Rio Tinto has been named as early front-runner for the Greenwash Gold award for the worst Olympic sponsor, with BP in second place and Dow Chemical third. The three corporations have paid millions to stick their names all over Olympic promotional material and activities. Read More

Monsanto, the largest seed corporation in the world, has long dealt out severe legal sanctions against farmers it suspects of "pirating" its seed. Now farmers in Brazil have turned the tables on the company which may have to pay out $7.5 billion. Read More