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In early May, the Obama administration announced plans to eliminate the advantages that multinationals have over domestic corporations as to the tax treatment of reinvested profits. K Street corporate lobbyists haven't squealed so loudly since they lost their three martini lunches. The uproar draws attention away from the fact that U.S. multinationals enjoy an effective tax rate of just 2.4 percent on billions of dollars in foreign active earnings.

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.

Originally posted June 10, 2009, on The Huffington Post.

Major toilet paper brands like Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle are using paper from North American virgin forests to produce toilet paper.

Major toilet paper brands like Kleenex, Scott and Cottonelle are using paper from North American virgin forests to produce toilet paper.

The De Jure Ruler of Baluchistan, Khan of Kalat Suleman Daud, and
national hero Hairbyair Marri have expressed their deep resentments
over the remarks of a Pakistani army colonel working for Barrick Gold
Corporation against the Baluch struggle for their national rights.

The fight against corruption in Africa is faltering as public agencies investigating wrongdoing by powerful politicians have been undermined and officials leading the charge have been dismissed, subjected to death threats and driven into exile. The search is on for more effective ways to tackle corruption, including intensified legal efforts to prosecute multinational corporations that pay the bribes and reclaim loot that African political elites have stashed abroad.

CorpWatch, with support from the Sunlight Foundation, announces release of the CrocTail application and open CorpWatch API. CrocTail provides an interface for browsing information about U.S. publicly traded corporations and their many foreign and domestic subsidiaries. CrocTail also serves as a demonstration of the features and data available through the CorpWatch API.

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.

Some of the world's largest energy groups are scrambling to acquire coal mining assets in Indonesia as family-run conglomerates consider divestments to raise cash. Peabody Energy, the US coal miner, and Xstrata, the Anglo-Swiss miner, are believed to be among those interested. Industry analysts said Chinese, South Korean, Indian and Middle Eastern companies were also scouring Indonesia for assets.