Chemicals & Manufacturing

Welcome to the Coke side of life. Africa's planned legal action is just the latest in a litany of alleged human rights and environmental abuses in developing markets that has made Coca-Cola a cause celebre. Read More

One of the worst polluters in the Maputo region, the Portuguese-owned cement company, Cimentos de Mocambique, has tried to blame the electricity company, EDM, for the clouds of cement dust that frequently belch out of its factory in the southern city of Matola. Read More

Companies found guilty of anti-competitive practices will face multibillion euro fines or more than 10 times the current tariffs for abusing their monopoly and taking part in cartels under draconian new competition guidelines adopted by the European Commission today. Read More

Workers angered by General Motors' (GM.N) plan to shut down an assembly plant in Portugal will stage protests starting next week at GM factories in Germany and Spain, a labor source told Reuters on Friday. Read More

The parents of a U.S. peace activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer built by the global machinery giant Caterpillar confronted the company Wednesday for the first time and urged shareholders at its annual meeting to end sales of "weaponised bulldozers to Israel". Read More

A former government official was arrested on bribery charges, authorities said Thursday, as prosecutors stepped up a probe into where Hyundai Motor Co. used slush funds allegedly siphoned off from affiliates. Read More

Former shareholders of Tyco International Ltd., whose former chief executive and chief financial officer were convicted of fraud, have been certified as a class to sue the company and its accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers. Read More

Volkswagen, Europe's biggest carmaker, is heading for a showdown with its 100,000-strong German workforce after trade unions rejected company proposals to increase the working week to 35 hours without extra pay late on Monday. Read More

A state report on pesticides and birth defects might have been influenced by the company that was its focus, some researchers who worked on the report say. Read More

Argentina will take legal action against Monsanto in Spain and in other European nations if the U.S. biotechnology giant continues to block Argentine soy shipments from reaching European Union markets, an Argentine Agriculture Secretariat official said. Read More