Global Trade

In what one attorney called ''an end-run around the Constitution,'' corporations are using a little-known provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to challenge public laws, regulations and jury verdicts not only in the United States, but in Canada and Mexico as well. And they are arguing those cases not in courts of law, but before secret trade tribunals. Read More

The McDonald's hamburger chain that occupies villages throughout modern-day France has commandeered a Asterix, a national cartoon character, to promote its food as part of a marketing campaign launched yesterday that pushes aside the venerable clown, Ronald McDonald. Read More

An Indonesian man was shot by security police at an Australian gold mine in Indonesian Borneo. The gold mine is located in a remote area of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, inhabited mainly by indigenous Dayak people. Read More

The Council of Canadians, the Sierra Club and Greenpeace are in court today to appeal a decision to exclude them from participating in a precedent-setting NAFTA dispute. The appeal highlights public concern that NAFTA tribunal's decisions can undo domestic laws and international treaties but exclude the public from the proceedings. Read More

A WTO review of Guatemala's trade policies has prompted international labor to spotlight that government's total failure to uphold freedom of association and the right to bargain collectively. Read More

Confidential documents obtained by Friends of the Earth Europe underline American opposition to European Union plans for compulsory tracing and labeling rules for all food and animal feed containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs) above a certain threshold. Read More

BAMAK -- Pressure groups in Africa are preparing for the World Social Forum to be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, at the end of the month. Read More

The Bush administration has decided that a controversial fishing method involving encircling pods of dolphins with mile long nets to catch tuna has "no significant adverse impact" on the dolphins. Conservation groups say the determination, which will allow tuna from Mexico to be sold in the U.S. under a "dolphin safe" label, could spell disaster for imperiled dolphin populations. Read More

WASHINGTON -- Abbott Laboratories, Argenbright, Bayer, Coke, Enron, Exxon Mobil, Philip Morris, Sara Lee, Southern Co. and Wal-Mart have been named the 10 worst corporations of 2001, in Multinational Monitor magazine's annual listing. Read More

Fast Track trade authority has squeaked through Congress. Analysts from the Institute for Policy Studies say it is one set back among many victories in a battle that is far from over. Read More