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West Coast Dockers negotiate a contract despite federal intervention on the side of business. But the Bush administration has fired a warning shot at labor.

At least 700,000 people are trafficked worldwide each year; trafficking is the fastest growing means by which people are enslaved today. Young girls are trafficked to work as domestics in West Africa, boys as young as four are abducted from countries in South Asia and forced to work as camel jockeys in the Gulf, and women from eastern Europe are sold into Europe's sex industry.

Internet sites containing the words "democracy", "Tibet" and "Taiwan" are among those most frequently blocked by the Chinese government, a study of Chinese net access has revealed

A lawsuit filed Tuesday in the New York District Court demands reparations from 20 banks and corporations that supplied critical support to the apartheid regime that ruled South Africa until 1994.

A U.S. State Department report on aerial spraying of coca crops in Colombia fails to prove that the pesticide program does not harm the environmentor pose safety risks to humans, charge six independent reviews released Monday by scientists and advocacy groups. The groups argue that the U.S. cannot authorize more funds for the controversial program until it can rule out health and environmental risks from the spraying.

A soft drinks factory set up by Coca Cola in Plachimada, Kerala, three years ago has sucked the local aquifers dry. The Coke-induced water scarcity has hit the indigenous peoples (adivasis) belonging to the Eravalar and Malasar tribes, and the Dalit (oppressed castes) community who live around the factory the worst. The people of Plachimada have seen their wells dry out even as truck loads of soft drinks made their way from the factory to distant markets.

Confectionery giant Cadbury's has committed a gaffe of epic proportions after comparing a brand of chocolate to the disputed territory of Kashmir and describing both as "too good to share".

The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed suit today against the country's largest private extradition company on behalf of a female prisoner who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of a sexual assault by a company guard during a drive from Texas to Colorado.

Following the hunger strike by two gas survivors and one activist outside the Indian parliament in New Delhi in protest at the Indian government's proposal, concerned and outraged people all around the world are joining a mass hunger strike. The mass action is led by Diane Wilson, a shrimp boat captain, who is fasting outside the gates of Dow (formerly Carbide) in Sea Drift, Texas, USA. Thousands around the world are expected to join her. Hunger strikers to date have included French author Dominique Lapierre, Spanish writer Javier Moro and Gianfranco Bettin, Mayor of Venice, Italy.

NEW DELHI (July 16, 2002) -- Two of the Bhopal hunger strikers, Rasheeda Bee and Tara Bai, fainted during a rally by the Bhopal survivors here and had to be taken to St. Stevens Hospital today. Both were in the 18th day of fasting to protest against decisions of the Government that sell out the interests of the Bhopal gas victims under pressure from the US Government and Dow Chemicals. Satinath (Sathyu) Sarangi (48) remains active and participated in the rally by Bhopal survivors in New Delhi today.

Victims of apartheid are demanding $50 billion from American and Swiss banks in compensation for profiteering from the "blood and misery" caused by white South Africa. The lawsuit -- which was filed on June 16, the 26th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto Uprising -- accuses Swiss companies, Credit Suisse and UBS, and U.S.-based Citicorp of providing loans to the apartheid government in violation of UN-imposed economic sanctions. The suit is spearheaded by Ed Fagan, a U.S. lawyer who forced Swiss banks to pay $1.25 billion to World War II victims of the Nazi Holocaust in 1998.

June 24, 2002 -- "The failure of governments from seven of the Group of Eight (G8) largest economies -- the USA, the Russian Federation, France, the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, Italy and Canada -- to regulate arms transfers is contributing to grave human rights abuses in developing countries and the destruction of millions of lives, particularly in Africa," Amnesty International said today.

M&M/Mars is currently asking consumers to vote for a new color of M&M's. On March 30th, participate in a Nationwide Day of Education and Action to rally the vote for Fair Trade Certified chocolate, the color of freedom and dignity!

Chocolate manufacturers, human rights groups and the Ivory Coast Government have signed pact aimed at ending the abuse of child labour in the chocolate industry.

BOGOTA -- The US said on Wednesday that Colombia's armed forces were meeting human rights criteria and that as a result it would release more than $60m in military aid.

Banana workers, including children as young as eight years old, suffer from a range of abuses on plantations in Ecuador whose government fails to enforce international labor standards or even its own national labor code, according to a report released in Washington Thursday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In a statement issued on 24 April, the Haitian workers' organisation, Batay Ouvriye, denounces a month-long wave of violent repression endured by workers and peasants at the Guacimal orange plantation at St. Raphael in northern Haiti. The violence perpetrated by police, acting in collusion with the local landowners and agents of the Guacimal company, has forced workers in the area to go into hiding.