Wal-Mart prides itself on cutting costs at home and abroad, and its Mexican operations are no exception. That approach has helped the Arkansas-based retail giant set a track record of spectacular success in the 16 years since it entered Mexico as a partner of the country’s then-leading retail-store chain. But some of the company’s practices have aroused concern among some officials and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) that Wal-Mart is taking advantage of local customs to pinch pennies at a time when its Mexican operations have never been more profitable... 

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- A jury Thursday rejected claims that Alabama-based Drummond coal was to blame for the killing of three union leaders in Colombia, a defeat for labor in a test of whether companies can be held responsible in U.S. courtrooms for their conduct overseas.

Jurors sided with Drummond Ltd. and the head of its Colombian operations, Augusto Jimenez, in ruling against a lawsuit filed by relatives and the union of the dead men, killed by paramilitary gunmen six years ago.

BEIJING -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said it issued warnings to two Chinese suppliers following reports of labor violations at the factories, which also make official Olympic merchandise.

The development comes after the publication of an influential report last month alleging labor violations at some official Olympic suppliers, including underpaying and overworking employees and, in one case, using child labor.

By Kyle Whitmire

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., July 12 — Six years ago, three union leaders were kidnapped and slain in northern Colombia. Now, 2,000 miles away, a federal jury here is being asked to decide whether an Alabama-based coal company, Drummond Ltd., aided in the killings and took sides in Colombia’s decades-old civil war.

The civil case promises to test a new use of a 218-year-old law and to open a window into corporate endeavors in a developing country where factional violence has often supplanted the rule of law.