By Stephanie V. Siek

FRAMINGHAM -- A group of children protesting Wal-Mart's alleged use of sweatshop labor was asked to leave the store property yesterday after trying to present a store manager with a letter detailing its concerns.

''Don't make me ask the police to make them leave," said a Wal-Mart employee, identified by her nametag as Donna, as the group stood outside the store entrance.

HONG KONG, China (Reuters) -- Pressure on Western firms to improve conditions at factories in China is paying off, experts say, with some firms granting workers rights that are still taboo for most employees in the Communist state.

After being faced with boycotts in the 1990s, many international companies adopted stricter labor codes to counter accusations by consumers and labor activists that the firms were operating sweatshop-style factories in developing countries.

For Immediate Release

Raleigh, NC

A delegation of labor leaders from six states and three countries this morning delivered to Governor Mike Easley a copy of a complaint filed with the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland charging North Carolina with widespread violations of international labor law and human rights.

by Haider Rizvi, OneWorld.net

Firestone, a multinational rubber manufacturing giant known for its automobile tires, has come under fire from human rights and environmental groups for its alleged use of child labor and slave-like working conditions at a plantation in Liberia.

Recently, the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF), a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group, filed a lawsuit charging that thousands of workers, including minors, toil in virtual slavery at Bridgestone's Firestone rubber plantation in Liberia.