By Marcy Nicholson

Children and forced laborers are mining gold, sewing clothing and harvesting cocoa around the world, and India is the source for the biggest number of products made by these workers, a U.S. government report said on Thursday.

The Department of Labor for the first time released a list of goods produced by child or forced labor in foreign countries after Congress told it to compile one. The department looked at 122 products in 58 countries.

By Sam Hananel

A new Labor Department report identifies more than 58 countries where child labor or forced labor is used to make hundreds of goods — from coffee grown in Colombia to Christmas decorations made in China — that often end up in the United States.

The government wants American companies and consumers to know about the chance these products are made under conditions in which children and other workers are exploited and abused.

Low-wage workers are routinely denied proper overtime pay and are often paid less than the minimum wage, according to a new study based on a survey of workers in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

By Britt Smith

Chocoholics in Australia will soon have a good reason to tuck into a chocolate treat without feeling guilty.

From next year, they will be able to snack with a clear conscience when the nation's most popular chocolate bar, Cadbury Dairy Milk, becomes Fairtrade certified.

The move will quadruple the amount of cocoa bought from west Africa under sustainable farming schemes and help end child labour and trafficking.