In the News

Pakistani children go from making to playing with soccer balls

Associated Press Worldstream
06/12/2006

By Paul Garwood

Twelve-year-old Adnan Nazir spent three years working, literally, until his fingers bled from hand-stitching footballs that the world's soccer elite prefer.

But on a recent sweltering day, he got to play with one of these balls for the first time in a team of other boys who, like Nazir, were taken from sweatshops where they had worked and enrolled in schools as part of a U.N.-led project against child labor.

Congo's child miner shame

BBC News
06/12/2006

By Orla Guerin

To commemorate World Day Against Child Labour, BBC News has spent a day with child miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who work for about one dollar per day. At Ruashi mine, in the Eastern province of Katanga, almost 800 children dig for copper and cobalt.

At eight years of age, Decu has never owned a football, or played a video game. He has no computer, and no TV. He's never been to school, though he passes young pupils in uniform every morning, as he sets off for work.

Next Chinese Export: Inflation

International Herald Tribune (France)
06/12/2006

By Matthew Benjamin and Nerys Avery Bloomberg News

BEIJING Rising production costs in China might soon turn the smiley- faced Wal-Mart logo on that rack of $7 cardigan sweaters into a frown.

Higher wages and new environmental regulations, along with higher raw- materials prices, are pushing up the costs of manufacturing in China. That will lead to higher prices for the clothing, toys, electronics and other products the nation exports, said economists, manufacturers and others involved in the China trade.

Retailers see all their activities through green filter ETHICAL CONSUMERS

Financial Times
06/12/2006

Supermarkets and clothes chains alike have realised that shoppers view the ethics of sustainability and ecological responsibility as core to their buying decisions, writes Elizabeth Rigby

By Elizabeth Rigby

When Sir Terry Leahy stood up in May and declared that Tesco, the UK supermarkets group of which he is chief executive, was putting local and ethical sourcing, recycling and greener energy production at the heart of its corporate culture, the retail world's ears pricked up.

Next Chinese export: Inflation

International Herald Tribune (France)
06/12/2006

By Matthew Benjamin and Nerys Avery Bloomberg News

BEIJING Rising production costs in China might soon turn the smiley- faced Wal-Mart logo on that rack of $7 cardigan sweaters into a frown.

Higher wages and new environmental regulations, along with higher raw- materials prices, are pushing up the costs of manufacturing in China. That will lead to higher prices for the clothing, toys, electronics and other products the nation exports, said economists, manufacturers and others involved in the China trade.

Democrats Mark DeLay's Exit by Targeting Island Manufacturers

LA Times
06/08/2006

The Texas Republican had blocked earlier efforts to raise wages in the Northern Marianas, reportedly on lobbyist Jack Abramoff's behalf.

By Walter F. Roche

WASHINGTON — Billing it as a fitting "going-away present" for Rep. Tom DeLay (R-Texas), three Democratic House members Wednesday filed a bill to raise the minimum wage in the Northern Marianas and tighten immigration standards for the U.S. territory, which critics say has become a haven for apparel industry sweatshops.

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