A nonfiction reporter takes a long look at Walmart's suppliers in China and elsewhere, assessing the company's claims to be greening itself as the world's largest retailer.
"An iPhone can do a lot of things. But can it arm Congolese rebels?
That is the question being debated by a battalion of lobbyists from electronics makers, mining companies and international aid organizations that has descended on the Securities and Exchange Commission in recent months seeking to influence the drafting of a Dodd-Frank regulation that has nothing to do with the financial crisis."
"The Commerce Department said on Tuesday that it would impose tariffs on solar panels imported from China after concluding that the Chinese government provided illegal export subsidies to manufacturers there. The tariffs were smaller, at 2.9 to 4.73 percent, than some American industry executives had expected."
"A new study finds that even low doses of hormone-disrupting chemicals -- used in everything from plastics to pesticides -- can have serious effects on human health. These findings, the researchers say, point to the need for basic changes in how chemical safety testing is conducted."
"As bacteria evolve to evade antibiotics, common infections could become deadly, according to Dr. Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization. Speaking at a conference in Copenhagen, Chan said antibiotic resistance could bring about 'the end of modern medicine as we know it.'"
"Eighty percent of the world's nuclear power plants are more than 20 years old, raising safety concerns, a draft U.N. report says a year after Japan's Fukushima disaster. Many operators have begun programs, or expressed their intention, to run reactors beyond their planned design lifetimes, said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) document which has not yet been made public."
"MANILA, Philippines -- The Asian Development Bank is warning countries to prepare for influxes of people fleeing natural disasters as climate change exacerbates rising sea levels, soil degradation and seasonal flooding."
"WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is bringing a new trade case against China that seeks to pressure the rising economic power to end its export restrictions on key materials used to manufacture hybrid car batteries, flat-screen televisions and other high-tech goods."
"A team of Australian scientists has bred salt tolerance into a variety of durum wheat that shows improved grain yield by 25% on salty soils. Using 'non-GM' crop breeding techniques, scientists from CSIRO Plant Industry have introduced a salt-tolerant gene into a commercial durum wheat, with spectacular results shown in field tests."
"The world's water supply is being strained by climate change and the growing food, energy and sanitary needs of a fast-growing population, according to a United Nations study that calls for a radical rethink of policies to manage competing claims.
"Freshwater is not being used sustainably," UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova said in a statement. "Accurate information remains disparate, and management is fragmented ... the future is increasingly uncertain and risks are set to deepen."
