a. On 11 September 2003, there was an attack on approximately 1000 people (including local villagers) who were protesting outside a Coca-Cola bottling plant in India. The protesters were objecting to the plant using water from two villages near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh. It is alleged that the attack was made by guards of the Coca-Cola plant, and that the police watched on in silent approval.
b. Tobacco companies are turning their attention to Third World ountries in an attempt to curb a downward sales pattern as western countries decrease their consumption of tobacco.
c. The OECD claims that governments must do more to improve the job opportunities for women, older workers, people with disabilities and the low skilled. The study warns that, without more and better jobs for such groups (which are underrepresented in the workforce), the prospects for economic growth in many countries will be undermined as the population ages.
d. In mid 2003, a massive blackout shut down much of the Midwest and northeast of the United States. The immediate cause of the blackout was traced to FirstEnergy, a giant energy company. At 2 pm on 14 August, its Eastlake power plant in Ohio stopped running. As the company started reducing electricity loads elsewhere to compensate, the transmission lines overloaded, causing them to trip. Some commentators argue that since it was FirstEnergy that caused the problem, it should pay the bill for fixing it. The government feels that it is a community issue that should be paid for by public funding. It is claimed that the Bush administration refuses to make FirstEnergy pay the bill because of the large financial support the power company gave to the Bush election campaign.