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	News International likely to face corporate charges over phone hacking by The Observer & agencies   17 August 2013   Rupert Murdoch"s British newspaper division may be facing corporate charges in relation to the Metropolitan police"s phone-hacking investigation, it has been claimed in a report in the Independent.   Two "very senior figures" at News International, now renamed News UK, have been interviewed in relation to the corporate aspect of the investigation, which is also examining allegations of bribery of public officials, it has emerged.   The allegations indicate that a new line of inquiry is opening into the Murdoch empire, which has potentially serious consequences for News UK, which owns the Sun and the Times. In an attempt at damage limitation following the scandal, News Corp was separated from News UK.   Such an inquiry would mirror events in America, where the department of justice and the FBI are investigating Murdoch"s US parent company, News Corp, under the Foreign and Corrupt Practices Act, which can impose severe penalties on companies that bribe foreign officials.   Labour MP Chris Bryant, one of the most vocal critics of News International when phone hacking was uncovered, said the Met had told him they were "actively investigating corporate charges and that they were in correspondence with the American authorities, the FBI".   Bryant said the law in the UK was now as tough as in the US, due to the enactment of the Bribery Act 2010: "Under the Bribery act, the body corporate can have charges laid against it if its corporate governance was so reckless as to be negligent."   Sue Akers, who was head of the Met investigation, confirmed to the Leveson inquiry last year that she had sought legal advice with regard to bringing "both individual and corporate offences", sparking claims that News Corp directors could be prosecuted for neglect of their duties.   Now evidence is emerging that the Met is actively pursuing the corporate aspect of the investigation. John Turnbull, a senior News Corp lawyer, has been interviewed formally by the Met, a source told Reuters.   More than 125 people have so far been arrested and more than 40 charged in relation to the criminal aspect of the investigation which led to Murdoch closing the News of the World in July 2011.   Sources say that the Met is waiting until the criminal trials of individuals have concluded before deciding if it can press corporate charges.   Rebekah Brooks, the former News International chief executive, is due to stand trial along with eight others on 9 September, while eight Sun journalists are scheduled to stand trial in January over alleged unlawful payments to public officials for stories.   The Met"s detectives have benefited from an information-sharing agreement with News Corp"s Management and Standards Committee (MSC), which was set up to conduct an internal investigation into the phone hacking and bribery allegations.   It has emerged that Akers sent a letter last year to Lord Grabiner, the MSC"s chairman, advising him that there was a possibility corporate charges could be brought against Murdoch"s companies.   http://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/aug/17/murdoch-news-international-corporate-charges http://www.propublica.org/special/murdochs-circle-the-growing-news-international-scandal Visit the related web page
	Behind the Brands by Oxfam International   No company is too big to listen to its customers. When enough of us speak out, companies listen. Last year more than 400,000 of you called on companies to do more for women in their supply chains. They listened. Then you spoke up about land grabs in companies’ supply chains. They listened. Now we need you to stand up and insist that the brands we love do more to address the single biggest threat to fighting hunger-- climate change!   By 2050, there could be an extra 25 million malnourished children under the age of 5 because of climate change, and 50 million more hungry people. Ironically, it’s not only dirty coal or the oil industry behind this; it’s also food companies. The way they grow the food that we eat is leaving people hungry and homeless. Actually a quarter of all global emissions are coming from the food system. Everyday items such as cereals, yogurts, ice cream and tacos, have a hefty climate footprint.   "A quarter of all global emissions are coming from the food system"   Food companies, like Kellogg and General Mills – the creators of our favorite brands – do business with companies accused of things like reckless deforestation, overuse of polluting fertilizers, large scale land clearance, burning forests, and other harmful production practices. These are the kinds of production practices which drive dangerous climate disruptions and more hunger. For many farmers around the world this means they are not able to grow enough food to feed their families or that they are unable to make a decent living.   Around the world farmers like Eric Pyne in Liberia are already struggling to grow enough to feed themselves and make a living because more extreme weather events, like droughts and floods, are hitting their crops year after year. It’s just as real for Richard Oswald, from Missouri in the United States, a corn and soybean farmer whose crops are used in products sold by big food companies. His crops were destroyed by historic floods that hit Missouri in 2011. “There was nothing to harvest,” said Oswald. “We spent all the money for seed, fertilizer, herbicides and got nothing in return.”   More frequent and more extreme storms, floods, droughts and shifting weather patterns are affecting food supplies, driving up food prices and causing more hunger and poverty. It doesn''t have to be this way. Companies can cut their emissions and encourage others to do the same.   Kellogg and General Mills stand out as among the worst of the “Big 10” when it comes to these issues. They claim to be reducing their emissions but still don’t have a plan for themselves or their suppliers to do the same. It is time for all of us to speak up and demand that companies like Kellogg and General Mills help stop climate change from making people hungry.   Together, the 10 big food and beverage companies create an amazing 264 million tons of greenhouse gasevery year. If they were a country, they would be the 25th biggest polluter on the planet, spewing more emissions than Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway combined.   "If the big food and beverage companies were a country, they would be the 25th biggest polluter on the planet"   Agriculture emits more greenhouse gasses than all our cars, trucks, trains and airplanes combined. We think that Kellogg and General Mills can lead and help stop climate change from making people hungry starting with a few easy steps:   1. Measure Emissions   All of the Big 10 food companies, talk about climate change. But, you can’t fix what you can’t measure. We want the companies to measure and disclose their emissions.   2. Set Targets for Reducing Emissions   This one is simple. Once they know how much they are producing then they can set targets and make clear plans on how they will cut those emissions.   3. Encourage Suppliers to Act   Companies can be doing so much more. It’s not just about companies tackling their own operations but about using their influence and requiring their suppliers to do the same.   4. Act as a team and get others to act too   The Big 10 have significant power; when they speak out, it can really make a difference. Aside from cutting their own emissions they can and must call on governments and other companies to do the same.   If The ‘Big 10’ companies fail to use their power responsibly and undertake these 4 easy steps we will all suffer the consequences.   Kellogg and General Mills in particular are not doing their part. These companies should be leading the fight to help stop climate change from making people hungry. It’s time for them to act. The food we love does not have to feed climate change. Take action by asking Kellogg and General Mills to step of the sidelines and tackle climate change.   Behind the Brands is part of Oxfam’s GROW campaign to help create a world where everyone has enough to eat. Right now, nearly one in eight people on earth go to bed hungry. Sadly, the majority of these people are farmers or farm workers supplying the very food system that is failing them. Yet there is enough food for everyone. That’s an outrage – but we can be the generation that ends this crazy situation.   While the food system is complex and its problems multi-faceted, we know that the world’s largest food and beverage companies have enormous influence. Their policies drive how food is produced, the way resources are used and the extent to which the benefits trickle down to the marginalised millions at the bottom of their supply chains.   Oxfam’s Behind the Brands campaign aims to provide people who buy and enjoy these products with the information they need to hold the Big 10 to account for what happens in their supply chains. In putting together a scorecard based entirely on publicly available information on company policies, we posed the question “what are they doing to clean up their supply chains”?   The Behind the Brands Scorecard assesses the agricultural sourcing policies of the world''s 10 largest food and beverage companies. It exclusively focuses on publicly available information that relates to the policies of these companies on their sourcing of agricultural commodities from developing countries.   http://www.behindthebrands.org/en/campaign-news Visit the related web page
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