BUTTER-WOULDN’T-melt supermarket chain Tesco has been accused of taking advantage of weak labour laws in the States by bullying employees and creating an anti-union environment. The New York branch of Human Rights Watch has published a report claiming that while Tesco talks nicely about labour relations back in the UK, its new chain in the US called Fresh & Easy has left employees that wish to organise union activities fearing for their jobs.

AN UNIDENTIFIED ship has dumped oil off the coast of Goa off Western India just one month before a load of aging ravers are due to show up and party. Tar balls have washed up on the beach causing a solid, six-inch layer of oil on top of the sand. Civic workers are on the case with brooms to try and sort out the sticky mess as the Indian Navy navy and coastguard have set sail to trace the offending tar dumpers out on the high seas.

FIDEL CASTRO has admitted that he was responsible for the discrimination against homosexuals in Cuba in the 1960s and 70s. During that time, many gays were fired, imprisoned and sent to “re-education” camps before homosexuality was decriminalised in 1979. Castro has said that he did not pay enough attention to the hardships of the gay community due to greater problems within the country, such as armed attacks and the availability of food and medicine. In the past years Castro's niece has also been fighting for the recognition of same-sex marriage. SP

ASYLUM SEEKERS have staged a protest in Australia after breaking out of their detention centre. More than 80 escapees held banners of protest by a nearby highway, with messages such as “Show us mercy”. Some said that they have been recently told that they do not qualify for asylum, while one told how he had been held there for nine months. The Refugee Action Coalition has said that most of these men are simple fishermen who actually want to return home. SP

PARIS HILTON was arrested in Las Vegas over the weekend for possession of cocaine. Police officers noticed a suspicious smoke trail coming from a car in which Hilton was the passenger, and later charged the socialite with possession before releasing her without bail. She claims that the handbag it was found in was too cheap to be hers, and that she had borrowed it from a friend. She will appear in court in October. Hilton was also arrested in July for suspected possession of marijuana and was imprisoned in 2007 for drink driving. SP

SOUTH AFRICAN public service workers have been on strike for two weeks in their demand for a wage increase. President Zuma has responded to their urges with an increased offer, which the unions will vote on on Tuesday. Around a million workers are currently on strike, but other unions have threatened to join the movement if the demands are not met. But with the African National Congress just round the corner, it has been commented that President Zuma is more interested in protecting his public image than any economic concern. SP

CONCERN IS mounting over the government’s plans to allow local councils to decide the criteria for allocating council houses could lead to favouritism of local residents over immigrants. The Refugee Council is worried that locals will be put first, but Grant Shapps, the Housing Minister has stated that local links are just one of many criteria that councils take into account. All the same, a survey last year reported that nine out of ten families in social housing are UK-born. SP

HEAD OF the BNP, Nick Griffin has reported that his ‘party’ is in financial difficulty and has appealed to its members for support. The party’s money has been spent on various law suits in the past couple of years, namely defending themselves against Unilever after the BNP used Marmite to promote their election campaign earlier this year without their permission. We’re just wondering if Mr Griffin would be willing to accept any donations from the ethnic community… We think we speak for everyone when we say: it couldn’t have happened to a nicer bloke!

ALTAF HUSSAIN, the leader of the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM) in Pakistan has lashed out against the political establishment’s lacklustre response to the country’s severe floods. He has called on “patriotic generals to initiate martial-law like steps against federal politicians and legal proceedings against people who “save their crops and divert floods towards the localities as well as villages of the poor”. His comments could be worrying to the prime minister of Pakistan Yousuf Raza Gilani who relies on the 25 MQM members of the National Assembly for a majority.

APPLE HAS refused to allow the iPhone to be included in the UK’s first ever green ranking scheme for mobile phones. Companies like Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung have all signed up to the scheme that has been launched by the O2 network which gives phones a rating out of five according to their environmental footprint. The scheme has been launched in partnership with Forum for the Future and scores mobiles on the manufacturing process, packaging, energy efficiency and the ecological impact pf their raw materials.

YESTERDAY THE third annual “Go Topless Day” went down in America to protest against the fact that it’s generally acceptable for men to walk around topless while women are expected to cover up. GoTopless.org, an organisation formed by sports journalist Claude Vorilhon, encourages women to go topless for the day and men to don bikini tops or bras to raise awareness. In Chicago, the main participants were the beach volleyball players and rollerbladers at the beach, and unsurprisingly not the inner-city office workers.

NORWAY’S GOVERMENT last year approved a law to ban female police officers from wearing the Islamic headscarf, the hijab. The move sparked outrage in the country and has now been ruled illegal by The Norwegian Equality Tribunal, who stated that the law was against the country's anti-discrimination and freedom laws. Although the ruling is not legally binding, it has been seen as justice against the decision. The police union has stated that the headscarf undermined the neutrality of the uniform.

THE EU has been urged to force technology companies to declare their use of so-called blood minerals. Metals used in nearly every mobile phone, iPod and computer are bought from the warlords of the Congo as the country continues to be torn apart as rivals fight for the mines; a war which has cost an estimated five million lives. The US has already passed a law requiring all companies who use these minerals to declare that they do so, but the EU has yet to pass such legislation.

THE NEW York Times has revealed that the Obama administration will soon issue new guidance making it easier for US citizens to visit Cuba. Since 1960 when Fidel Castro came into power Americans have not been allowed to travel to the Island. It’s now proposed that American academic, religious and cultural groups will be allowed to travel to Cuba, and from more than the three airports currently permitted. The decades old embargo will remain intact though as testament to the ‘ridiculous baby steps' school of modern political theory.

NAUGHTY SOUL singer Erykah Badu has been fined for stripping naked in public for her latest music video for the track ‘Window Seat’. The shoot took place at Dealey Plaza in Dallas where JFK was shot in 1963, and reportedly caused all kinds of uproar from passers-by that were deeply offended by the sight of a beautiful, talented black woman in the buff. Badu paid $500 for disorderly conduct and will serve six months probation. Presumably it was a slow day for crime in the States that day.