One of the biggest fashion retailers in the US last night began an investigation into allegations that workers in India who make its clothes are being forced to work more than 70 hours a week for as little as 15p an hour.

Britain's shops waste hundreds of millions on fuel - and emit vast quantities of CO2 - by leaving their doors open. But shoppers are now demanding they change their ways. Dominic Murphy reports

EasyJet stuck to a five-year-old pledge yesterday and promised not to introduce a fuel surcharge, even as its shares fell 17 per cent amid warnings that it would be spending £45 million more than it had forecast on aviation fuel in the second half of the year.

Firms such as McDonald's and Virgin could be allowed to sponsor NHS hospital wards under radical plans announced by the Government to allow sponsorship of health services and create a new era of open competition between hospitals.

Two-thirds of cabinet ministers still travel in vehicles occupying the top emissions bands, despite targets to slash the carbon pumped out by official limousines.

From offspring to renewable energy, law firms face a welter of challenges to become carbon neutral. Grania Langdon-Down examines what solicitors are doing for the environment. When it comes to law firms taking steps to reduce their carbon footprints, they must fight against doing as little as possible, says DLA Piper’s head of corporate responsibility Elaine Radford.

Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has set out a new draft strategy for consultation today to give people in every local authority area a greater say on how public money is spent by 2012, including exploring for the first time using 'community kitties' for projects to fight crime and tackle obesity.

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