slave labor

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Aussie Couple Kept a Slave for 8 Years

Indian woman toiled for up to 23 hours a day, was punished with boiling water

(Newser) - An Australian couple who kept a slave for eight years will soon know what it's like to be held against their will. Kumuthini Kannan, 53, was ordered to serve at least four years of an eight-year sentence, while her husband, Kandasamy Kannan, 57, was ordered to serve at least...

Weaves Suspected to Be Made From Human Hair in Prison Camps Seized

Federal authorities in New York announce seizure of shipment from China

(Newser) - Federal authorities in New York on Wednesday seized a shipment of weaves and other beauty accessories suspected to be made out of human hair taken from people locked inside a Chinese internment camp. US Customs and Border Protection officials told the AP that 13 tons of hair products worth an...

Cookie Heiress Bragged of Her Wealth. Then She Made It Worse

Verena Bahlsen says she erred with remarks on Bahlsen's forced labor during Nazi era

(Newser) - "Oblivious," "arrogant," and "aloof" is how a cookie company heiress is being painted this week after comments on how her company used Nazi-era forced labor. The BBC reports 25-year-old Verena Bahlsen of the Bahlsen company joked about how rich she is at a marketing meeting...

Couple Held Girl Captive for 16 Years, Feds Say

Mohamed Toure and Denise Florence Cros-Toure have been charged with forced labor

(Newser) - A Texas couple brought a West African girl into their home and for the next 16 years forced her to cook, clean, and tend to their five children without pay, federal prosecutors say. According to an NBC5 report, the girl, whose name has not been released, did not attend school...

Slavery Is a Huge Problem in Britain
Slavery Is a Huge
Problem in Britain
longform
Feb 21, 2018 5:34 PM CST

Slavery Is a Huge Problem in Britain

Despite the government considering it a top priority, human trafficking remains an issue

(Newser) - A man in his 40s, brought to Britain as an infant and sold to a pedophile ring, was formally recognized as a victim of modern slavery by the country's Home Office—and is now facing deportation as an "illegal immigrant." Yet in a statement, a Home Office...

Slaves Might Be Catching Your Seafood

Report details abuses in Thailand

(Newser) - Something to ponder about the origins of your seafood: A new report commissioned by food giant Nestle finds that most seafood workers in Thailand—the world's biggest exporter of shrimp—are migrants from Cambodia or Myanmar brought into the country illegally by traffickers and sold to boat captains, who...

Slaves May Be Catching the Fish You Eat: Report

15 Burmese workers beaten, forced to work for Thai crew

(Newser) - A new report by UK activists points to slave labor in the Thai fishing industry—whose biggest buyer happens to be the US. The Environmental Justice Foundation report , published Wednesday, cites a case of slave labor in which 15 Burmese people, paid little or nothing, were allegedly beaten and forced...

Pope: Doomed Bangladesh Workers Were 'Slave Labor'

As thousands participate in May Day protests in Dhaka

(Newser) - Pope Francis has strong words on the Bangladesh factory collapse that killed at least 402 people: Workers in the doomed factory were living on just $50 a month, which he condemned as "slave labor" at a private mass this morning, the AP reports. The Telegraph has his full quote:...

Cops Raid 'Slave' Camp, Free Men Held 15 Years

24 men held against their will, some caged in dog kennels

(Newser) - Four men and a woman were arrested yesterday for holding 24 men as slaves in east England, some for as long as 15 years, reports the BBC . The victims—English, Polish, and Romanian men—were likely recruited from soup kitchens and welfare offices and promised jobs that paid around $125...

Pyramids Not Built by Slaves: Scientists

Tombs found near king's suggest laborers were free workers

(Newser) - The Great Pyramids of Egypt were built not by slaves, as is commonly believed, but by free workers of such high status that their tombs lie near the king's. The laborers built the Khufu and Khafre pyramids, and the research made public today sheds new light on graffiti describing the...

Aussies Sorry for 10K Kids Shipped for 'Slave Labor'

British children were abused, kept hungry in program lasting until 1960s

(Newser) - The Australian prime minister will apologize to generations of British migrants shipped to Australia as children and subjected to abuse, hunger, and slave labor. Between the 1920s and 1960s the UK sent about 10,000 children to provide Australia with "good white stock," but when they arrived they...

Brazil Rescues 4,600 Slaves in 2008

(Newser) - Brazil freed more than 4,600 slaves this year after storming a record number of remote farms, the Guardian reports. Often teaming up with federal police, the government's anti-slavery task force raided 255 farms, but advocates say thousands of poor are still being trapped into debt slavery. "It is...

How the Middle Class Was Systematically Betrayed

Our 'land of equality' is now a 'bankers' utopia'

(Newser) - Thomas Frank tackles the decline of the American middle class in an outraged op ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal. He confesses fascination with "the mechanics of this huge social reconfiguration," which has, over several decades, shunted the nation's wealth into fewer and fewer hands, until the...

Child Slavery Scandal Blows Up in China

Kids kidnapped, sent to work in brick kilns rescued in giant crackdown

(Newser) - A child labor scandal is rocking rural China as information surfaces on kidnapped children forced to work as slaves in the country's brick factories. In crackdowns this week, nearly 50,000 police in two Chinese provinces have rescued 550 people, including dozens of the thousands of children believed to be...

14 Stories