Wal-Mart Ruling Is Major Setback for Worker Rights

The Supreme Court’s decision to throw out a sex-discrimination suit by a large group of female Wal-Mart employees may look like a mere procedural decision about the rules for class-action lawsuits. But it is in fact a much bigger deal: it significantly shifts power from workers to big employers.

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Discounting Dynamo: Sam Walton

No one better personified the vitality of the American Dream in the second half of the 20th century than Sam Walton. A scrappy, sharp-eyed bantam rooster of a boy, Walton grew up in the Depression dust bowl of Oklahoma and Missouri, where he showed early signs of powerful ambition: Eagle Scout at an improbably young age and quarterback of the Missouri state-champion high school football team.

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Jazz: The Loneliest Monk

Everyone who came to meet his plane wore a fur hat, and the sight was too much for him to bear. “Man, we got to have those!” he told his sidemen, and for fear that the hat stores would be closed before they could get to downtown Helsinki, they fled from the welcome-to-Finland ceremonies as fast as decency permitted.

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Will 7-Eleven’s New Cafe Win Over Hong Kong Foodies?

It’s just before noon on a Tuesday, and despite the rain, a few dozen schoolgirls in white uniforms and navy cardigans are milling about the 7-Eleven on Tong Chong Gai, a bustling Hong Kong side street of restaurants and cafs. A few of the teenagers grab chocolate milk and sushi rolls from the open chiller

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Wal-Mart to pay $2 million after employee’s death

Wal-Mart has agreed to pay nearly $2 million and take extra safety precautions after a stampede killed a store employee in Long Island, New York, last year. The top prosecutor in Nassau County said she struck the deal rather than pursue criminal charges in the death of a 34-year-old man who was trampled to death as shoppers flooded into the store. It happened as the store opened on the day after Thanksgiving, which is traditionally among the busiest days of the year for retailers

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