import duties are imposed so products will become too expensive to export and for $300.00 companies supplying parts to british common factors the future will then look especially bleak steps last an al-jazeera a made in. more or less have a quick recap of the headlines here and al-jazeera and u.s. president don't trump is part and more of his allies the latest list of $26.00 include his 2016 campaign chairman paul metaphor to roger stone his longtime adviser and friend he also pardoned charles cushman of the father of his son in law . it's the 2nd wave of presidential pardons in as many days gunmen have attacked a town in western ethiopia reportedly killing more than 100 people it happened in the british angle groomers region where ethnic tensions have been escalating as international says dozens are still unaccounted for this comes a day after the prime minister visited the area calling for peace and unity. u.k.

is now facing the threat of 2 coronavirus variants after detecting another potentially more infectious strain in 2 people who traveled from south africa as part all flights from the country after 9 months of negotiations there are signs the e.u. and the u.k. are edging closer to agreeing on a post breaks it trade deal talks between the 2 sides continued late on wednesday as they try to sort out the final details that involve or has more from london. well the negotiators were face to face in brussels on wednesday and as they continued there were. briefings anonymous briefings by e.u. officials to reporters saying that the talks were in the final stages although it wasn't exactly clear how long it would take for the draft text to be looked at an approved by the political leaders of course boris johnson the prime minister and

the european commission president have actually taken over leadership of the process since monday they've been in constant telephone contact china's regulator has launched an anti monopoly probe into the alibaba group the e-commerce giant and its founder jack ma has faced increasing pressure from beijing over its expansion plans last month the initial public offering a valid bubba's affiliate and group was unexpectedly suspended 2 days before its going to debut hundreds of migrants have been left with nowhere to sleep after fleeing a camp court foreign post near the camp has been strongly criticized by rights groups because of a lack of resources and was due to close all right you're up to date with headlines more news coming up here in algeria right after rewind wife and. one of africa's most troubled nations heads to the polls for presidential and parliamentary elections in a country plagued by violence and political instability could this bring the

resolution that is desperately needed central african republic elections on al-jazeera. hello i'm adrian finnegan in this episode we're revisiting bangladesh where a few years ago a garment factory collapsed and killed over 1000 people working inside the magnitude of the accident laid bare the lack of safety standards for the country's garment workers and the apparent indifference of the multinational corporations that profited from them. it wasn't the 1st accident to happen in that industry and

sadly it's unlikely to be the last but the issues raised by this film worth airing again here it is then award winning investigation from al-jazeera is 4th line series made in bangladesh. operate the last 5 for last week and pass those savings on to our customers to everyday low prices. for the revenue i believe every year 400000000000 dollars having low prices drives traffic to our stores hitting the snooze button allows us to lower expenses lower prices again. please welcome tom cruise. around the globe wal-mart is taking the lead in making a difference to continue the american dream has become a global concept i think it's our country's best export.

2012 was a good year for. wal-mart. but it was a bad year for bangladesh. it experienced the deadliest factory fire in its history and wal-mart shorts were among the clothes found in the charred remains but the company escaped accountability. and for many western retailers whose clothes are made in bangladesh it's business as usual. anybody out there know how many zeros and half a trillion dollars like of a number of other along. the the fire that has rained fashion's factory last november started on the ground floor and quickly spread. at least 112 people died

hundreds of others were injured many workers were trapped inside because the doors were locked and the building had no fire exits. the remains of the fire are still everywhere here this is where workers jumped out of the burning building onto the roof of the storm and tory there's boards in all the windows who are going to kick out of the exhaust fans and jump onto this building. on rukia begins daughter died in the fire. lots of below the belt a little bit a minute it was above the boat with the. goods. you haven't received any compensation for your daughter's death in the bush way with you i mean it was already begun with a little. many

of the women who escaped the fire still live in the shadow of the factory. mukhtar bano is one of them. she says she was so. in the wal-mart shorts when the fire broke out. that put him on a thin line so that it will have it in. there kind of the. kind of head well up and i do the. going on my list said minister. so how did you escape for the electricians and i love i have this in. but it fell off until a ship full of animal out there that i never said can you describe what you were working on them to look these are the ones you're working. when word got out that we were visiting other survivors came to share their stories so you did the hemming along the zipper and the belt and how about you none of the

women received any compensation from wal-mart so you hang on packed it up and they all vowed to never work at a garment factory again do you know who these pair of shorts were for were not delivered. 5 months after the fire yet another disaster in bangladesh captured the world's attention. rana plaza an 8 story building housing several garment factories collapsed more than a 1000 people died. even though the scale of the collapse eclipsed the fire the fundamental questions raised by ties remain where the same. how could tragedies like this happen and who ultimately should be held responsible. before we arrived in bangladesh we've received internal documents related to the

wal-mart short order and. the paper trail gives us an inside look into the complicated way that wal-mart produces its clothing. wal-mart is a pioneer and also the most ruthless practitioner of a sourcing model that has now come to dominate the apparel industry it's a system that can shield the company from blame when disaster strikes the mark supply chain is defined by 2 critical features the tremendous pressure wal-mart puts on its suppliers and its contract factories overseas to slash production costs which wal-mart knows those factories will do by ignoring the rights and safety of workers and then secondly the utilization of multiple layers of agents and contractors so that wal-mart can distance itself from responsibility for the inevitable consequences of those sourcing practices. simcoe is a mid-sized garment factory in a neighborhood crowded with them. at its height it had 1500 workers.

today there are 600. simcoe is where the shorts were supposed to have been made. wal-mart placed the order with a new york based supplier called success apparel. success apparel then filled it with simple with help from a local buying agent called true colors said this is from success apparel that was back on track see this is. going to do targeted cars and which is like 337 of them think there is no where to just mention that this is the wal-mart borders bar so if you think you never try to not buy them. it is the food room. faded glory is wal-mart's main in-house clothing line and it was that brand of shorts that was found in the ashes of the dream factory fire. simcoe says it couldn't handle the order after dozens of workers who left town during the

muslim holiday of eve didn't return on time so already we were overbooked and we were over our capacity and from the don't have the workers. to feel for fulfilled orders on time kevin taxing the c.e.o. of successor pearls he visited us and he was like going through our facilities all the production you know use of 4 letter words etc and then he was like and we told him like you know we're having like trouble meeting the deadline you know we need some extensions we need some help he was very upset he said not a single day extension they're going to give out so he said fine it's up country you know so the wal-mart supplier this direct supplier to wal-mart came here and told you to stop yes yes. sub contracting means paying another factory to take on some of the work. simcoe was already stretched and dealing with the short then it was hit with yet another

massive order and then we got this other document from public clothing company and that's another wal-mart supplier. and they've sent a purchase order for almost 300000 shorts another set of shorts. august 17th 3 days later you. can make around $300000.00 garments a month. put together the 2 wal-mart orders will more than double its capacity. i use the logic was you place the order and some of the factory will fulfill it somehow the factual fulfill it what is that code for that's code for it yes you do so contracting it you give it to other lines other production lines to fulfill daughter did wal-mart know about your production capacity here yes wal-mart does a 3rd party audit so the auditors come in they count your machines so he they know exactly how many garments you can produce on average on the line given what

happened in his dreams some have asked why simcoe didn't simply refuse the 2nd wal-mart order factories in place like bangor that are gave him cutthroat competition with. competitors in bangladesh and around the world so it's practically impossible to turn down a major order from wal-mart because that is the factories lively. so to meet 1 march deadline simcoe subcontracted a small part of the success apparel order to a manufacturer called tuba. tuber then sent the shorts to its ties rain factory a few weeks later the factory caught fire. oh my god. we're really. going really you know our good going to live how can that happen. i don't know. and my god given me you know there's a look over in the back room caught fire you got smell you know what i have reviewed the directory to i didn't send someone to get

a lot of things out. success apparel accuse simcoe of subcontracting the order without their knowledge and wal-mart blamed their supplier success that simcoe insists that success knew about dream and that wal-mart also would have known because its own database retailing requires suppliers to identify where orders are being filled retailing is supposed to have a record of every factory authorized to produce wal-mart goods every factory engage in the production of wal-mart goods in may 1 martin named over $240.00 factories it would no longer work with it saying it had a 0 tolerance policy for an authorized stop contracting simple was one of them. if there was no shorts one person than business would have gone on as usual. it's like everybody knows what's going on it's an open secret but getting caught on camera is or. i think in the act then you have to disown everything and say

i didn't know anything about that to do the practice of the wal-mart. to hide you know one more direct contact so you have this upload was of into. every fact you seem by all of the shots up contractors everybody facing a scandal wal-mart refused to accept the shorts or to pay the bill even after some of the order had already been shipped and this is are entirely abandoned for out $1200000.00 simcoe says it's nearly bankrupt so all of the shorts were made in these production lines and i really feel bad when i don't see our workers in these production lines you know and all these machines are now empty after that has rained fire wal-mart announced a drop success apparel as a supplier. we tried to speak to successes representative in bangladesh but we

found the company had closed down its office here. we also tried to interview the company's c.e.o. gilla goodman in new york but she refused to speak with us. kevin taxon who was success as president at the time of the fire also refused to speak to us on camera he now heads up another supplier called america group one of its clients is wal-mart if wal-mart were really so upset about what success apparel did one assumes they would not be keen to continue to do business with a leading executive from success apparel. on the phone kevin told us that neither success nords agent in bangladesh true colors knew about the subcontractor. but we managed to track down true colors last remaining employee in taka. if there's any sub contracting would you be aware of that. and then what do you do with that

information do you pass it out. very important can you read this email from me and tell me where it's from ok saying. the shocking mills. last evening. and to 6 and what's the subject line of. cotton is industry speak for subcontractor. that email was sent by a manager true colors shortly after the fire so despite successes denials their own agent may have been aware of the sub contract. where on the trail investigating how wal-mart's supply chain works here in bangladesh. does the company know when its orders are being subcontracted is the way they source their clothing the system itself flawed. the garment industry is notoriously secretive.

so we needed an insider. we're on our way to meet an auditor who was hired by wal-mart to assess standards of some of its factories it's very rare for auditors to speak on the record and he doesn't want to speak to us on camera so we recorded the conversation secretly. in bangladesh government regulation of garment factories is lax and international companies are not legally required to ensure working conditions are safe. some companies hire auditors to inspect the factories to get what. they call. the. that. peter's not only there if you do. nothing about it then. what do you think about their system. and. what why is it better what's the danger you.

have. to. do. with it that you want to get it. from what you're saying it sounds like wal-mart's supply chain is so out of control that there could be more doesn't look. bad or. doesn't know where it's goods are being produced it's because they choose not to know this is a company whose success is built 1st and foremost on the extraordinary level of control they exert over production in their global supply chain wal-mart refused to give us any information about its supply chain but a spokesperson told us wal-mart relies on its. plyers to implement the company's

standards. there's a reason bangladesh is so popular with companies especially those that produce inexpensive clothes that need to be made quickly. so the rock bottom cheapest place in the world to make apparel it's cheap because it has the lowest minimum wage for apparel workers of any country in the world at $0.18 an hour. that's about $38.00 a month. but it goes both ways. garments are just as important to bangladesh accounting for 80 percent of its exports and giving jobs to 4000000 people mostly poor women. that gives the industry enormous leverage inside the country for what they believe that it in less than bias come here to look for cheaper subclass so that here it is

a buyers market everybody should 'd anybody take. a share of the cake so these are . ready for money that we have 5 to 6 years but there are. many and. with this less. all this money. it's not just the multinationals. in bangladesh everyone wants a shot at making it in the garment industry i'm headed to a small factory and just finishing the garments they're supposed to be finishing barnum's for wal-mart and posing as a buyer to get in there. for those who can't open large factories there's always business in sub contracting. even if it means putting the finishing touches and garments before they're shipped out. to make anything that ends up in wal-mart. you may. products that go to wal-mart.

a lot but i very much. if there is a little there it was. for you an authorized wal-mart sub contractor for that order but let me live with them and i want to do the marketing one of the good. so is this very common that a lot of factories subcontract for big labels like wal-mart without authorization to go through the gauntlet of the secret of the of. the issue but if you. look at a little bit of the business. that mean. you're 14. so you started working when you were 13 years old. so what's the average age of your worth and. where will all the while that this was. another hospital. but we just spoke to

a girl who said she's 14. wal-mart told us they don't tolerate child labor and their supply 'd chain and they're investigating whether this finishing center did any work on wal-mart products. once we found one finishing house it wasn't hard to find others. what do you make it. how many buttons do you put on every day. how old are you today. how long have you been working there was it. really how old are. she did you go to school i don't know how much money it was out of just. a little. $2500.00 taka is just $32.00 a month we're putting the last of that and into old navy plants lately that says that it has a special this is what i was. there. says

old navy. and old navy is owned by gap inc one of the largest clothing companies in the world. this is where a lot of america's clothes come from and it's a reality many companies don't want us to see this is one of very many sub contracting factories at the bottom of the supply chain and beyond where this seems completely unregulated completely on authorized there's no fire extinguisher no fire exit it's just a shack in someone's backyard. this morning we went to a finishing house and they had about 20 workers there more than half of them were under 14 there were girls as young as 12 making clothes for gap who really in a finishing section body one 0 my gosh. oh my gosh.

i mean for me. just so i just come believe so this is the time that gap should be stepped forward to make this correct. oh my gosh so see there how critical is the supply chain ease how critical these. gap declined to give us an on camera interview they did give us a statement though saying the products we found were quote either counterfeit or improperly acquired but through the bar codes on the tags we found at the finishing house we were able to match the garments to ones at old navy stores in the u.s. . the gap added that it quote strictly prohibits any vendor from employing underage workers. there is a fairy tale that major brands and retailers like ap and wal-mart tell to the

public in this fairy tale gap and wal-mart are companies that are socially responsible and deeply committed to protecting the rights of workers and making every effort to inspect their factories and ensure that everything is on the up and that fairytale has very little to do with the reality of the supply chain for wal-mart for gap and worker rights issues are not a moral issue they're an issue of reputational risk and wal-mart and gap understand that their image in the eyes of the public has a very large impact on the degree to which they can get people to come to their stores and buy their goods and so to the extent that they can be convinced that their image will be damaged if they don't do the right thing for workers then they will make change. after a workers' rights activist who is still haunted by what she saw that day. is a feeling that when you were in the inside the building you can feel that how these workers forced to remove these window bars they're just from bar to and then jumped

my feeling was like nothing can be worse than these not think can be worse than these like seeing these people burned to ashes and their family crying. in front of you and they cannot find i mean they're going to identify these bodies with them is their beloved or not. nobody think about this these human faeces who are making clothes for them and dying in these factories if. nobody talking about the compensation nobody talking about their wages that think getting. even i would say even they don't even consider them to human. but they are really human they have needs now have a voice they wanted to speak out they have right to have a simple things.

live. the certain looks positive 1 in terms of safety and security the body is set up by the international buyers as well as with the local bank or those governments benefactor association is to ensure the safety and security of the workers for us now the accord and alliance have set up certain benchmarks standard which is now followed the bank of those garments manufacture the export of association is following up with those benchmarks that set up their own body which is probably the ready made garments sustainability council which will ensure the same benchmark and their interpreter themselves in the garment sector set up a over $1000000000.00 fund to ensure the safety and security for the workers.

played. a unique perspective on nigeria we have so much more we just don't know. to money this morning though we have. through the eyes of the sun liberated african photographer. join us monday and still be us what he did. it 3 years on how has life changed. rewind ga 30 on al-jazeera. play an important role. we've been doing with the money that it's boring we bring you the stories and developments that are rapidly changing the world we live in argentina's congress is debating a bill seeking to raise billions of dollars for the super rich poor families hit

hard by them and counting the cost on al-jazeera. jarrad krishna's father and donald trump's former campaign manager paul not afford are among those getting presidential pardons in the latest lest. hello there i'm the star of the attain this is live from also coming up and a boils over in southern england thousands of truck drivers awaiting in poor conditions to be tested for the coronavirus. south korea implements its toughest ever measures to contain covert 19 forcing the closure of tourist sites.