NEWS IN BRIEF – WATCHING THE CORPORATIONS  Volunteers uncover £50 million in corporate funds to UK universities - DFID: Aid to India continues with greater focus on private sector - Tar Sands row threatens Canada-EU trade deal http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=3895

People & Planet volunteers uncover £50 million from Oil, Arms and Big Pharma being channelled into UK universities. The Reclaim Research group conducted interviews and sent Freedom of Information requests to 17 universities and are starting to uncover the hidden connections between research and corporations at universities. The group aims to uncover, challenge, and change the ways in which universities are working to create profit.

Andrew Mitchell, Secretary of State for International Development, announced on 15th February that the UK will continue to give £280 million a year to India as development aid. In a speech to Chatham House he argued, “it is in both India's interest and in Britain's interest for us to continue our highly successful collaboration on development,” but that, “we need to bring our development partnership up-to-date.

Canada has threatened to scrap a trade deal with the European Union if the EU persists with plans that would block imports of fuel from Canada's highly polluting tar sands extraction project. The EU is planning to reduce the carbon footprint of fuels used over the next decade and aims to help suppliers identify carbon-intensive imports.