A Polish priest has defended his decision to allow his parish to be used to advertise and recruit staff for a new Tesco hypermarket, despite previous church criticisms of the UK retail giant.

Supermarkets today are being branded “heartless” over exploiting overseas workers who face poor wages, health problems and job insecurity supplying flowers sold as Valentine’s Day gifts in Britain. The accusation comes from War on Want.

Fairtrade campaigners have expressed their alarm at the announcement by Asda Wal-Mart that it has slashed the price of loose bananas by approximately 17p per kilogram (kg) to 68p per kg.

The Fairtrade Foundation has confirmed that today's announcement by supermarket chain Sainsbury's that all its banana supplies will be Fairtrade certified, is the biggest ever commitment to date by a single company anywhere in the world.