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U.S. Wary Of Small Boat Terrorism As boating season approaches, the Bush administration wants to enlist America's 80 million recreational boaters to help reduce the chances that a small boat could deliver a nuclear or radiological bomb somewhere along the 95,000 miles of U.S. coastline and inland waterways. According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, "The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al Qaeda's weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success." While the United States...

Tesco is refusing to sell alcohol to parents shopping with their children under rules designed to tackle underage drinking. The supermarket has told cashiers not to supply alcohol if they suspect an adult is buying the drink for an underage youth. Staff have been told to “err on the side of caution” when interpreting the policy, leading to cases of parents out shopping with their children being told to put alcohol back on the shelves. Tesco says it believes parents will support the policy and it would rather apologise where it has misjudged the situation than sell to underage drinkers....

Supermaket chain Tesco has announced that a range of its own-brand products will carry labels showing the size of the goods' carbon footprints. Tesco said it would label 20 items, including light bulbs and potatoes, during a two-year trial of the scheme, which is operated by the Carbon Trust. Shoppers will be able to see how much carbon is emitted over the life of a product - from manufacture to disposal. The store said it was introducing the labels in response to consumer demand. "Customers tell us that it is very important to them," said David North, Tesco's community and...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - British grocery giant Tesco PLC announced Thursday the locations of its first 12 Los Angeles-area stores, which include a branch in supermarket-starved Compton. The Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets, significantly smaller than typical supermarkets, are among 30 stores the retailer intends to open in California, Arizona and Nevada by the end of the year. All 12 stores, in Los Angeles and surrounding cities, are scheduled to open in late fall. The company said it was still negotiating seven other sites in economically depressed Los Angeles communities, including Compton, where other chains have been wary to invest...

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's largest retailer Tesco has sent an in-house team to the United States to consider a bid for Albertsons (ABS), the American grocery chain with 2,500 stores, the Business paper reported. Earlier this month, Albertsons said it had hired investments bankers to explore its options and would consider putting itself up for sale, with a price tag of $7.6 billion, as it grapples with intense competition from Wal-Mart Stores (WMT). Tesco, which reports half-year results this week, has yet to find a vehicle to enter the lucrative U.S. market and is using the team to identify takeover...

Benetton to track clothing with ID chips Retail clothing chain Benetton will soon add technology to its garments that allows for real-time tracking of its inventory. Philips Semiconductor on Tuesday announced that it has provided partners with radio frequency identification (RFID) chips that they'll use in efforts to improve Benetton's supply-chain management system. What this means is that a box containing clothes of varying styles, colors and sizes can be scanned, and the information can be uploaded to Benetton's inventory tracking system instead of having to be checked in one piece at a time. The process could be faster, more...