The week isn't going so well for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. The company had been benefiting from online promotions through Travelzoo, a site that offers discounts and deals on travel and entertainment. But that was before PETA and its supporters stepped in.

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PETA sent Travelzoo information about Ringling's long history of animal abuse. We detailed how Ringling was handed the largest fine in circus history—$270,000—by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) for dozens of violations of the Animal Welfare Act. We revealed how former circus employees admitted that Ringling trainers routinely beat elephants and jabbed them with sharp metal bullhooks in order to force them to perform.

We are pleased that Travelzoo listened and made the compassionate decision to stop offering Ringling ticket deals. Travelzoo joins Lucky Brand, Denny's, Lukoil, MasterCard, Visa, and Sears, all of which have terminated Ringling sponsorships and promotions. Let's keep going after Ringling until its trainers stop going after animals. Ask the USDA to seize the ailing elephants used by Ringling and transfer them to a reputable sanctuary.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam today vetoed the state's "ag-gag" bill, an attempt by the agriculture industry to prevent American consumers from learning about the cruelty inherent in factory farming. The governor agreed with animal advocates and legal scholars who loudly criticized the bill, acknowledging concerns that it was "constitutionally suspect" and that it "actually makes it more difficult to prosecute animal cruelty cases." 

Even when it appeared certain that Haslam would sign the bill into law, animal advocates in Tennessee and across the country refused to back down. Tens of thousands of kind people like you reposted PETA's action alert, spoke out against the bill, and flooded Haslam's e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter accounts with messages urging him to veto it. A long list of celebrities also voiced their opposition, including Emmylou Harris, Carrie Underwood, Wynonna Judd, Miley Cyrus, Tish Cyrus, Ellen DeGeneres, Tony Kanal, CMT President Brian Philips, and Republican strategist Mary Matalin—who also sent lawmakers a video in which she highlights the importance of PETA's undercover work in prosecuting animal abusers.

And we won.

Please take a moment to tweet @BillHaslam and thank him for showing some mercy to animals on factory farms.

In the midst of World Week for Animals in Laboratories, we have exciting news to share. After more than three decades of PETA action, Harvard will be shutting down its deeply controversial primate-testing facility in 2015.

This victory is 30 years in the making. In fact, some early-day PETA members took part in a headline-making demonstration outside the laboratory on April 25, 1983, almost 30 years ago to the day. Since then, we've kept the public informed about the cruel and deadly experiments going on at the facility and filed numerous federal complaints against it. Now, we will urge the center to fund the retirement all of its captive primates to existing sanctuaries or build a place suitable to retire them. 

PETA's director of laboratory investigations, Justin Goodman, made this announcement:

The almost defunct New England Primate Research Center is one of eight such dedicated federally funded primate prisons across the country. Other similar facilities are located in Oregon, Georgia, Wisconsin, Washington, Texas,  California, and Louisiana. We need your help to empty all of their cages. Please ask Congress to divert public money away from experiments on animals in favor of humane, relevant, and lifesaving non-animal research.  

I am reminded of a famed Victor Hugo quote: "An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea whose time has come." Thank you, PETA supporters. And congratulations. 

Great Britain has united against circuses that force wild animals to perform. With the vast majority of the British public behind them, the members of Parliament voted unanimously to ban wild-animal acts in circuses in England and Wales. 

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Pressure has been mounting for the past few years for the government to make this historic move, particularly after animal rights advocates released an undercover video that showed a groom at Bobby Roberts Super Circus who kicked an Asian elephant named Anne and beat her with a pitchfork. PETA U.K. kept up the anti-circus momentum, with demonstrations, ads, newspaper articles, and action alerts asking its members to e-mail the prime minister. Now Britons can pop a cork and celebrate the fact that legislation to ban all wild animals from circuses is passing through Parliament, meaning no more wild animals will be torn from their homes and families, denied everything that is natural and important to them, confined to tiny boxcars or cages, and forced to perform demeaning and painful tricks for human amusement.

Circuses in England and Wales will go on—but with talented human performers who are there by choice.

We aren't there yet in the U.S.—but the time is coming. Check out PETA's guide "Steps to Take When the Circus Comes to Town" for ideas on how to help. England and Wales are ending these cruel acts, and we can, too.

If PETA's recent successes are any indication, down is going down fast.

The latest company to make the synthetic leap onto our anti-down bandwagon is Colorado's leading furniture manufacturer, Woodley's Fine Furniture. The Woodley brothers started their company decades ago with the intention of offering quality home furnishings that did not take a toll on nature—but they had been designing sofas stuffed with down. After PETA sent the company our down exposé, Woodley's agreed that its vision did not include using feathers that were yanked out of live birds or feathers from birds who had tubes rammed down their throats for the cruel production of foie gras and will no longer purchase down-filled upholstery. 

Ready to make the down industry's feathers fly? Check out PETA's top five ways to take action against down—because if people in the skiing capital of the U.S. are done with down, shouldn't the rest of us embrace warm and soft synthetic options, too?

Rabbits are on a roll! Natural-products giant Nature's Gate just became the fourth company to pull out of the Chinese market until the country stops requiring tests on animals for cosmetics. After talks with PETA, Nature's Gate agreed that there is nothing pretty about tormenting animals in laboratories, and the company chose to forgo the large Chinese market, rather than sacrificing its commitment to being cruelty-free.

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PETA is proud to give Nature's Gate our Courage in Commerce Award for its dedication to offering a wide array of quality personal-care and beauty products without  harming animals anywhere in the world.

And Nature's Gate is in good company: Paul Mitchell, Dermalogica, and Pangea Organics have all pulled their products out of China in order to save animals' lives, and many more companies, such as Urban Decay and NYX, have refused to sell in China until the animal testing requirements are lifted. As a result, these conscientious companies are being rewarded with even more customer support, and with the help of the scientists PETA is helping to fund, China is prepping to approve its first non-animal testing method. 

Please join us in thanking Nature's Gate, and continue to support companies that don't test on animals by checking PETA's online list of companies that do and that don't test on animals. Order your own free copy of PETA's first-ever global cruelty-free shopping guide and take it with you every time you shop! Naturally.

We can now add Suffolk, Virginia, to the growing list of cities that recognize that dogs deserve better than life on a chain—something that PETA has been advocating for a long time.

In January, when Suffolk Council Member Mike Duman initially proposed a tethering ban, he met with resistance. But two short months later, the council voted to ban chaining completely. How did this reversal occur?

PETA wrote to council members and got our friend the comedian Wanda Sykes, who is from Virginia, to do the same. Daphna Nachminovitch, our vice president of cruelty investigations, raised awareness about the issue by writing a blog for a local website.

And we asked Alice Conner to share with the council the story of her 2-year-old cousin who was killed by dogs in Suffolk who became aggressive after being chained for years.

Local PETA members and residents also weighed in. And our message got through loud and clear.

PETA's Community Animal Project staff members receive more calls about abused and neglected chained dogs in Suffolk than in any other area surrounding the Sam Simon Center, our Virginia headquarters. As of September 1, 2013, Suffolk residents who do this to their dogs will face fines!

We thank Mike Duman, Alice Conner, Wanda Sykes, and all the other compassionate people who helped make the Suffolk tethering ban a reality. Now, with the help of Sykes and actor Patton Oswalt, we are working with Newport News, one of the two remaining cities in the region that still don't restrict or ban chaining, to improve living conditions for its dog population.

If you would like to help get a chaining ban passed in your hometown, we offer a wealth of resources. 

Today is a monumental day. Starting today, any cosmetics product or ingredient that is tested on animals anywhere in the world cannot be sold in the European Union. So every one of the 500 million EU consumers will be purchasing only cruelty-free cosmetics.

The European Parliament had already banned cosmetics companies from tormenting animals in cruel tests on EU soil. But now that the deadline for the last step of this historic phased-in ban on animal testing has arrived, companies eyeing the lucrative EU market will have to abandon all animal tests anywhere in the world for both their finished products and their ingredients. The ban has already led many companies to invest in advanced non-animal testing methods, sparing countless rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, and other animals from having chemicals dumped into their eyes, poured down their throats, and ground into their skin.  

The EU ban reflects the public's conviction that cosmetics should not be valued over animals' lives. People on this side of the pond can let our voices be heard, too—by purchasing only cruelty-free products. Please order PETA's free Beauty Without Bunnies Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide today, and PETA's online database of companies that don't test on animals—anywhere in the world—makes it as easy as point, click, and save lives. 

We're delighted to announce a crucial victory in PETA's AirCruelty campaign. This morning, China Eastern Airlines informed PETA that as of March 1, 2013, it will no longer ship primates to laboratories to be used in experiments!  

This ends the export of monkeys from China for use in laboratories! Prior to this exciting development, the majority of primates imported into the United States for experimental use were from China—in 2012, more than 10,000 primates destined for U.S. laboratories came from China. After both China Southern and Air China stopped primate shipments for experiments following pressure from PETA, China Eastern was left as the sole transporter of monkeys from that country to laboratories. Its compassionate new policy means that animal experimenters are left without a single airline to transport primates from China and PETA has now been successful in shutting down this market.

In recent months, PETA had stepped up pressure on China Eastern by encouraging our members and supporters to contact the airline via phone and e-mail. More than 100,000 of you took action. (Thank you!) Local activists with Empty Cages Los Angeles and other groups also helped increase pressure recently by conducting protests at China Eastern offices around the world.

What You Can Do

This is an important advance in keeping primates away from experimenters, but PETA won't rest until these smart and sensitive animals are safe once and for all—and we hope you're in it for the long haul, too! Please urge the last three remaining holdouts to follow China Eastern's example and adopt a formal policy prohibiting the transport of primates destined for laboratories.

More good news on the international product testing front: After discussions with PETA, Pangea Organics is ending all sales of its products in China, where animal tests for cosmetics are required. For choosing principles over profits and vowing not to pay for animal tests anywhere in the world, PETA is proud to honor Pangea Organics with our Courage in Commerce Award.

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Pangea Organics has been a member of PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies program and will stay on PETA's cruelty-free list along with more than 1,300 cosmetics companies and personal-care and household products companies that are committed to compassion.

Pangea joins a growing list of companies that are choosing to stay true to their cruelty-free roots. Last year, Paul Mitchell Systems became the first company to pull out of China rather than harming animals after learning from PETA that selling in that country would mean painful and deadly tests on animals, and other companies, such as Dermalogica, have followed suit. Urban Decay also reversed its decision to enter the Chinese market after hearing from thousands of PETA supporters. And NYX, Paula's Choice, Yes To Carrots, and Jack Black have all said, "No, thanks!" to the Chinese market until tests on animals are no longer required—and that day is coming closer. PETA is helping to fund the efforts of the Institute for In Vitro Sciences, which is working to help Chinese scientists and government officials accept superior, non-animal methods, and China is poised to approve its first non-animal test. 

Please help us congratulate Pangea Organics, and show your support for cruelty-free living by using PETA's brand-new global Cruelty-Free Shopping Guide every time you shop! Order a free copy or use PETA's Beauty Without Bunnies database to find compassionate companies that refuse to pay for animal tests anywhere in the world.