From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 14/02):

Business & management:
• The NZ Council for Infrastructure Development favours a public private partnership for the Waterview motorway project, and is promoting an Australian report: “Performance of public private partnerships and traditional procurement in Australia”.
• A global food packaging survey conducted by Nielsen in 2007, shows that “good value for money” was the main reason for choosing a store, while “environmental friendliness” was the least important reason.
• Private companies in the UK are being threatened with the loss of valuable government contracts, if they don’t do something about pay equity for women.
• Another US article about the housing and mortgage crisis there, that could have been written in NZ – “The real problem is affordability and the incongruity between incomes and home pricing.”

Environment & sustainability:
• Friends of the Earth and indigenous rights groups are urging the EU not to expand the use of biofuels, because apart from the damage to the environment, palm oil production in Indonesia is now leading to human rights abuses.
• The report “U.S. container ports and air pollution: a perfect storm" looked at the US’s 10 busiest container ports, and shows that a combination of factors made ports especially hazardous to human health, in addition to their impacts on air and water quality.
• Rural communities in the UK are protesting about 10 proposed eco-towns, because they feel they have been kept in the dark about where they will be sited.

Health & wellbeing:
• The WHO “Report of the Global Tobacco Epidemic” shows that no country fully implements the 6 policies that WHO recommends for effective tobacco control – comprehensive smoke-free laws cover only 5% of the world’s population. NZ & Uruguay are the only 2 countries who score highest on tobacco control.
• The Beyond 2008 Regional Consultation for Australasia on United Nations global drug policy is being held in Wellington 18-19 February, to provide an opportunity for local experts to talk about what does and doesn’t work with drug control.
• A day later, the Parliamentary Drug Policy Roundtable will take place, to discuss specifically NZ’s drug laws and policies.
• NZ doctors who want to train in the UK as consultants will no longer be able to do so, if a ban on overseas doctors training in the EU comes into force as intended in the 2009 recruitment round.
• A British study has found that genes play a greater role in childhood obesity than previously thought, and people who use sweeteners rather than sugar may be at a greater risk of obesity.
• A study by a UK think tank is suggesting that the government ban smacking and provide cognitive behavioural therapy for children from the age of 5 to lower aggression in society and prevent children from turning into teenage criminals.
• New studies have found that a chronic disease won’t necessarily kill you before you reach 100, and that men older than 70 who live a healthy lifestyle after that age have a better chance of living to 90.
• Avoid living near a busy airport if you want normal blood pressure, especially if there are a lot of night flights.
• The NHS in the UK has released a community engagement guide to encourage participation from seldom-heard groups, called “A dialogue of equals”.

Law & Government:
• The Law Commission has released a study paper that reviews privacy in NZ, “Privacy concepts and issues”.
• The government is asking for submissions on proposed changes to the way fuel consumption information is collected for light vehicles entering New Zealand. This rule links to the Land Transport Rule: Vehicle Standards Compliance 2002, which affects all light vehicles, manufactured on or after 1 January 2000, when they are first certified for use in New Zealand.
• The Statistics NZ September quarterly regional reviews are now available.
• An ambulance driver in the UK believes that blogs like his can lead to improvements in public services, because they can promote understanding and help influence change.
• The Communities and Local Government Dept in the UK has made its “Sustainable Operations Policy” available. The policy covers sustainable procurement, and outlines responsibilities for staff, contractors, etc.
• The government in the UK is considering a ban of the Internet as a penalty for people who illegally download music and films.

People, culture & diversity:
• Research at the University of Otago, provides evidence that Māori children experience a richer narrative environment than NZ European children.
• The UN Alliance of Civilisations held its first Forum in Madrid last month, to explore ways of addressing the growing polarization between nations and cultures worldwide and to develop partnerships to promote cross-cultural understanding globally.
• The Salvation Army has released its first “state of the nation” report “What does it profit us?“ which assesses NZ’s social progress and intends to give more importance to social indicators.
• Libraries in Wellington are hosting a series of events looking at whether or not it is a good thing to censor what children read by sanitising the text or images or by banning the book.
• The first global forum on human trafficking takes place in Vienna this week, with the expectation that an international campaign to combat the crime will be launched
• The Head of Gaelic, BBC Scotland, will be in NZ to speak at the first World Indigenous Television Broadcasting Conference in Auckland next month.

Science, technology & transport:
• A draft UN report shows that CO2 emissions from cargo shipping are far higher than have been previously estimated, while the industry has been rapidly expanding and has not yet attracted restrictions on emissions.
• London’s central traffic congestion pricing, and the Paris bike sharing scheme have beaten the other 3 cities (all nominated for bus rapid transit systems) to jointly win the 2008 Sustainable Transport Award.
• Sports cars and 4x4s are going to have to pay an additional £25 charge to enter central London, over & above the congestion tax.
• InternetNZ wants the benefits of municipal broadband networks to be fully explored at the Local Government NZ Broadband Forum in Wellington next week.
• Prior to Christmas the government had announced a draft Land Transport Rule tightening emission standards for imported vehicles, but is now saying that the draft Rule will be even more strict.
•Microsoft, IBM, Google & Yahoo have joined the Open ID Foundation, with the aim of reducing the number of IDs and passwords that people have to use when they log on to different sites.