From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 19/03):

Business & management:
• Taking a boss hostage during disputes between them and their staff is becoming an increasingly common protest gesture in France.
• Switzerland has opened up its legendary system of bank secrecy and agreed to hand over information on wealthy clients suspected of tax evasion, following international pressure.
• Since the 1960s, teachers mainly in the US but also in the UK, have used Frank Baum’s Wizard of Oz as an allegory of the economic depression of the late 19th Century.
• Resolution of equal pay claims in the UK is bogged down, with a 500% rise in claims in the last 4 years leaving employment tribunals struggling.
• A Pacific Institute report has concluded that the impacts of declining water quality and availability will be “far-reaching” for business and industry in the developed as well as the developing world.

Education
• The report on bullying in NZ schools is available from the website of the Children’s Commissioner.
• UK research conducted on behalf of the Good Schools Guide confirms what many parents of daughters have found - girls are far more likely to thrive, pass exams and stay in education if they go to a single-sex school.
• The first Maori language curriculum for mainstream schools was launched today. The launch is “a milestone for race relations in general because it will enable all NZ children to experience some Maori language from the very beginning of their schooling.”

Environment & sustainability:
• Local Government Climate Change Adaptation Toolkit was launched at the 'Adaptation to Climate Change Forum' in Melbourne in early March.
• According to China’s top climate change negotiator, consumer countries should take responsibility for the carbon emissions generated in the manufacture of goods, not the producer countries that export them.
• An executive officer of the Sydney Coastal Councils Group that has just received a report on climate change says, “Councils …...are a bit scared to declare the risks to their communities because they are waiting for direction from the state government”.
• The Swedish city of Kalmar is a coastal industrial city that has become the model for what all of Sweden hopes to achieve in becoming carbon neutral by mid-century.
• IBM has published a report that examines the opportunities and challenges of strategic water management. Five case studies provide perspectives from projects around the world.
• An economist at the Copenhagen climate change conference has said that the Kyoto protocol is “inefficient and ineffective” and should be dropped in favour of global carbon taxation. Scientists at the conference produced a list of 6 key messages about climate change.

Law & Government:
• Proposals about a Digital Rights Agency have been launched in the UK as part of the Digital Britain report, to trigger debate on the subject. The report highlights attitude changes in the digital age, saying consumers are no longer prepared to be told when and where they can access content.
• An Australian report on local government and the constitution, says that local government “is and always has been weak - a "servant" of the states - but recognition in the Australian constitution would have its dangers”.
• The Sustainable Public Lighting in Australia Toolbox is a 'one-stop-shop' which enables councils to access reports, tools, guidelines, policy and news to keep up-to-date on sustainable public lighting.

People, culture & diversity:
• The British Library thinks it has “mislaid” 9000 books, while 4 million volumes are to eventually transfer from the Bodleian Library in Oxford to a storage site in Swindon.
• Symantec’s Online Living report has found that UK parents believe their children are online for 18.8 hours per month, when the true figure is 43.5 hours.
• The Australian Local Government Association has an “Ageing Toolbox” called “Planning for an ageing community”.
• An international expert on child-friendly cities is in NZ from 18-24 March to talk about how cities can be made better for children, and will be attending the NZ Community Boards' Conference.

Science, technology & transport:
• The Centre for Independent Studies, an Australian policy think tank, has produced a report on the Australian car industry that suggests intervention by the Australian government may not succeed in saving the industry there.
• Pedestrian behaviour when crossing roads varies greatly, depending on the country. A proposal to use count down timers on crossings in London has raised the suggestion that it will make pedestrians “feel inferior” to drivers.
• Digital security is an increasingly serious issue. A BBC programme has shown just how easy it is for someone to create their own low-value botnet (a network of hijacked home computers), and a survey of London commuters suggests that 4.2m Britons store data on their mobiles that could be used in identity theft if the mobile is stolen.
• A conference in the UK has been told that the paper-like layered interfaces of systems like Windows, Linux and Mac OS requiring mouse, keyboard and desktop graphical interfaces will be replaced by gesture and touch interfaces.