Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Meanwhile, New Zealand Refining chief executive Thomas Zengerly says we'll just have to get used to permanently high prices for petrol. World supply of oil is around 80 million barrels a day short of supply.
Against this, Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, has just outlined a $50 billion plan to boost production in what US officials called a "very ambitious" step toward tamping down surging oil and gasoline prices.
Wal-Mart, the giant American retailing chain, has become the target of major protests across the US lately. Critics claim that Wal-Mart's business practices are immoral and unfair. Are they correct? This article examines what constitutes ethical business - the questions could easily apply to The Warehouse in this country, of course.
Meanwhile, in a 108-page report released today, Nike has admitted sweatshop conditions prevail in 569 of 830 factories worldwide where its footwear, apparel and sports equipment are made. Nike's "corporate responsibility" report doesn't make for a pretty picture. From excessively long work weeks and wrong wage calculations to verbal abuse and curbs on toilet visits, the findings confirm a pervasive culture of exploitation. At risk are as many as 650,000 workers in factories located from Australia and China to the US and Vietnam. Most of them are women aged between 19 and 25.
There's still money in them-thar dot-coms. Google has reported that its earnings for the first quarter of this year have jumped 477%.
British pop star Elton John intends to marry his long term partner David Furnish some time this year or in 2006.
The NZ Herald says couples here appear to be in no rush to tie the civil union knot (CU's become available from this week). One of the first ceremonies is likely to be conducted by Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast.
And Don Brash has explained his "flip flop" over voting on Civil Unions.
Meanwhile, pop star Moby, known for his political statements as well as his music, says he'd do everything he could to make his future child homosexual should the singer ever have a family.
The cost of family violence goes up. A $12 million "investment" in services for children who witness family violence is a key part of the government's commitment to eliminating violence within families, says Child Youth and Family Minister Ruth Dyson. The service will see up to 45 child advocates placed in community NGOs around the country. Their role will include: Education and awareness of the effects of family violence on children; ensuring all agencies respond to the needs of the child; advice and consultation with those working one-on-one with a child; specialist assessment and referral for individual children where necessary.
Simon Upton does his best to untangle the amazingly contradictory web that surrounds French attitudes towards the proposed European Constitution. A French "no" vote against the constitution is very much on the cards, which could throw the EU into a constitutional crisis. Upton also asks, is there a moral in this for New Zealanders? "At least one. That is, if we’re going to play around with our constitutional arrangements, we’d be best to do so in the face of a real, grass roots based desire for change, preferably driven by real dysfunctionality rather than the whims of an elite. The process, furthermore, has to be insulated from concurrent dissatisfaction with other problems."
Researchers have just added to the woes of pessimists by finding that they are at greater risk for dementia in later life. Dr Yonas Geda and colleagues looked at the records of 3500 men and women who took a personality test at the Mayo Clinic in 1962 and 1965. By 2004, those who had scored high for pessimism were on average 30 per cent more likely to have developed dementia. Those scoring high on both pessimism and anxiety had a 40 per cent higher risk.
The idea that the happiness of one spouse in a marriage contributes to the happiness of the other has been confirmed by British researchers, but it doesn't work the same among cohabiting couples. Nick Powdthavee of the University of Warwick looked at data for 4,852 married couples from the British Household Panel Survey (1996-2000 and 2002) and found that husbands and wives were more satisfied with their lives when their spouse was happy, even if they did not directly share in the spouse's good fortune. The effect was not nearly so strong for cohabiting couples, who tended to care more about their personal autonomy and less about the happiness of their partner, said Powdthavee.
(The following is from a US article, but the figures are very similar to NZ.) The endlessly quoted statistic that one in two marriages ends in divorce is false. The figure is based on a simple - and flawed - calculation: the annual marriage rate per 1,000 people compared with the annual divorce rate. But researchers say that this is misleading because the people who are divorcing in any given year are not the same as those who are marrying, and that the statistic is virtually useless in understanding divorce rates. In fact, studies find that the divorce rate in the United States has never reached one in every two marriages, and new research suggests that, with rates now declining, it probably never will. The method preferred by social scientists in determining the divorce rate is to calculate how many people who have ever married subsequently divorced. Counted that way, the rate has never exceeded about 41 percent. Although sharply rising rates in the 1970s led some to project that the number would keep increasing, the rate has instead begun to inch downward.
Concern is growing amongst American teachers at the spread of foul language in schools. "Cussing" is not only coarsening the school climate but leads to a decline in language skills, says James V O'Connor, director of the Cuss Control Academy [yes, that's right] in Lake Forest, Illinois.
A 'culture clash' could be looming over human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccine. American drug company Merck wants to convince authorities to require vaccination of girls by the age of 12, and Britain's GlaxoSmithKline plans to push for vaccination as young as 10. It's supposedly in aid of preventing a leading cause of cervical cancer, as sexually transmitted diseases are at epidemic levels. A lot of parents, however, are opposed, some on the grounds it could lead children to engage in sexual activity earlier. [Note: what is the ethical difference between forced vaccination against an STI, and forcing all children to carry condoms?]
Spain is set to pass a law forcing men to "share domestic responsibilities and the care and attention" of children and elderly family members. The amendment has the backing of every Spanish party and will be incorporated into the marriage contract at civil wedding ceremonies. It will be applied in divorce proceedings: men who don't do their share could be given less time with their children.
Pope Benedict XVI began his pontificate yesterday with a centuries-old investiture ceremony in which he urged Christians, Jews and nonbelievers to rediscover spirituality and escape the "deserts" of poverty, hunger and loneliness.
Tail-out: Some 80 per cent of people in Britain don't know who the Archbishop of Canterbury is, according to a poll commissioned by The Times. Almost one in twenty thought that Pope John Paul ll was in fact the senior Anglican leader.
