The British Medical Journal reports that the director of the World Health Organization's (WHO's) department of mental health and substance abuse, Benedetto Saraceno, proposed in an e-mail that the European Parkinson's Disease Association accept a $10,000 grant from GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and pass it on to the UN agency. WHO has a policy that it doesn't accept contributions from drug companies.

Forestry Tasmania, a Tasmanian government-owned forestry agency, lost a bid to get a court order preventing an environmental group from organizing a rally against logging operations.

The global PR firm Edelman's six-month-long contract to help build international support for Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a September 2006 military coup, has been revealed as being worth $300,000. The contract is via Thaksin's law firm, Baker Botts.