A tragic concession - The Bissett family has publicly accepted the death of their daughters Carolyn and Lauren in the Kennedy plane crash off the Massachusetts coast. Carolyn Bissett was the wife of John F Kennedy Jnr who was flying the plane and is also missing presumed dead. A spokesperson for the family says it hopes to honour them in death in the simple manner which they chose to live their lives. There is no word yet from the Kennedy family.

Widow Speaks Out - The widow of the pilot killed in last year’s Stewart Island plane crash said there should be new laws introducing corporate manslaughter into legislation. Five people were killed in the plane crash. Yesterday, Invercargill coroner Trevor Savage criticised Southern Air for not having a policy for fuel monitoring in its planes.

Health Minister Not Informed - The Health Minister, Wyatt Creech, says the decision by National Women’s Hospital to introduce luxury maternity facilities was made without consulting him. Mr Creech says he has sought advice from the Ministry of Health and the Health Funding Authority over the issue. He says women should expect the same high level of care regardless of where in the public system they receive it. Mr Creech wants to know if there will be any impact on the provision of free quality clinical care.

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>