Newstalk ZB Headlines - 9am

Memorial For Bissetts - The families of Carolyn and Lauren Bissett are planning a memorial service for the two sisters in their hometown of Greenwich Connecticut on Sunday morning. The announcement from the family follows the discovery of their bodies this morning off the Massachusetts coast. The body of John F Kennedy Jnr had been found earlier in the cabin of the aircraft. The bodies of Carolyn and Lauren Bissett were found nearby. The Kennedy family has yet to make an announcement of funeral plans for John F Kennedy Jnr. The three were killed when the plane they were in crashed into the sea on Saturday.

NZ First Block Vote Liqour - In an unusual move on a conscience issue, New Zealand First will block vote against the Liquor Amendment Bill. That means nine votes already in the bag against moves such as lowering the drinking age to 18. New Zealand First says there are too many areas of concern for its caucus to start freeing up liquor laws.

Disabled Man Left Unattended - A tetraplegia man who was left at Waikeria Prison without access to a toilet or shower should never have been there according to his friends. Daniel Clark was sentenced to 21 days jail on Friday for cultivation of cannabis and was put in to Waikeria Prison. A friend, and Green Party candidate, says Clark ended up defecating in his wheelchair because he couldn’t get to a toilet or have a shower. His friend says considering Clark is wheelchair bound, special treatment should have been at hand for him. Clark has since been transferred to Auckland’s Mt Eden Prison.

Labour and Alliance at Tax Odds - Labour is at odds with the Alliance’s tax revelations. Alliance leader Jim Anderton has hinted that his party would look at raising extra revenue by increasing such areas as estate duties and capital gains tax. But Labour’s finance spokesperson Dr Michael Cullen says the sole tax increase under a Labour lead government would raise the rate on personal tax on income over $60,000 to 39 cents in the dollar.

© Scoop Media

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>>