Grocers Worried - Grocers still have worries over plans to push ahead with compulsory labelling of genetically modified food. The Australian New Zealand Food Standards Council has decided in principle to support labelling of food with a GM component, although the finer points of the scheme have still to be worked out. A Grocery Marketeers Association spokesperson says almost certainly consumers will pay for any extra packaging costs.

Boy Burnt While Sniffing Petrol - A Turangi boy is spending his 13th birthday in hospital fighting for his life, after a petrol sniffing session went horribly wrong. Police say the case should be a lesson to others. The boy is critically ill in Waikato Hospital with burns to 80 percent of his body after he and five friends were sniffing petrol by candle light in a shed behind his Turangi home. The candle ignited the petrol and covered the youngster in burning fuel.

Sydney Oil Spill - An investigation is underway after a major oil spill in Sydney Harbour last night. 10,000 litres of crude oil spilled into the harbour while it was transferring from a tanker to the Shell refinery at Grenwich on Sydney’s lower north shore.

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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>>