Warren Recovers At Home - Auckland Regional Council chairperson, Phil Warren was discharged from North Shore Hospital yesterday after suffering a mild heart attack last month. He is now recuperating at home.

Strikers Settle With F&P - Fisher and Paykel strikers have settled with their employers on a new pay deal offer on a 3.25 percent rise over a one year contract. The company, which has a solid reputation of being fair to its workers, faced one of the largest pickets after pay contract negotiations broke down last week. Over 1500 workers walked out of F&P’s whiteware factory in East Tamaki to complete a 24 hour strike.

Police Hunt Potential Abductor - A man who tried to abduct a 40 year old woman on Auckland’s North Shore is being hunted by police. The woman was walking along College Rd in Northcote when a man driving a red hatchback pulled up along side her and tried to force her into the car.

National Picks Sick candidate - The National Party has picked controversial Avondale principal Phil Raffills as its candidate against Labour’s Phil Goff in the Roskill electorate. Mr Raffills is suffering leukemia and is currently on leave from his school duties.

Deadly Epidemic Continues to Rage - The Meningitis epidemic in Auckland continues with nine babies and toddlers admitted to hospital with the deadly disease since the weekend. Awareness campaigns are underway highlighting the need for parents and people in general to be on guard against the disease. Auckland Healthcare’s Chris Bullen says meningitis is an aggressive disease which strikes rapidly. Signs to watch are irritability, unusual crying in babies, being off their food and excessive drowsiness. A fever and rash is most often present and in older children and adults symptoms include high fever, severe headache, drowsiness or confusion, joint aches, a stiff neck and a rash.

Crims Get The Message - Known criminals on Auckland’s North Shore are being visited by a special proactive police team. Around 50 people with a history of burglary and other dishonesty crimes have so far been visited by the area’s four week old crime control unit. Police say they are not being heavy handed but want people to know they are watching. Around 30 people had been changed with various offences since the team began is door-knocking and around $250,000 of property and drugs were recovered over one week.

Papakura Residents Block Developers - More than 100 residents of Papakura’s posh Hingaia area met likely suburban developers in an attempt to halt Auckland’s greater urban sprawl. Members of the Papakura Rural Protection Association said the Hingaia peninsula should be protected from being made into a high density housing suburb. The area is earmarked for rapid population growth. The developers have agreed to hold more meetings with the residents.

Masked Man Wanted - Police are hunting a masked man who held up the Pakuranga TAB in Manukau City yesterday. TAB staff were robbed of an unknown amount shortly after locking up at around 7pm.

© 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>>