Westcoasters Asked To Rethink Lifestyles - A plea for die-hard West Coasters to o change their way of thinking and their way of life. It comes from Forest and Bird Society and challenges the recent Government approval for Timberlands to log beech trees on the coast. It says even helicopters pulling out just one tree per hectare will cause tremendous damage to the forest. West Coasters say they need the jobs that the forestry will provide. But Forest and Bird says the Coasters must turn to tourism.

Wishart Lodges Complaint To Police Headquarters - A long term observer in the Winebox inquiry has lodged a formal complaint of fraud with the police over the Magnum Transaction. Journalist Ian Wishart says the Government’s inactivity over last week’s High Court ruling, he has filed a request for a criminal investigation with Police National Headquarters. The judgement, he says, clears the for action. There is nothing stopping police fully investigating the transactions. New Zealanders have a right to know; did something really go on and if so should someone be accountable for that, Ian Wishart says. His complaint alleges that parties in the Magnum Transactions breached several sections of the Crimes Act, it also requests that two senior civil servants be investigated for corruption.

Police Investigate Claims of Murder - New Plymouth police are continuing their investigations this morning at the scene where a man says he murdered a woman early on Friday morning. The man who is in custody on unrelated charges told police yesterday that he stabbed a woman on Friday and threw her into a river near New Plymouth. Last night forensic testing showed 13 patches of what could be blood at the spot where he says the stabbing took place. Swabs have been taken to Wellington for further testing. A shoreline search and a door to door investigation has so far been unsuccessful in turning up any further information.

© 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>>