Auckland City Council - City Scene

The Minister of Tourism, Lockwood Smith, met a California sealion during his recent tour of Auckland Zoo, with zookeeper Brooke Noonan on hand to perform the introductions.

The Minister presented a cheque for $30,000 from the Tourism Facilities Grants Programme,to help establish an interpretation trail within Sealion and Penguin Shores, which will be developed at Auckland Zoo over the next two years.

It will replicate the New Zealand coastal habitat and will feature native wildlife,including some of the best underwater views of sealions in the world says the zoo's director, Laura Mumaw.

"This grant will make it possible for us to create a comprehensive, interactive trail to educate and stimulate visitors to the zoo."

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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>>