LATEST EVENTS FROM THE AMEX CUP VILLAGE

The American Express New Zealand Cup Village marina staff are looking ahead to some particularly busy weeks. Round Robin 2 of the Louis Vuitton series starts tomorrow and 12 super yachts are due to arrive over the next 3 weeks. On Monday the 53 metres sail yacht Independence is due to arrive. On December 7th the United Yacht Transporter with 14 super yachts on board is also due in New Zealand.

The AMEX Cup Village has hosted a number of radio breakfast celebrities from The Radio Network over recent weeks. This has included Kerry Smith, Alice Worsley, Marcus Lush, Mark Bunting from the Waikato, Mark Perry and Willie de Wit. They have been broadcasting live from their waterfront studio on Waitemata Plaza.

The AMEX Cup Village is certainly the place to be for art lovers. In the Village Pavilion there is the New Zealand Art Embassy, which currently has an exhibition by Lance O'Gorman. Then in the corporate hospitably area the Hawke's Bay is well and truly represented by works by four local artists. These being Jane Gray, and Marie and Lisa Claire from Havelock North and then Robert Shaw from Hastings. Also on display in the corporate area are paintings by Auckland North Shore resident Craig Primrose of America's Cup Regatta boats.

The Trans Tasman Match Racing series is happening down in our area this weekend leaving Princes Wharf at 9/30 both Saturday and Sunday. The National champions Dan Slater and Nathan Handley are both participating as well as the current Australian Flying 18s Grand Prix Champions Emmett Lazich and Euen McNicol.

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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>>