Labour Leader Helen Clark today welcomed developments in the World Trade Organisation's quest for a the new director-general.

News reports this morning suggest that an agreement has been reached which would see Labour foreign affairs spokesperson Mike Moore appointed WTO Director-General for three years from September.

"This position is one which Mike is well qualified for, having spent the last 15 years immersed in international trade policy issues.

"His appointment - if confirmed formally later this week - is a tribute to his qualifications for the job and his campaigning skills. At the outset, Mike was candid in saying that he thought he had about a 10 per cent chance. As the months went by, that chance has expanded through to now the strong probability of his appointment," Helen Clark said.

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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>>