Foreign Minister Don McKinnon leaves New Zealand tonight to travel to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and to the Caribbean.

While in New York Mr McKinnon will deliver New Zealand's statement to the General Assembly (Wednesday) and will deliver New Zealand's statement to the United Nations Special Session on Small States (Tuesday).

Mr McKinnon will also attend the meeting of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action group (Thursday/Friday), of which he is Vice Chair. At this meeting CMAG will discuss its report to Commonwealth Heads of Government.

Throughout the week Mr McKinnon will hold bilateral meetings with a number of Foreign Ministers and Leaders and on Monday will attend a meeting for Asia-Pacific Foreign Ministers hosted by The Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright.

Following New York, Mr McKinnon heads to the Caribbean where he will meet with Leaders and Senior Ministers in Belize, Grenada, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Antigua and Barbuda.

Mr McKinnon returns to New Zealand on 11 October.

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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>>