Friday 8 October, 2004

NZ Defence force Officer Caught In Hotel Bomb Blast In Egypt

A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) officer was injured during the explosion at the Taba Hilton Hotel in Egypt this morning. Lieutenant Commander Hugh Aitken and his wife were on leave at the hotel at the time of the explosion and both received minor injuries.

Both Lieutenant Commander Aitken and his wife have been flown by helicopter to North Camp at El Gorah where they will receive medical treatment. Lieutenant Commander Aitken is currently deployed as the Force Liaison Officer with the Mulitnational Force and Observers (MFO) based at North Camp in the north of the Sinai Peninsula. There are 27 NZDF personnel serving in the Sinai as part of the MFO.

The NZDF commitment commenced in 1982 with a detachment of helicopters. Today, the NZDF provides 27 military personnel including training staff, logistic transport personnel and staff officers.

ENDS

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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>>