TEAR Fund New Zealand launches emergency tsunami appeal

Aid and relief agency TEAR Fund New Zealand has launched an emergency appeal for victims of the South Asia tsunami.

The death toll from the tsunami, which devastated coastal areas of South Asia, has been estimated at 50,000, with thousands more missing and millions without shelter.

Operating through partner agencies in South Asia, TEAR Fund is providing emergency relief, including food materials, utensils, hygiene kits, water purification tablets and temporary shelter.

TEAR Fund New Zealand Executive Director Stephen Tollestrup says, "This is a humanitarian crisis of an unimaginable scale. With many isolated coastal communities still inaccessible, the death toll will surely rise. Relief is required immediately."

Donations can be made by phoning TEAR Fund on 0800 800 777, or online at http://www.tearfund.org.nz

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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>>