Donghua Liu and David Cunliffe. Photo / NZ Herald
Mr Cunliffe - who said this week he had never met Donghua Liu or advocated on his behalf - told reporters he did not recall writing the letter.
He said that "I have not lied about anything to do with Mr Liu", and he would not resign.
2. Accused killer's identity still a secret
Blessie Gotingco's husband Antonio holds a portrait of his wife. Photo / APNZ
The man accused of murdering Auckland woman Blessie Gotingco will keep his name secret for now.
An order suppressing the man's identity was continued by Justice Timothy Brewer in the High Court at Auckland today.
Part way through the hearing the man was removed by security from the court and taken down to the cells after swearing loudly.
Defence lawyer Peter Winter argued for the suppression order to continue, which Crown prosecutor Aaron Perkins opposed.
3. Lorde's dad springs a surprise
Lorde with her mother Sonja Yelich at the Grammy Awards earlier this year. Photo/AP
Lorde says something special happened when she visited Niagara Falls with her parents yesterday.
The Kiwi pop star tweeted that, after nearly 30 years together, her dad Vic O'Connor proposed to her mum Sonja Yelich with a diamond ring.
And in a follow-up tweet, referring to her famous line in Royals about having never seen a diamond in the flesh, Lorde wrote: "Inevitable response [...] yes i know i have seen a diamond now."
4. Going long distance for first home
Would-be first home buyers are renting in Auckland, but opting to buy investment properties on the city's outskirts or beyond which are more in their price range.
NZ Property Investors Federation executive officer Andrew King said buying a cheaper rental was a growing trend. It made financial sense as people weighed up their current rent compared to what they would be paying on a mortgage for a property.
"It's a good strategy for people to have the lifestyle they want and still get into the property market. The yields around Ponsonby and Mt Eden and places like that are really quite low and it does make sense to rent there and buy a property to rent out, which can sometimes have double the rental yield as the inner-city ones."
5. India slum living for poorest Kiwi kids?
(Left) A 2-year-old looks out of the one bedroom rental she shares with her family in Mangere. Right, children in a Mumbai slum. Photo / APN, Getty Images
The poorest Kiwi children are now no better off than some children in the slums of India, a leading author says.
Professor Jonathan Boston, co-author of Child Poverty in New Zealand, said at the book's launch in Auckland last night that he saw worse poverty in some Kiwi families than he saw when he spent a month late last year in Delhi slums where his wife, Dr Mary Hutchinson, worked as a volunteer doctor for a Christian charity.
"The Indian Government feeds every primary school child lunch every day for 130 million children," he said.
"We saw very few seriously malnourished children in the slums of Delhi.
"India has about half of the world's poorest children, but there are children in New Zealand living in circumstances that are not that much different from those in the slums of Delhi.
"They are in houses that don't have heating, in caravans that don't have running water, and in families that simply don't have enough food of the right kind every day."
- nzherald.co.nz, NZ Herald, APNZ
