New Zealand has retained its rank as one of the world's most developed countries.

Kiwi donors are sponsoring three African children - in Mt Roskill. The trio came here as refugees in '08 need the sponsorship because the family can't make ends meet.

Life-long street activist Sue Bradford has turned to the academic world in a bid to overcome the "mindless activism" of much of New Zealand's protest movement.

Is poverty for life? A Treasury report suggests not, writes Brian Fallow. Only 24 per cent of those at the bottom decile in 2002 were there seven years later.

In his Dialogue piece last week Professor Warren Brookbanks questioned whether a specific new offence relating to strangulation would deter domestic violence.

The Government is falling short of key targets it set itself for reducing child abuse and rheumatic fever.

Georgia Hageman was in bed at 4.30am when her waters broke and less than four hours later the 15-year-old Aucklander was holding her baby son.

Today, Pita Sharples will carry out the first reading of the new Maori Language Bill 2014 in Parliament.

The former director of Sir Owen Glenn's family violence inquiry has produced her own solution without waiting for the inquiry to finish its work.

He went inside the minds of our most dangerous prisoners, told us how to bring up our kids, and now Nigel Latta turns moral guardian in search of answers to society’s biggest problems.

'Let's go and have a look around," is how my Dad announces a trip to a town whose main draws are a supermarket and an obese pigeon.

The Labour leader apologised for being a man and the lid came off a sizeable can of worms, writes Patricia Greig.

Actress Angelina Jolie will visit the asylum seeker detention centre on Nauru in a move likely to put further international pressure on the Australian Government's harsh policies.

When Lilly McDonald first heard about an online group offering stuff for nothing, she didn't believe it.

We're all just attachment junkies who desperately need love and connection, writes Deborah Hill Cone.

Auckland Mayor Len Brown hailed his first 10-year budget in 2012 as the foundation block to transform Auckland once and for all.

Jake Miller was head prefect of his school with a $40,000 scholarship to study law waiting for him.

Derryn Hinch wants to be able to turn on his mobile phone and see the names of all sex offenders in the neighbourhood.

Jonathan Boston and Simon Chapple, authors of Child Poverty in New Zealand, rightly fume at the nonchalant political response to the finding of serious errors in measured child poverty.

Would-be immigrants with higher-level English language skills may be given higher priority after an international review of New Zealand's migration policy.

Those on paid parental leave will be able to work occasionally on "keeping in touch days" without losing their entitlement under moves to increase the scheme's flexibility.

Power companies are offering some of their best deals door-to-door as competition intensifies for electricity customers.

I don't smack my kids but I don't have a problem with people who smack theirs. If that's what you're into, go for your life, writes Matt Heath.

Dequan Wright, a cocky, charming former high school football player from Richmond, California, was only 14 when he was sentenced to a year in jail.

Pregnant women are being reminded to heed dietary guidelines because not doing so can result in the death of unborn children.

If we emphasise that teenage mothers will do badly in life, they are far more likely to, writes Verity Johnson.

PM John Key has signalled possible loosening of euthanasia laws, saying he would sympathise with "speeding up of the process" of death for a terminally ill patient.

Dr Ellen Nicholson and Jenni Mace detail six ways to keep young people safe through adolescence.