President Barack Obama's tearful intervention this week in America's gun control debate had an immediate impact.

With two months until we vote on national symbol, it is important to view proposed new design in action.

Like most long-established Australian retailers in this country, Dick Smith felt like one of ours. How could it have failed?

The modern pre-Christmas frenzy is closely followed by sales where consumers rush to buy more stuff to clutter their lives.

A new year, 2016. Suddenly we are into the second half of the second decade of the 21st century.

In February, it will be five years since the collapse of the deficient Canterbury Television building in Christchurch.

The latest weapons in the police crime fighting arsenal are containers to gather samples from Auckland's wastewater treatment plants.

The law is clear. When it comes to search warrants, there is a line which protects all in society, and in some cases particularly the press.

Eventual ruling could have far-reaching implications for law governing use of the internet, from YouTube to Facebook.

The raising of interest rates by the United States Federal Reserve late last week is the best news in seven years for the world's economy.

Ko's year special by any measure and sign of what's to come but rugby heroes claim standout moment.

Search for New Zealander of Year recalls ethical dilemma of terminally-ill lawyer's legal battle for right to end her own life.

Strange and costly things can happen to an economy when a government decides its wisdom is better than the signals of a market.

The elusive surplus has disappeared again. It is just two months since John Key and Bill English were celebrating the final figure for 2014-15, an unexpected surplus.

The latest report tells us 29 per cent of children lived in poverty in 2014, up from 24 per cent the previous year. About 14 per cent live in material hardship, lacking several of the items most New Zealanders would consider essential.

Getting so many nations, including "developing" nations such as China, to sign on to emissions reductions certainly makes the agreement historic.

Climate change may still seem a distant threat, but a "Super El Nino" summer is already evident.

What more could a national holiday do except reopen old wounds and invite continued debate? We have enough of that around Waitangi Day.

For the past year, the Office of the Ombudsman has been reviewing the Official Information Act.

Judith Collins' return to John Key's Cabinet is a credit to her. It would have been easy for someone of her temperament to have reacted differently to her dismissal.

Gun sales in the US have increased. Requests for access to courses at shooting ranges are up.

Rob Campbell, once one of the sharpest young minds in the trade union movement, has kept a lower profile since his thinking changed radically in the 1980s.

Four years have passed, another Rugby World Cup has been won, and still the "people's wharf", "party central" of 2011, languishes largely forgotten.

Pharmac is possibly the most publicly respected body in this country.

As the Prime Minister said, "It makes no sense to be calling for emissions restrictions on one hand while subsidising emissions on the other."

When Brendon McCullum testified at the trial of Chris Cairns, the defence asked why he had not come forward with his allegations much sooner than he did.

Labour leader Andrew Little has carried out a refreshing reshuffle of his parliamentary line-up.

The origin of some of our most nutritious food does not bear thinking about. Milk, eggs, even some fruit, are nutrients intended for the young of other species.

Admit it, the ballot paper is still sitting on the sideboard while you wonder what to do.