Obama offers "rough sketch" of foreign policy for second term; 100th Tibetan monk self-immolates to protest Chinese rule over Tibet; Muslim insurgents killed during raid on Thai military base; Mexican president presents crime prevention plan; NATO air strike kills civilians in Afghanistan; and more
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DCD scandal must have consequences for Fonterra
The serious and repeated errors made by Fonterra over DCD should mean an end to the cosy little concessions all New Zealanders make to the dairy giant
Read MoreGee, I wish we had one of them doomsday machines
Is it OK to threaten to do a really bad thing if it means that you don't actually have to do it, even if you have to really be prepared to do it so as to make the threat work?
Read More"Wogistan" - Richard Prosser crosses the line
Robust free speech must be strenuously protected, but a written rant by a New Zealand First MP goes beyond defensible lazy thinking to racist insult, and must be condemned
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Tuesday February 12
Pope's resignation surprises even his closest aides; Japan will donate patrol boats to Philippines to monitor China's prescence in disputed waters; South Korea working on unmanned attack helicopters; 36 killed in stampede at Indian religious festival; EU finance ministers meet; and more
Read MoreWhere's Steven?
The launch tonight aboard the Rainbow Warrior of Greenpeace NZ’s clean economy report recalls the time New Zealand turned away from nuclear energy. Now, as then, we’re at an historical crossroads. But where is the Economic Development Minister?
Read MoreInflation control first, or The Daddy Bear Guide to Monetary Policy
Imagining Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler as a popular children's book character. Will he learn the lesson of 'what is smart and what is not'?
Read MoreHow to keep Waitangi Day on the straight & narrow
Waitangi Day events played out more peacefully than expected, but the risk of division remains if we don't pay attention to public opinion
Read MoreThe buzz on drones is just beginning...hopefully
It's taken a few years, but finally Obama's fetish for drones has been outed. It is critical that what follows is an open and transparent debate over the place of these tools of extra-judicial killing, particulary because it seems everyone's getting them.
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Friday February 8
Iran's Ayatollah rejected nuclear talks with US; Russian jets breach Japanese airspace; Chinese crackdown on self-immolations in ethnic Tibetan regions; Mercosur and Canada work towards free trade agreement; and more
Read MoreWorld News Brief, Thursday February 7
Leaked memo makes case for drone strikes on US citizens; Japanese PM condemns China for locking radar on Japanese ship; South Korea pushes to deploy spy satellites to watch North Korea; Tunisian opposition leader shot dead; plagiarism scandal threatens Angela Merkel's re-election campaign; and more
Read MoreFloating the idea of a four year term
Revisiting a discussion about the length of parliamentary terms
Read MoreWhy a little flag waving wouldn't hurt us, Mr Key
John Key's Waitangi Day speech defended February 6 as our national day, acknowledged our willingness to look back and pointed out that we're not a nation of flag wavers. But why not and why shouldn't we be?
Read MoreTime to get serious about parliament's unserious side?
While school children come to watch MPs goofing around in parliament, the real business of governing takes place outside the debating chamber
Read MoreHow political parties get stuck in opposition
Here's a radical idea for politicians hoping to make an impact: tell the truth instead of offering false hope, like France's Manuel Valls.
Read MoreNew pundits
Four new voices join the Pundit lineup
Read MoreChuck Hagel and his Republican mates
The Republican attack on Obama's pick for Secretary of Defence is a particularly blatant example of why the outcome of the 2012 US election was so important for the world. Second term Obama will not be perfect, but the alternative would have been catastrophic.
Read MoreDigital TV's jungle of bungles needs sorting
New Zealand’s switch to digital TV is running smoothly on the home-front – but TV broadcasters are having a rough ride through a jungle of bungles by state agencies.
Read MoreLast words on the Cat Flap
Gwynn Compton's open letter to Gareth Morgan, PR lessons to be learned from failing "quite comprehensively", and a nice response from Tom Cox
Read MoreFrom Dennis Connor to Dotcom: Paul Holmes remembered
When I heard my friend Paul Holmes had died, I needed to write. This is what came out
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