Britain's outgoing High Commissioner Vicki Treadell says she is proud that male leaders are taking the initiative on issues to do with women and girls.

The Government has a remarkable reluctance to collect housing data, writes Peter Lyons. An Orwellian economy is reliant on the absence of truth.

A Labor Cabinet minister says claims of a leadership change are all talk and "no action".

Another week, another disaster. Prime Minister Julia Gillard, again crashing in the polls after a brief respite last week, is now staring at the almost certain defeat of a major reform package.

As an enormous crowd gathered outside Rome's San Giovanni basilica on Saturday, comedian Beppe Grillo had every reason to be jubilant.

I have a real fear that the rivers of grog that wreaked such havoc among indigenous communities are starting to flow once again.

On Saturdays, Hobart's Salamanca Place hosts a market visited by thousands of locals and tourists.

A growing number of Kiwis are misspelling their own names on travel documents, risking being left stranded at airports or sent home by overseas authorities.

The results of the Doha climate change talks leave fresh tears in our world's social fabric.

China may maintain its annual economic growth target at 7.5 per cent next year in a sign the new leadership headed by Xi Jinping won't tolerate a bigger slowdown.

North Korea said it will launch a long-range rocket in mid-December, a provocative move just eight months after a failed attempt violated a United Nations ban.

The Scots, the Catalans and the Basques tend to see themselves as victims, but nobody else does, writes Gwynne Dyer.

There was rioting in the streets and parts of Honiara were burning to the ground in protest at the recent elections.

An abandoned Fiji resort that Bridgecorp poured $106 million into is being revived by the island nation's military rulers.

Council transport chairman cites lack of competition for the high outlays.

My passport is due to be renewed shortly and I'm incensed that I'm not going to be able to reapply for one that will last me 10 years.