Egypt used to be a place where you never gave a second thought to personal safety, writes Anne Penkith. Egyptians are hospitable, charming and honest - on the whole.

Justice Minister Judith Collins has backtracked on a law change that would have ensured compensation for ill-treatment of prisoners by the state was used to benefit victims rather than being given to the inmates.

Some parents tell their high-achieving children to not even consider university because there was no way they can afford to attend.

While promoting tolerance and anti-discrimination is always a positive move, sports culture has to be - and should always remain - all about performance, not sexual preference.

Members of the Defence Force will march in uniform in the Auckland Pride Parade next month.

Pensioners are holding out in a dwindling minority opposing gay marriage - as 2013 looks possibly to be the year for it to become reality.

The first Sikh guardsman to be given permission to wear a turban instead of a bearskin while on duty outside Buckingham Palace is under pressure not to break tradition.

New Zealand may be in breach of its human rights obligations to significantly disabled people who are being treated as second-class citizens, according to new research.

TV reporter Matty McLean has made a personal plea to Parliament to legalise gay marriage so he can fulfil his father's wish to attend his wedding.

Over 100 journalists have been killed so far this year - the highest number since the International Press Institute (IPI) began keeping count of journalists' deaths in 1997.

As John Key wraps up an important Burma visit, he talks to Herald Political Editor Audrey Young about what he's learned and seen.

A bill to legalise same-sex marriage is likely to be amended to explicitly state that churches would not be forced to marry same-sex couples.

The debate on same-sex marriage has stepped up with a former MP comparing the proposed law change to "apartheid".

What a strange code of moral values United States' spies live by, writes Brian Rudman, "The only people who will be able to make sense of this warped moral barometer is the USA's great enemy, al- Qaeda."

The United States was yesterday re-elected to another three-year term on the UN Human Rights Council.

Speculation is rife about the changing of the guard at the 18th Communist Party Congress and what a new leadership will mean for China and the world.

Prime Minister's use of the word "gay" as a disparaging adjective has undermined their campaign against hate speech directed at gay students.

Justice Minister Judith Collins has backed a woman ordered out of court for breastfeeding, saying she "could not think of anywhere" it would be considered offensive.

Breast-feeding in the public gallery of a courtroom could be a "catalyst" to angry scenes in an already tense environment, Law Society president Jonathan Temm says.