A transgender woman convicted of indecency and sex attacks on boys was to be deported - but has been given a chance to stay in NZ to complete her transformation.

A bill which will allow a 21-year-old woman to list two women as her mothers on her birth certificate passed in Parliament last night.

Saudi Arabia has introduced a series of new laws which define atheists as terrorists, according to a report from Human Rights Watch.

When media report the method in which somebody ends their own life, it can result in copycat suicide, the Law Commission says.

The Government has introduced into Parliament legislation that will significantly threaten the autonomy and international reputation of our universities, writes Stuart McCutcheon.

Government will introduce a "one-strike" policy for suspected drink-drivers who evade prosecution because medical staff cannot extract a blood sample.

The maximum penalty for possessing a book about growing marijuana will be higher than actually growing it, MPs considering a new child porn bill have heard.

Trout, deer, pigs and other exotic species would have to be culled from the Ureweras under a law change before Parliament, fishers and hunters are warning Government.

Immigration officers will gain police-like powers to enter and search homes without a warrant under law changes designed to stamp out exploitation of migrants.

On a recent trip along the Northwestern Motorway I noticed, in the strip between Pt Chevalier and Te Atatu, strange things sticking out of the ground.

It is an unlikely setting from which to launch a fightback against Egypt's new military rulers.

Child care law changes sought by lobby group after children denied right to family life.

As legalisation of marijuana spreads, Chinese companies have the patents ready to exploit new markets.

Parliament will begin its debate on plain packaging for tobacco early next year, Associate Health Minister Tariana Turia has confirmed.

Wellington lawyer John Edwards will replace Marie Shroff as the New Zealand's third Privacy Commissioner.

More trains and buses will be running in Auckland when new drinking laws begin next week.

Editorial: Regulation appeals to governments because it is the easiest response to a problem. But each affects people's freedom in some way.

Some bars' and restaurants' "happy hour" promotions will be outlawed under alcohol reforms which come into force next month.

It will give citizens the ability to challenge bullying in its modern form, empowering people to change the way they treat themselves and each other, writes Mai Chen.

Labour leader David Cunliffe took the attack to Prime Minister John Key as the Government backed a convention centre deal with SkyCity.

A bill paving the way for SkyCity's $402m convention centre has passed its final reading in Parliament, but Labour says they will not be bound by the 'shonky' deal.

Information about the harm caused by the SkyCity convention centre deal was withheld because it was considered commercially sensitive, official papers show.

With a swing of his powerful arm, a prison guard landed a wicked-looking cane on a dummy wearing the white uniform of convicts in Brunei.

Parliament will urgently pass a law validating the oaths of returning police officers, before any of their actions since returning can be called into question.