Tourists say a rogue operator promised them visits to farms, geyser parks and buffet dinners - but instead took them to free events.

New Zealand has been ranked one of the world's best countries to be born in this year. Researchers named New Zealand the seventh most lucky nation in which to start life.

Dame Wendy Pye will turn 70 next year but is still getting up at 4.30am to field international calls, travelling across the world to expand her publishing business and "beating the drum" for children's literacy.

For more than three months he remained an unknown young African whose fatal decision to seek a better life in Europe ended with an 800m drop.

A Christmas story from an associate, who was in a Salvation Army op shop when a family - mum, dad, and three children - stopped by to drop off a new bike.

Fuelled by the highest rate of unemployment in 13 years, the queues snaking along the pavements outside the Auckland City Mission have nothing festive about them.

Editorial: The Nga Tangata Microfinance Trust in South Auckland seems to be providing a less businesslike but no less welcome solution for some of the indebted poor in this country.

Catriona MacLennan writes: "The Government will be making a serious mistake and missing a major opportunity if it disregards one of the key recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group on Solutions to Child Poverty."

Editorial: When the Children's Commissioner set up an "expert advisory group on solutions to child poverty" this year, many New Zealanders will have cheered.

The noticeboards in the public area at the Hobson St headquarters of the Auckland City Mission make grim reading.

Government-backed low-interest loans to undercut "loan sharks" could be on the cards in the wake of a pragmatic final report of an expert group on child poverty.

More than 80,000 sole parents, caring for 133,000 children, would get an extra $10 a week under a proposal to tackle child poverty.

The Government is being urged to act now on child poverty rather than waiting for the economy to improve.

The number of children admitted to hospital with conditions that can be related to poverty has declined, but experts warn about problems with children's health.

Northland has the highest rates of rheumatic fever in the country and last week visiting US expert Dr Stanford Shulman met health professionals to help with solutions.

Social Development Minister Paula Bennett says she left a meeting with hunger striker Sam Kuha with respect for the man and his passion for the problem of child poverty.

Here's a quick quiz. You are a child. Who is most likely to kill you. Your mum? Your dad? Stepdad? Rodney Hide says police have the answer.

The respected policy expert charged with finding solutions to child poverty has challenged men to take responsibility for children's well-being - it's not enough to leave it to the womenfolk.

Newborns and unborn babies in later pregnancy have been dying in South Auckland at a higher rate than the national average for most of the past decade.

A medical leader has hit out at New Zealand's "shameful and intolerable" rate of rheumatic fever, a Third World disease associated with child poverty and overcrowding.

Good policies require good information, not prejudices and ill-informed judgments expressed from the sideline, writes Michael O'Brien.