It was the best of times, it was the worst of times for democracy in Africa yesterday as Nigerians resolutely cast their votes amid shootings by Islamist militants and technical glitches.

I first met Reverend Harold Good eight years ago in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Spare a thought for our Prime Minister. The price of "club" membership is to take New Zealand into a war not of our making, training troops who were once our enemy.

77: Father James Joseph McMenamin served selflessly and paid the ultimate sacrifice as a Catholic chaplain to the Armed Forces in the Great War.

Destiny Church's bid to make its private school part of the state system has failed. The church says the rejection is disappointing as its case was compelling and valid.

New Zealanders need to be more understanding of religion, an expert says, after a Kiwi was jailed yesterday for insulting Buddha in Myanmar.

Forgive me for not being my usual liberal self when I read that a group of local Sikhs are getting over-excited about not being allowed carry ceremonial daggers.

Labour's ethnic communities spokesman Phil Goff is calling for the Government to clarify where and when Sikhs can wear a kirpan.

The HRC has received a complaint of alleged unlawful discrimination on the grounds of religion on the wearing of kirpan at Cricket World Cup venues.

Seven Sikh cricket fans were barred from entering Eden Park to watch India play Zimbabwe in a Cricket World Cup match on Saturday because they were wearing kirpans.

The freedom to pop out for a pizza is the main thing Pope Francis misses two years after being elected the head of the world's 1.2 billion Roman Catholics.

The daughter of Gloriavale leader Neville Cooper, who walked out of the commune after 41 years, says the latest family to leave face a hard road.

Gloriavale Christian Community has responded to accusations they were living in a "false system", by saying that "no one is here against their will".

All Black Keven Mealamu's famous cauliflower ears feature on the giant egg he's painted for the ultimate Easter egg hunt, which starts today.

75: It was late in the day before New Zealand appointed war artists to document the conflict.

A family of 14 have walked out on a West Coast religious commune to start a new life after concluding they had been living in a “false system”.

Somehow the word 'American' makes it not only acceptable but epic, admirable, even glorious and certainly ordained by a Christian God, especially given that Clint Eastwood directed.

New Zealand troops are preparing for a two-year tour in Iraq to help the fight against Islamic State. This is what they are up against.

When I was a young, innocent choirboy, I was acutely aware of the stern rhetoric on the perils of sin, delivered by my local Anglican vicar.

An Anglican cleric who controversially told Jews last month the holocaust "should have taught them a lesson" has been stripped of his title as bishop.

If Anthony Green had his way he wouldn't tell anyone about his religion.

"I am a Muslim. I am labelled as a terrorist. I trust you. Do you trust me? Give me a hug." And with that, Mustafa Mawla waited for someone to hug him.

A New Zealander who advises Pope Francis on combating sexual abuse has criticised the pontiff's support of smacking children.

Women who undergo plastic surgery are wearing a "burqa made of flesh", according to a Vatican document.

Saudi officials deny they blurred out US First Lady Michelle Obama, but her decision not to wear a headscarf, and don blue, not black at the late King's funeral, is controversial.

For the dwindling band who still remember the horrors, it was possibly the last time they would gather to remind the world of their story.