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.

The highlights of my year according to Facebook bear very little resemblance to the reality of what 2012 has been like.

The wedding was a joyful affair, with 300 guests, traditional Serbian dancing and two dozen motorbikes bedecked with red, white and blue streamers.

Paying it forward - a popular expression for extending generosity to others after someone has been generous to you.

Early on the morning of May 12, 8-year-old Michelle O'Brien showed humanity, kindness, and selfless bravery when faced with the unthinkable.

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.

A group of Auckland charities have quietly started lending money at zero interest rates to low-income families in a pilot project which may drive loan sharks out.

Women heading back into the workforce after a long break and worried they have nothing to wear to a job interview are getting a boost of confidence from the team at Dress for Success.

I'd like to see church ministers being proactive in curbing violence before it happens. It is good to see church ministers taking a positive step to curb violence.

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.

Despite 40 years of investment, the under-performing tail is as stubborn as ever and will remain so as long as educational policy is driven by ideologies, writes Jim Traue.

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.

Low-wage workers look likely to get a small pay rise of under 3 per cent next April after the Government removed social factors from the criteria for setting the minimum wage.

Winston Peters has defended the expulsion of NZ First list MP Brendan Horan from the party.

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.

Drug policy has to start from a base of logic, writes Kevin Tamati. "Peter Dunne has reasoned that it's the health consequences that provide a rationale."

Tens of thousands of New Zealanders will be excluded from Australia's new national disability insurance scheme.

Paula Bennett has admitted that Work and Income may have paid airfares for some beneficiaries to take up job offers in Australia.

A campaign has been launched to demand equal pay for women after finding that, on average, men are paid at least 10 per cent more than women. Have your say here.

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.

I lost my virginity in my second year at university. Freak eh? It makes me quite the deviant in today's sexy-and-you-know-it world.

The sex industry is expanding in central Auckland, with approval yesterday for the Chow brothers to build a 15-storey brothel and hotel building.

Groups opposed to a proposed high-rise brothel in central Auckland say the decision to grant resource consent is "disappointing but not surprising''.