Of all European countries, you might have thought, France would have taken gay marriage in its stride.

Forcing up tobacco taxes every year is having an effect. It's hitting the price point for many smokers, galvanising their resolve to quit.

The KidsCan charity plans to use money from the child poverty plan announced this week to plug holes in health services.

Beeby Harding and her whanau are trying to raise $5000 for their marae by quitting smoking.

What distinguishes this cartoon is its effort to get humour from a caricature of Maori and Pacific people as fat, greedy, selfish, alcoholic gamblers, writes Toby Manhire.

Twenty people from the small rural settlement of Frasertown near Wairoa have joined a quit-smoking competition.

National will announce a food-in-schools programme early this week to prevent children becoming victims of learning problems.

While the stakes may be small in the immediate case, this is about as big a deal as it gets in terms of our constitution, writes Andrew Geddis.

A shift in attitudes towards drink-driving was the major change seen by retired police superintendent Paula Rose in her 27 years in road policing.

Prime Minister John Key has defended the urgent passing of controversial legislation which restricted who could be paid for caring for disabled family members.

The Pacific community has stamped its mark firmly on New Zealand society. There are 20,000 more Niueans living here than in Niue.

Pastor Kafeba Mundele and his family may be pushed out of their state house because he earns too much money - but his income may be halved in September.

People who look after their highly disabled adult family members are at last in line to be paid by the Government - but only the minimum wage.

A disabled passenger says he was barred from boarding a flight after he missed check-in by three minutes when his electric wheelchair broke down.

Auckland Transport has had to ticket one of its own vehicles after an employee parked illegally in a mobility space.

Dealing with the government is like dealing with no other business because the government can usually muster the numbers to make law, writes Mai Chen.

A South Auckland school has started a foodbank for families who can't feed their children - and hopes today's Budget will help other schools with hungry pupils.

Editorial: The benefits in terms of new business, growth and jobs are readily apparent. The other side of the story is, however, less alluring.

Police need to be able to pursue drivers "otherwise we turn the roads over to the criminals," says New Zealand Police Association vice-president Stuart Mills.

After a riot at Perth's Banksia Hill juvenile detention centre, more than 140 teenage inmates were moved to Hakea high security prison

KiwiRail has accepted responsibility, apologised and admitted "failures" over an accident in which a train hit a woman in a wheelchair at a level crossing in Auckland.

It is for those who appointed her to justify their decision and the process that was followed, writes Rajen Prasad. It is for them to explain their understanding of the contemporary race relations challenges for NZ.

Budgeting services have been given a last-minute funding reprieve which means they are now unlikely to have to lay off staff.