Former NZ diplomat Warren Searell called Damascus home until the Arab spring made life far too dangerous. This is his story.

In our second debate on the Electoral Commission's recommendations for MMP, Graeme Edgeler and Muriel Newman put the arguments for and against reducing the threshold. Join the debate and leave your comments at the end.

Women who attended single-sex schools are less likely to be victims of New Zealand's growing gender pay gap, a professor claims.

What are the benefits, if any? And is it inevitable? Two views from opposite sides of the argument from Agram chief executive Graeme Peters and university researcher Professor Jack Heinemann.