Places at many popular universities will be restricted next year to students who gain top marks at high school.

Dunedin student pub The Garden Tavern, known as Gardies, will close its doors for the final time this weekend after being sold to Otago University this year.

Members of a UK 'Happy Slapping' gang have admitted killing a retired care worker in front of his young granddaughter.

Climbing Everest one minute, circumnavigating the globe the next. It's enough to make any adult feel inadequate.

The parents of US sailor Abby Sunderland have defended the 16-year-old's doomed circumnavigation attempt.

Five teachers disciplined for offences ranging from sex with students to watching porn in a classroom have had their identities protected.

Police are worried by a rise in underage prostitution in downtown Auckland, where girls as young as 12 are selling themselves for sex.

Police say increasing numbers of girls as young as 12 are working as prostitutes in Auckland's city centre.

A family spokesman says searchers have contacted a 16-year-old Southern California girl who was feared lost at sea and she is alive and well.

Auckland rugby bosses have compiled Ten Commandments for schoolboy rugby matches in a bid to stop unruly parents and others from sideline rants.

A university lecturer has embraced Wikipedia as part of her teaching after initially shunning the online encyclopedia.

For years, I watched my mother slowly and progressively kill herself through the bottle. I made the decision then not to drink.