Top U.S. law enforcement official Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez engineered a Pearl Harbor Day for eight Republican appointed federal prosecutors. From one end of the country to the other, previously well regarded prosecutors were summarily fired (allowed to resign) on December 7, 2006. Chief of

The basic rules of good journalism are fairly simple: tell the story right, tell it well and, in the words of the late New Yorker editor, Harold Ross, 'if you can't be funny, be interesting.'

The NZ Herald reports on the last minute lobbying regarding the Borrows amendment on the Section 59 bill. Chester accurately makes the point that the debate shouldn't be about whether smacking worked, but about whether or not parents who smack should be criminally liable.

The Maori Party MPs will be supporting Sue Bradford's bill to repeal Section 59 of the crimes act as it stands.

Air New Zealand and MTV today announced the world's first MTV Mile High Gig en route to the Australian Video Music Awards. The MTV Mile High Gig from Auckland to Sydney departs on Saturday 28 April and will see passengers rocking out to live performances in a mid-flight party...

Green Party Sue Bradford welcomed the support from the Maori Party caucus, from NGOs and from Lynne Pillay and released a Law Commission legal opinion on her amended Bill... In the words of Sir Geoffrey - 'We disagree with the assertion that the effect of the draft will be to prohibit time out...

New Zealand is extending its military commitment to Afghanistan for another year. I'm not so worried about this, as the core of that commitment - the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan Province - are building roads rather than shooting at people. I am however very worried about this bit...

There is international interest in a study by a New Zealand economics researcher on what drove the Beatles to success. Dr Greg Clydesdale says the Beatles should be seen as a creative process rather than creative geniuses...

The New Zealand Institute's latest report on exporting ignores the place of NZ workers in manufacturing. The EPMU says if New Zealand is going to have a thriving manufacturing sector then we need to maintain production capability in this country...

The latest stats from eproductwars (worth checking out) show the Wii on top of the PS3 and XBox360...

Pew Research's A Portrait of "Generation Next" looks like this week's must-read. Pew finds that America's current 18-25 generation is more liberal, more tolerant and more Democrat leaning than the one before - but somewhat lacking in terms of personal goals...

An off-duty police officer has been disciplined after stopping a boy who appeared to be tagging a public toilet. It's a sad state of affairs when a law enforcement officer is busted for doing his job...

The Maori Party has announced that it will be supporting the unamended S59 repeal bill – the so-called "anti-smacking" Bill – of Green MP Sue Bradford. The announcement was made moments ago by Maori Party Co-Leader Dr Peter Sharples...

A panel of experts convened by Rolling Stone agree that the war in Iraq is lost. The only question now is: How bad will the coming explosion be?

They scale chimneys, they sail the seven seas – they're green and mean, and there's not much the campaigners of Greenpeace won't risk to promote the cause. Geoff Taylor reports in teh Waikato Times after Huntly...