15 JULY 2009 - A new web-based management tool to help businesses take the first steps towards understanding and improving their environmental and economic performance was launched today by Commerce Minister Simon Power.

15 JULY 2009 - Family First NZ says that an Op-Ed in the Christchurch Press today by Grant Illingworth QC has highlighted a number of legal concerns shared by Family First about the anti-smacking law.

Maori were not performing in their own language, Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples told attendants at He Waka Eke Noa in Rotorua today.(July 15) Dr Sharples urged the 200 strong crowd to give him ideas on how to improve the

National's Youth Guarantee promises early school leavers free access to polytechnics and trade academies- but it won't keep them there.

Charleston, WV -- Popular, multi-award winning musical group, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver will be the featured artist on this weekend's Mountain Stage program. The highly successful radio program, with host Larry Groce, airs in more than 120 cities throughout the

15 JULY 2009 - The country's leading heart surgeons have formed the National Cardiac Clinical Network to lead much needed reform of New Zealand's cardiac surgical services.

15 JULY 2009 - Labour MPs Steve Chadwick and Grant Robertson have paid tribute to Te Papa chief executive Seddon Bennington, and expressed sorrow at his death and the death of his tramping companion Marcella Jackson.

15 JULY 2009 - National is talking big about agriculture, but it's running up a surrender flag with no new ideas, Opposition agriculture spokesperson Jim Anderton says.

15 JULY 2009 - The Government is to invest an extra $1.5 million into Children's Health Camps each year.

18 July 2009 - The Chief Justice has a constitutional right - in fact, a duty - to speak out on any matter affecting the administration of justice in New Zealand, whether ministers and pressure groups agree with her comments

Wellington, July 18 NZPA - A drug-addicted career burglar who broke into Prime Minister John Key's Auckland home has been jailed.John Clark stole a large amount of jewellery in the 2007 burglary on Mr Key's Remuera mansion but computers and

Wellington, July 18 NZPA - A judge has thrown out charges against a man accused of helping inmates run a large drug ring from the maximum-security wing of Auckland's Paremoremo prison.

Wellington, July 19 NZPA - A four-year court battle over abortion laws in New Zealand, which has cost the public a quarter of a million dollars, returns to the High Court in Wellington tomorrow.

Wellington, July 18 NZPA - A 51-year-old man appeared in court yesterday charged with a 2007 murder in Rotorua.Christopher Allan Heenan, of Rotorua, was accused in Rotorua District Court of murdering Ruakawa Ben Newton, 38.He was remanded on bail to

Wellington, July 18 NZPA - The father of a British man, left with life-threatening injuries after a street attack in Napier suburb, said today he believed the sentence imposed on one of the attackers was appropriate.

Wellington, July 18 NZPA - A 89-year-old Taranaki man has been jailed for 18 months on historical sex charges.

Wellington, July 18 NZPA - A "loving" Hamilton mother who attacked her 12-month-old daughter leaving her with permanent brain injuries has been jailed.

Auckland, July 18 NZPA - A Tokoroa takeaway shop owner, who shot a burglar while trying to wrestle a gun away from him, has had a change of heart about leaving the town.

LABOR MP Bill Shorten is expecting a child with girlfriend Chloe Bryce, even though both are still married to other people.

SWINE flu appears to be easing its grip on Victoria.