CityBeat - Te Waha Nui Online

by Aroha Treacher

The ascent up the escalator and into courtroom one greeted me with colourful tagging on the walls, and a sea of faces waiting in the lobby.

As a Maori myself, it is a sad sight for me to see so many of my people in trouble with the law.

The Auckland District Court is not a welcoming place. Read more

by André Hueber

The devastating bridge collapse in Minneapolis has many Aucklanders wondering whether the same thing might happen here.

All vehicles heavier than 4.5 tonnes were banned from driving on the Auckland Harbour Bridge clip-ons in May after fractures were found.

Although Transit warned in 2003 that the bridge’s two clip-ons might have to be replaced in less than 20 years Read more

by Michel Sam Mathew

Islamophobia may be the topic de jour, but AUT’s Muslim Students Association (AUTMSA) aims to look beyond the prejudice.

At the annual Islam Awareness Week, which was held at AUT last week, the association members did just that.

More than 25 members of the AUTMSA held a string of events such as movie nights Read more

by Carmen Stella

You often see them touting for business in shopping malls, or pleading for your cash on television.

And how do we respond? Most of us give them a wide birth or switch the channel.

World Vision, Oxfam, Save The Children, UNICEF - the list of humanitarian organisations is endless, but so is the suffering, and I don’t think it should be ignored.

Every day there are entire communities that cannot escape pain and suffering Read more

by Niko Kloeten

It’s one of those questions no one wants to have to answer: what went wrong?

After losing the first two games of the Oceania Olympic qualifying series to the Australian Boomers, the Tall Blacks have to ask themselves exactly that.

While the first game was relatively close, the second game was a blowout, with the Boomers winning 93-67.

How did the gap between our teams Read more

by Aroha Treacher

To the uninitiated, the Fix Auckland campaign might be something of a mystery.

In a nutshell, the Fix Auckland campaign wants to abolish Auckland’s seven local authorities and regional councils and replace them with a single One Auckland Council.

The campaign calls for public feedback on abolishing the eight councils and establishing One Auckland Council Read more

by Vaughan Lovell

And so this transsexual was asking me repeatedly, and somewhat forcefully, for my phone number the other night.

I feel compelled to share with you a rather amusing evening when I ventured out on the town and into a gay bar with some mates.

How did we end up at this gay bar, with transsexuals requesting dalliances and the like? A quick montage of preceding events should suffice. Read more

by Angela Norton

Like the idea of an online directory where you can type in the name of any person in the world and get a profile of them?

What if people could search for your name and find out everything about you, without you knowing it?

This may not be far from reality. Read more

by Jane Sissons

With three long years of struggling through university and a $12,000 student loan to pay off, all that keeps me going is the thought of jet-setting around the world.

It excites me to think of one day leaving this New Zealand lifestyle.

Freeing myself from the ties of everyday life and going to the places I have only ever dreamed of, such as Europe and America. Read more

by Eloise Gibson

New Zealanders would pay more to dump rubbish to take pressure off landfills, shows a new survey.

The Green Party has a bill before Parliament that would put a $25 per tonne levy on waste taken to a landfill.

The aim is to take pressure off landfills by encouraging people to recycle or re-use waste. Read more