The first New Zealand national merchant navy day was celebrated by a service held at the Wellington National War Memorial, reports MICHELLE COOPER.

Chilton St James School students know how to count to 38,600 – that’s how many aluminium drink can tabs they have, reports ANITA DE MUTH.

NewsWire has carried detailed coverage of the events surrounding revelations that the Whitireia Independent Students’ Association’s financial affairs got into a mess last year.

Turn to this page to get links to our stories:

# Auditor: student body books ‘a big mess’.
# Polytech says it’s there to help students.
# Problems with NZ student groups common.
# Onus on association to be transparent.
# Whitireia head yet to see student accounts.
# We want our money back, say aggrieved students.
# Student body mess a ‘tragedy’ for Whitireia.
# No milk, no sugar…no hope.
# Student association inquiry may take months.
# Acting president not giving up on crippled association.
# Student exec member felt ‘out of the loop’.

Patty Kilpatrick thought finding a birthday present for husband John’s 50th would be hard – he wanted a kiwi, reports KATE MELZER.

Four city buses have no black smoke coming out their back ends, all because of a new kind of fuel developed in the Hutt, reports KATE MELZER.

‘His parking needs some work,’ the fireman said to JOSIE GLASSON after her neighbourhood peace was broken by a crash.

Porirua Harbour was once a major source of seafood. Now it’s dying, reports CATHERINE McGREGOR.

Dai Henwood is everywhere these days. After a recent live show in Wellington, he chats with KATE MELZER on acting up.

Running a community pharmacy served as his training ground, says Upper Hutt’s plain-talking mayor, Wayne Guppy. TORY REGAN penned this portrait.

Just one vote separated Amanda Sattler from three other artists when she won the people’s choice award at Waikanae’s Mahara Gallery. TANYA WOOD reports.

A Wellington Jewish community leader says some cartoons of John Key with a big nose are offensive, reports GREG FORD.

Copper cladding roof goes on new international terminal, which is due to open in September, report SAM GUZZO and OWEN WINTER.

Wellington’s boy racers have caught on to strategies being used by police in their attempts to shut down the local drag racing circuit, reports SARAH CULLEN.

Wellington has its own brand of “underbelly”. TASHA BLACK reveals our local version doesn’t live up to a UK TV doco view that it’s the “world’s best”.

Some great photographs were entered in this year’s Canon Photo Award for best student photographer at Whitireia Journalism School.

Apollo space launches, famous funerals and a pen from a notorious president rate highly when radio man Terry Brown reflects on his life as a journalist. By LIZ PROCTOR.

Victoria University leadership exponent Kabini Sanga says new leaders of the Pacific are already emerging. JANICE IKIUA talks to a father of Pacific leadership.

KARA LOK finds cooking makes the world go round for Shaun Clouston, the man behind the award-winning menu at Wellington restaurant Logan Brown.

He’s not saving kakapo or kiwi but it’s work he says is just as important. And visitors to his Wellington native plant haven appreciate the results, Tom Petrie tells SIMON BUNNY.

New Zealanders respond well to the teachings of the country’s only grandmaster calligrapher. TASHA BLACK talks to Akiko Crowther about creating the perfect line.

Two Wellingtonians explore their Japanese connections and reflect on travels in a country they love, in conversation with JESS JONES.

Your modern teen hopes like heck he can look cool even when driving his gran’s small car. Is this remotely possible in a Sirion or a Getz or will the iCar rule the roost, asks BEN STRANG.

How a teetotal music fiend and not-for-profit entrepreneur from Wellington creates events that inspire the loyalty of a whole ’scene’. By CHRIS ARMSTRONG.

TORY REGAN talks to a young musician about the ‘listen loud and lose it’ message and how exposure to high-volume music has already affected him.

Ian Templeton, an institution in the Parliamentary press gallery, shares some insights with VAUGHAN ELDER.

Wellingtonian Lawrence Allen is instrumental in the sporting ties between New Zealand and the Czech Republic. The Island Bay softballer is interviewed by SIMON BUNNY.

What lies beneath Wrights Hill in the Wellington suburb of Karori is revealed on only a few days of the year. ANZAC Day is one of them. AMIE HICKLAND reports.

As Maori rugby prepares to celebrate 100 years, LEE STACE explores what is being done to grow Maori participation in rugby and what Maori players learn from the experience.

Where have all the readers gone? DANIEL SIMMONS RITCHIE talks to the kings and queens of glossy print.

LEE STACE finds veteran rugby photographer Peter Bush has as many stories to tell as he does pictures to illustrate them.

When Te Papa brings home ancestral remains, it is a long process to ensure they reach the appropriate final resting place. AMANDA KIRBY reports.

PENELOPE SCOTT goes into the pokie dens to talk to those worst affected by the lure of gambling – Maori women.

SARAH HARDIE meets Mandi Lynn, the teacher, consultant, nurse and photographer behind the ‘Boobs in the Berries’ breastfeeding class taught in a tepee in the Akatarawa Valley.

Maori are over-represented among low-paid workers. VAUGHAN ELDER takes a look at Maori views of the minimum wage.

EXPRESSING your opinion these days is easier than ever. SABRINA DANKEL looks at how nearly 20,000 clicks on the web “save” Radio New Zealand.

No big bang as sci-fi comes close to a Best Picture Oscar, writes KYLIE KLEIN-NIXON.

How do you turn around the life of a young man who’s got nowhere to go? KARA LOK found out at Te Rakau, Wellington’s Maori education and drama company.

New Zealand-born Indians have added elements of Christianity from their adoptive country to their traditional funerals, reports BRENDA COTTINGHAM.

There are as many as six million landmines left in Cambodia from the conflicts in the 1970s. LEE STACE meets a NZ woman doing her bit to help.

BEN STRANG puts his case for a smoking ban on Wellington’s streets and in public places like toilets.

Balibo film director Robert Connolly talks to TASHA BLACK about what the New Zealand and Australian governments didn’t want you to know about journalists’ deaths in East Timor.

Cold, hard, scientific proof from KYLIE KLEIN-NIXON that My Chemical Romance are the greatest band in the world.

Will Rodney Hide make the capital a Super City too? Perhaps. But local councils will certainly have to do things differently.

The Government is taking a new broom to health – and a multiplicity of small, local providers appears to conflict with its solutions. NewsWire explores smaller community services with an uncertain future.

The controversial national standards for primary schools will be introduced on the first day of school next year. Our IN DEPTH team looks at why teachers and education academics are resisting.

When he initially turned down going to Copenhagen, John Key forgot NZ has senior responsibilities to Pacific neighbours. Our IN DEPTH team investigates.

Our IN DEPTH team finds the Foreshore and Seabed Act repeal may put an end to National’s wedded bliss with electors.

LIZ PROCTOR found it relatively easy to see beyond a media blackout the passion OPC staff are applying to restore the centre’s reputation.

The Royal Air Force have closed down its UFO hot line. KYLIE KLEIN-NIXON – who is susceptible to mysterious lights in the sky – thinks it’s the end of an era.

Spreading the good word, atheist style, KYLIE KLEIN NIXON examines why she chooses not to believe.

A news series of billboards aims the safety message in the wrong direction, says KYLIE KLEIN-NIXON It’s time to put pressure on the ones who need to change.

Technology isn’t really keeping up with the imagination, writes KYLIE KLEIN NIXON. Where are the robot buddies Science Fiction promised us?

The protection group looking after Te Raekaihau Pt wants this recognised in coastal rehab plan, reports PENELOPE SCOTT.

Woven-tales of Ink, Silver and Silk is an exhibition showcasing the work of Minu, Mairi, Sarah Dalley, Sophie Lewis-Smith, reports JONATHAN TRINGHAM.

What happens on Sunday evenings at Presbyterian St John’s in Wellington is unconventional, writes SABRINA DANKEL.

In Wellington to open a career retrospective exhibition, leading US graphic designer Jason Munn talks to CATHERINE McGREGOR.

Stephen Harris talks to SARAH HARDIE about uncovering the story of his great-uncle’s World War II experiences.

‘Wonderfully evocative’ were the words Prince Edward used to describe Whitireia Performing Arts Centre. Video: CARL SUURMOND. Story: JESS JONES.

The Waikanae Rugby Club has been around for a while, but only in recent times has it become a force in the Horowhenua Kapiti competion. LEE STACE reports.

Wellington City Council wants more input into plan that will guide Capital for next three decades, reports TASHA BLACK.

After strong start, Pakistan find themselves in trouble

‘We told you so!’ BONNIE TAI explains why it’s your bad to put off that trip to the dentist.

My Year Without Sex is not, in fact, about the sex, Australian film director Sarah Watt reveals in an interview with MELISSA McDONALD.

Forbidden love, fangs and frantic fans – the Twilight saga has it all. NewsWire’s BONNIE TAI offers her opinion on the growing trend.

Being bullied is not a life sentence, says TORY REGAN. Children need to know bullying will end, and be proud that they are different.

But converting to Islam has been a positive experience for five young Kiwis, who tell their stories to TASHA BLACK.

Isaac Mao, China’s first blogger, visited Whitireia journalism students to talk blogs, the great firewall and censorship 2.0.

The NEWSWIRE TEAM took video, photos and interviewed Isaac about the concept of “sharism”.

But it’s no place for a businesswoman. Dunedin CEO Brigit Blair gives TASHA BLACK her perspective on trading Korea style.

Marie Grant and Joan O’Dea fear they are about to either lose their homes or find themselves living next to a motorway. LEE STACE finds out about the downside of the Kapiti Coast expressway options.

Director Warwick Thornton visits Wellington to promote his first feature length film, Samson and Delilah. He speaks to KYLIE KLEIN-NIXON about community and telling the truth.

SABRINA DANKEL discovers a Whitireia connection to the devastating typhoon and flood in Manila. She talks to Kaye Jujnovich about the plight of her Filipina friends.

NewsWire journalist CARL SUURMOND went to the Chathams with the Prostate Cancer Foundation last weekend. Here’s his report on how the island’s 150+ men were targeted.

Computer giant Bill Gates inspired one young newcomer to NZ to change his name to Bill, reports SABRINA DANKEL. She writes here about why some migrants take Western names.

Jamie Selkirk’s pet project is a multi-million dollar revamp for the Capitol. He wants to have it open by next September, reports DANIEL SIMMONS RITCHIE.

FANS of award winning Cafe Bastille are mourning its closure – but also got a chance to buy some of its art, reports MELISSA McDONALD.

WELLINGTONIANS are more beautiful than their architecture, says a Chilean photographer taking pictures of people on the capital’s buses. CARL SUURMOND took pictures of him.

A New Zealand-wide queer youth development project will close after losing $150,000 in government funding, reports TORY REGAN.

WELLINGTON punk-rock band The Outsiders are set to take on Europe at the end of this month with a four-week tour of Germany, the Netherlands, UK and Ireland, reports REUBEN McDOUGALL.

An under-used Waitangirua carpark is to make way for picnic areas and playgrounds. CATHERINE McGREGOR finds out why community representatives are enthusiastic.

Should public transport users be dogged by the canine companions of fellow travellers on their way to exercise areas? In the capital, many people aren’t in favour. By KARA LOK.