Otago Daily Times: Editorial

It would be naive to believe university cheating is rare.

China has assumed an importance to New Zealand's exporters that even a generation ago would have seemed impossible.

For all its faults, the United States is a leading figure in the so-called ''free world'', the democracies where individual rights are - generally - respected and where fair elections take place.

The New Zealand electoral system, for all of its faults (as seen recently with the arrival and departure of former National Party list MP Aaron Gilmore) has its strengths.

All Budgets are, of course, political as well as financial documents.

Another ''red line'' in the sand has been declared over the on- going civil war in Syria - a two-year conflict in which the estimated number of dead has reached at least 80,000 and the number of refugees 2.5 million.

What a difference a few years of financial crisis can make to the economies of two countries with economic and emotional ties.

If one looks purely at the numbers, the Government's deal with SkyCity Entertainment adds up on several fronts.

The ''Mackenzie agreement'' is good news for the upper Waitaki region and the nation. Usually, farmers and environmental groups - at least publicly - slug it out.

Employment law is often a political plaything, with successive governments deciding on what is best for workers and employers and changing the laws to suit the climate of the day.

Winston Peters surprised many commentators with his return to Parliament in 2011 after three years on the outer circle of power.

Often out of tragedy comes a desire for the calamity not to be repeated and for some good to come from shattering, heart-breaking loss.

There is something almost biblical about the efforts of those behind the Orokonui Ecosanctuary, near Dunedin.

The Guantanamo Bay detention camp has long been a blight on America, and it appears United States President Barack Obama is again trying to close the facility, which houses more than 160 people the US believes are too dangerous to release or take to trial.

It is possible Prime Minister John Key is this week ruing the popularity of National at the last election.

The primary focus on the Queenstown Lakes District Council's reorganisation has naturally been on jobs lost - about 40 full-time equivalent positions - with more than 100 staff directly affected. That is as it should be.