Arlene Paredes

A music teacher has found a way for New Zealand teen Julian McLaren to find an activity that would relax him in a world that usually seemed strange and enable him to sit in harmony with other kids, Kapi-Mana News reports.

A popular and award-winning Auckland restaurant has stopped its operations after failing to meet rent payments of over $60,000, New Zealand Herald reports.

An Australian man who sent money to a woman in the Philippines has found out he was being tricked by a Facebook identity thief, ABS-CBN News reports. Suspect Louella Tan reportedly created a bogus Facebook account named "Jen Matheson" using the photos of Fil-Norwegian commercial model Janka Cederstam.

A lesbian couple who posted an open letter to Facebook saying they were kicked out of a Wellington bar for kissing briefly have decided against taking further actions after media were invited to watch CCTV footage of the incident.

At Auckland District Court Tuesday morning, prosecutor Joshua Shaw Mendoza represented the Crown, which said Russell Mendoza and Tony Campbell went on a "commando exercise'' in January 2010, shooting to death 33 of their neighbour's dogs including puppies.

Rebekah Galbraith, 22, and Jennie Leadbeater, 21, told Dominion Post they were asked to leave the Courtenay Pl bar in Wellington shortly before 3 in the morning on Sunday after they kissed on the lips. The couple was sure their kiss did not last longer than two seconds.

The assets of former public servant Hohepa Morehu-Barlow will now be up for sale with the Queensland State Government after a Brisbane Supreme Court judge has completed the process of approval. Barlow, 36, originally from New Zealand, has lost all his properties to the Public Trustee of Queensland after he was formally charged with fraud in January. He was accused of plundering $16 million from Queensland Health.

In Somebody that I Used to Know, the chart-topping music by Australian artist Gotye, Kimbra’s voice starts meek and low, almost whispering, non-confrontational, and unwilling to prolong a discussion. She slowly builds up the energy by fueling the words “I don’t wanna live that way” to drive to the powerfully emotional “somebody that I used to know” as if finally arriving by uncharacteristically screaming in an argument, releasing all the pent up resentment.

A YouTube video of a Japanese man eating a giant bacon whopper at Burger King has gone viral, and kids should be warned not to try this at home. The video starts with a man receiving his takeaway at Burger King, which is noted to be in Tokyo, Japan.

Hundreds of new teachers in New Zealand are facing challenges in finding teaching opportunities, with some opting to teach overseas, as more teachers hold on to their jobs and few become available.

A 74-year-old woman who figured in a car accident was found trapped down a cliff, and the first words she said were: “How the hell did you find me?” Shirley Loft accidentally put her car into reverse and fell nearly 300m down the steep bank on the Coromandel Peninsula on Thursday, the New Zealand Herald reported.

A former Iraqi soldier has pleaded guilty to murdering his wife at their Wellington home in September 2011. Najeeb Dawood, 52, appeared at the High Court at Wellington Monday and pleaded guilty to the charge of murdering Eman Hurmiz, 41.

New Zealand households have saved in their bank accounts over $100 billion, an amount that is twice the amount of savings eight years ago, but financial advisers are saying depositors should think again, Dominion Post reports.

A former British High Commissioner to New Zealand suffered facial injuries resulting to permanent eye damage after a violent mugging in west London. George Fergusson, 56, was mugged while he was walking through a Hammersmith cemetery on his way to a dinner party on Friday night.

A 40-year-old British woman claimed a toxic bracelet she bought on eBay has ruined her life for two years, Daily Mail reports. Jo Wollacott of Bridport, Dorset said she lost her job and her boyfriend over the effects of a toxic bracelet called the Jequirity bean.

All New Zealanders must benefit from economic growth to improve the lives of Kiwis working long hours for low wages, New Zealand Labour leader David Shearer said on Thursday.

An Aussie start-up allowing users to outsource a wide variety of tasks has been granted $1.5 million in funding, Sydney Morning Herald reports. "Get it done," is the tag line of the start-up firm Airtasker, which advertises odd home chores and work support activities among other errands and things-to-do for a price.

For the first time since Season 11’s semifinals, American Idol let the audience know the total number of votes cast – 53 million. One can only assume that the previous numbers were quite disappointing, and that is why the producers could not even announce them. A week after Jessica Sanchez got saved, host Ryan Seacrest said the contestants all together gathered the highest number of votes with the “Now and Then” performance show.

The Employment Relations Authority has ordered the employer of a woman terminated after a miscarriage to pay $15,000 compensation for the emotional injury she suffered when she was wrongly fired.

A Dutch man who did not have sex until he was 34 is now a 42-year-old man in the business of making babies, literally, and he has so far fathered 82 children around the world, Daily Mail reported.

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has justified adding permeate in its blue-topped milk, saying it is meant to standardise protein levels and not to cut costs to maintain a competitive price as recent news reports have hinted.

Aussie companies are exporting jobs to New Zealand amid high wages across the Tasman, Dominion Post reports. Woolworths, a major supermarket, is shifting 40 contact centre jobs from across the Tasman to Auckland within the week, while Imperial Tobacco has earlier said it will transfer manufacturing headquarters from Sydney to New Zealand.

A California college professor drew flak after her student complained that she showed pornographic material in her class, but the dean justified the educator’s choice of visual aids.

A 13-year-old New Zealand boy had been remanded to a secure Child, Youth and Family centre after police arrested him as a suspect in the killing of a caregiver near the remote settlement of Urenui, north of New Plymouth on Sunday.

A 28-year-old Queensland woman is in critical condition with burns on 90 per cent of her body after a freak accident with methanol on Monday night. In a tragic irony, a drum of methanol exploded when people tried to move the drum away from the barbecue grill as a safety measure.

The New Zealand Embassy was hit when Taliban insurgents on Sunday launched violent attacks on several sites in Kabul, Afghanistan. Insurgents fired grenades and automatic weapons in a series of attacks in the country’s capital, and it has been described by foreign media as one of the most serious in years.

A 13-year-old boy was charged with murder Sunday night after a caregiver was shot to death at her home in rural Taranaki, New Zealand Herald reports.

Wellington is falling behind while the housing market is looking good again after its biggest lift in monthly sales for five years after a bout with the recent global financial crisis.

China is calling on New Zealand to provide a policy environment that will create a fast track for Chinese investment, according to China's fourth-ranked leader, Jia Qinglin, who made the remark in a contribution to the New Zealand Herald.