Topic: New Zealand

Featured

The top 11 promposals in 2013

It's prom season. What's your prom proposal/promposal going to be?What? Wait wait wait, hold on. You're telling me you didn't write an original song, choreograph a routine for it, and present it flash mob-style to your dream high school prom date? Well, listen up rookie, you've got a lot to learn. Promposals these days are elaborately produced mating rituals — think of Planet Earth's Birds of Paradise and mash it up with your favorite episode of Glee. Then upload it to YouTube because this isn't about your exuberant manifestation of true love, it's about that special someone. Don't they deserve Internet fame? Sometimes done well enough to gain national attention – I'm looking at you Kate Upton fan – sometimes too cringeworthy to view, here are 11 promposals you need to consider before planning your own.

All Content

McDonalds has served its last halal McChicken sandwich in US

McDonalds has served halal food, which is in accordance with Muslim dietary laws, at two Michigan restaurants for 12 years. But it's stopping the service after a lawsuit alleging the food was not halal. One problem: Not everyone agrees what halal is.
Taylor Swift says she'll still connect with fans on her stadium tour

Taylor Swift says she still has no trouble feeling close with her fans even when she's performing in arenas. Taylor Swift recently guest-starred on the Fox sitcom 'New Girl' and says she only participates in film or TV projects that really impress her.
How loony is the Google Loon project?

Google Loon is a project to bring the Internet to forgotten corners of the globe using balloons. Will it fly?
Pavlof Volcano ash cloud shows Alaska's threat to air travel (+video)

Ash billowing from Pavlof Volcano is not high enough to affect international air travel, but Pavlof is just one of a string of active Alaska volcanoes that sits beneath the flight corridor between the US and Asia.
Change Agent US Navy ship to sail the Pacific on a humanitarian mission

The US Navy has been sending its vessels on humanitarian missions since 2006, when it sent the hospital ship USNS Mercy to the Philippines, Indonesia, and other Asian countries.
Modern Parenthood The girls are all right: Girls not as vulnerable to sexting as media says

Sexting is a largely white, heterosexual, and female phenomena. That is, according to media accounts. The real story, says one researcher, is far more diverse.
William Roache, 'Coronation Street' actor, charged over rape claims

William Roache was arrested at his home earlier Wednesday for the offenses, which allegedly took place in Haslingden, a town north of Manchester, between April and July of 1967.
Modern Parenthood Banned baby names: New Zealand struggles with what's in a name - as do we

Banned baby names were announced in New Zealand today: among them 'V8' and "Number 16 bus shelter." Oh, and there will be no 'Justice' there, either, as our mom who named four kids talks about the struggle to be unique but not cruel.
Culture Cafe Monkees announce tour will cross the US this summer (+video)

Monkees announce tour: The Monkees reunion tour will kick off July 15 and could expand into an international tour, according to band member Micky Dolenz. Tickets for the Monkees summer tour will go on sale May 3.
The top 11 promposals in 2013

It's prom season. What's your prom proposal/promposal going to be?What? Wait wait wait, hold on. You're telling me you didn't write an original song, choreograph a routine for it, and present it flash mob-style to your dream high school prom date? Well, listen up rookie, you've got a lot to learn. Promposals these days are elaborately produced mating rituals — think of Planet Earth's Birds of Paradise and mash it up with your favorite episode of Glee. Then upload it to YouTube because this isn't about your exuberant manifestation of true love, it's about that special someone. Don't they deserve Internet fame? Sometimes done well enough to gain national attention – I'm looking at you Kate Upton fan – sometimes too cringeworthy to view, here are 11 promposals you need to consider before planning your own.
Global News Blog New Zealand becomes first country in Asia-Pacific to legalize same-sex marriage

The change in New Zealand's law could pressure neighbors such as Australia to consider revising their laws.
Antarctic ice samples: What do they say about global warming?

Antarctic ice core samples, up to 150,000 years old, may help scientists estimate whether it will take 50 years - or 500 years - for the Ross Ice Shelf to collapse at the current rate of climate change.
12 promising novels for spring 2013

Here are 12 spring 2013 fiction titles that we're looking forward to picking up.
Change Agent Cities try a new strategy with immigrants: embrace them

Through its Cities of Migration project, the Maytree Foundation hopes to provide not just inspiration but a set of tools that any city government can use to build a strong, diverse community.
Difference Maker Jack Reece helps a Noah's Ark of animals in India

From elephants to buffaloes, dogs to donkeys, Help in Suffering (HIS), a nonprofit animal welfare group in Jaipur, India, treats animals large and small at low or no cost.
Downton Abbey: Who's leaving and who's coming?

Downton Abbey will say goodbye to housemaid Sarah O'Brien. But Downton Abbey will welcome New Zealand-born soprano Te Kanawa. Shirley MacLaine will be back to Downton Abbey too.
Humans kill nearly 100 million sharks each year, say conservationists

Shark populations have declined rapidly, driven largely by demand for shark fins, a delicacy in many Asian countries.
Energy Voices Oil, gas salaries rise amid slumping economy

Oil and gas wages and benefits saw an overall increase in 2012, according to a recent study. Base salaries across the entire oil and gas industry rose by 8.5 percent in 2012, Alic writes.
Africa Monitor Sugar Man: Did the Oscar-winning documentary mislead viewers?

The film tells the story of an unknown American musician who struck it big in apartheid South Africa – but critics says it omitted crucial facts about the life of Sixto Rodriguez.
Federal Reserve uncertainties drive down Asian markets

Transcripts from the Federal Reserve's January meeting were made public Wednesday. These documents showed growing doubts about the longevity of the U.S. central bank's bond buying program, which has kept interest rates at record lows.
Change Agent Caliber Collection fashions jewelry to take guns off the streets

Jessica Mindich designs jewelry made from guns confiscated by the Newark, N.J. police. In turn she donates money to back to the police department to get more guns off the street.
Lucy Lawless fined $547 for trespassing on Arctic oil drilling ship

Lucy Lawless and seven other Greenpeace activists were each ordered to pay US$547 in costs to a port company and complete 120 hours of community service. Lucy Lawless, called the relatively light sentence a 'great victory.'
Pacific earthquake hits Solomon Islands: Tsunami warning issued (+video)

Pacific earthquake, centered near the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, prompted a tsunami warning for other South Pacific islands and a tsunami watch in Fuji and Australia.
Richard III's remains identified, but was he really Shakespeare's villain? (+video)

Though Richard's final resting place has been subject of long debate among historians, scientists announced today the skeleton found in the English city of Leicester is that of the 15th-century king.
Chapter & Verse Just what the doctor ordered: Books will be prescribed as medicine in the UK

Under the Books on Prescription program, doctors can prescribe books to patients with mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and panic attacks.