Queenstown police are "absolutely satisfied" a young girl seen in the town on New Year's Eve is not missing British girl Madeleine McCann.

Prosecutors are weighing whether to press charges over a royal hoax call that preceded a nurse's apparent suicide, police said.

Here are some of the world's key doomsday destinations and other places marked by fear and fascination.

A British Santa has been suspended from his job after he allegedly told children about the US school massacre and that he was not really Father Christmas.

A review has absolved senior BBC executives of trying to bury an explosive story about one of its best-known children's TV stars, saying management errors were to blame.

The Spencer Family have lived in the same house for 500 years; I've been living in mine for 15, yet they don't seem to have accumulated nearly so much clutter, writes Jill Worrall.

British reviewers were scathing about the big-budget stage show built around the songs of 1990s "Girl Power" pop group the Spice Girls.

Singer Florence Welch halted a gig in Scotland over the weekend to break up a fight between fans.

Spice Girl Mel B has confessed to having had violent punch-ups with her bandmate Mel C.

Kiwi expats are apologising to a London pub after drunken All Blacks fans went on an ugly rampage following last weekend's rugby loss to England.

I was interested to read the story of British soldier Jatinderpal Singh Bhullar, who is a member of the Scots Guard F company.

Tom Mockridge is one of the most influential New Zealanders you've probably never heard of.

A 7-year-old cancer sufferer has been placed in protective care after he was tracked down with his New Zealand mother, who went on the run with him.

For years, the four-storey brick terrace house where Charles Dickens lived with his young family was a dusty and slightly neglected museum. Now it's gone from Bleak House to Great Expectations.

Many women miscarry without a safety net of support, writes Meredith Nash. But why is it taboo to talk about foetal loss in public?