Wellington, Feb 7 : Ineed. co. nz, the website that earned worldwide notoriety after allowing a 19-year-old Northland girl to auction her virginity, gained around 1.5 million dollars in free publicity from the scandal, an advertising industry expert says.

The girl called ‘Unigirl’ apparently sold her virginity for 45,000 dollars to pay her university fees.

"The New Zealand exposure for the site is worth over 100,000 dollars,” the New Zealand Herald quoted Nigel Keats, managing director of advertising agency ODM, as saying.

"Certainly there are a lot of people who hadn''t heard of ineed. co. nz a fortnight ago who have now.

Auckland, Feb 7: The wife of slain Indian-origin taxi driver Hiren Mohini has said that his death is still hard to believe for the family, including her two young daughters.

Speaking about the tragedy for the first time, Falguni Mohini said she had kept the gruesome details of the murder from her two daughters, five-year-old Yashvi and three-year-old Hetvi.

“We told them Papa has gone to stay with God, but that is still hard for them to understand. Both children are so young and innocent so we are taking it slowly, day by day. But we told them his soul is free,” The New Zealand Herald quoted Falguni, as saying.

Vodafone New Zealand is optimistic for the new BlackBerry Bold 9700 to get popular with businesses and high powered executives, just like its predecessor.

The company's 900MHz extended 3G network supports the BlackBerry Bold 9700. Vodafone's 3G Extend network that operates in 97% of the places New Zealanders live work and play, switches over automatically to the 2G network if 3G be unavailable.

New Zealand all-rounder Jesse Ryder has pulled out of the third edition of cash rich and lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL-3) due to groin injury.

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) official reported that Ryder has not yet fully recovered from the injury and he will miss the IPL-3 to get fit for the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup to be held in West Indies in May this year.

After major concerns about the rapidly rising rates of abuse and addiction, access to painkillers which contain codeine might be restricted across New Zealand within a mere months.

As per recommendations shared by the New Zealand Medicines Classification Committee, pack sizes of all medicines which contain the drug should be made smaller, and should only be sold directly by pharmacists.

Medsafe, the country's medicines regulator, has shared that there are currently some 30 pain relievers circulating in the market which contain codeine, including popular brands like Panadeine and Nurofen Plus.

Codeine is most commonly used as a base for the illegal manufacturing of "homebake" heroin.

Catholic aid network Caritas Internationalis has emerged as a bliss for the Haiti victims, supporting over 50,000 people in an initial response to the earthquake in Haiti.

Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand director Michael Smith says an international team has flown into Haiti to support the work of Caritas members Caritas Haiti and US-based Catholic Relief Services
(CRS).

Over 300 Caritas local staff has indulged in the noble task, to deliver relief supplies to the many survivors in urgent need in Haiti despite the significant difficulties they face.

Caritas is also delivering tents and blankets, and extending medical care through some of Caritas Haiti’s 200+ clinics and hospitals in the country.

Over a hundred technology enthusiasts have gathered in Wellington today for an open source software conference that will last for a whole week.

In addition, another 700 delegates will most probably be attending the Linux conference which will look to discuss the future and viability of open source software and how it can be successfully used for businesses and to serve Government ends.

The Wellington conference has been going on for 11 years and is one of the largest in the world to be held on the subject. More often, the conference is hosted by Australia, and this is the second time the New Zealand is getting to play host.

Expectations are that the New Zealand Dollar will continue to trade within its recent range, as investors and traders wait for the latest local consumer price index data that is due for release on Wednesday. The data will suggest whether or not the central bank will lift its benchmark interest rates.

In a recent survey carried out by BusinessWire, 4 out of the seven economists and strategists interviewed said that the currency is very likely to stick to the "familiar territory" this week.

The CPI data is expected to reveal that inflation was more-or-less flat in the three months up-to December end, and this may force the Reserve Bank to start adopting stricter monetary policies than those that were previously indicated.

The new highs that markets across New Zealand had managed to touch took another downfall as all major stocks began the week in negative territory; mainly on the back of a weak performance recorded by the US market on Friday. The downfall in market-values has come in a week when the country is expecting the release of some important data.

The country's benchmark NZSX-50 index closed after losing 10.848 points, or 0.333%, at 3247.104. The index had opened at a loss of 9.11 points. Among the 120 stocks that were traded, there were a total of 36 rises and 39 declines.

Wellington, Jan 19 - Television New Zealand was under fire from critics for being insensitive by showing a film about the late Princess Diana while her son, Prince William, was still in country.

But TV officials defended the broadcast of the film, The Queen, saying they did not check the royals' visit schedule before planning their programmes.

Britain's William left New Zealand Tuesday after a three-day visit, his first solo official overseas tour representing his grandmother Queen Elizabeth II.

In this wake there was controversy about the national television channel's decision to screen the film exploring the death of his mother, Princess Diana, while he was there.

New Zealand infrastructure investor Infratil Ltd has sold its 32.5 percent stake in renewable energy firm Energy Developments. The company claims that the step has been taken into the takeover offer made by Greenspark Power Holding Ltd, and it went unconditional on January 8.

Infratil revealed it will register a profit of around $94 million on the sale, in the financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2010. Since last year march, the company had been successful in raising over $98 million of new capital by divesting over $391 million of non-core assets.

Prices of residential properties have started to bounce back, despite the low sales figures, as has been confirmed by the latest numbers released. Over 2009, house prices across New Zealand recorded a 2.8% rise, which brought them to within the 5% range of the pre-2007 peak.

"This ends a year that showed a dramatic and somewhat unexpected level of turnaround in house values", Quotable Value valuation manager Glenda Whitehead said, while stressing that the increase in the main centers was mostly due to shortage of properties.

Wellington, Jan 11 : An Indian origin New Zealand MP has asked his government to distance itself from Australia or risk losing students from India.

Last year, 8200 students from India came to study here, a 42 per cent increase from the previous year, and the country is New Zealand’s third-largest student market, worth 2.1 billion dollars, behind South Korea and China.

National Party list MP Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi’s warning comes after an attack in Melbourne at the weekend, the second in just a week and the latest in the string of attacks against people of Indian descent in Australia.

“The trouble is, many Indians see New Zealand and Australia as one and the same,” NZ Herald quoted Bakshi, as saying.

Auckland, Jan 9 : Belgian Yanina Wickmayer Saturday won the ABS Classic title to continue her emergence from the shadow of celebrated compatriots Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin.

With that high-profile pair of former number one players - both engaged in comebacks to tennis following retirement - US Open semi-finalist Wickmayer blazed her own trail with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of top seed Flavia Pennetta to earn the Auckland title.

The third-seeded Wickmayer claimed the third title of her career dating back just over eight months.

"This week will stay in my heart and my soul for the rest of my life," she said. "I'm just really happy to bring this trophy home. It's the most important one till now.

Auckland, Jan 5 :  India's Sania Mirza rallied from a set down to beat Swiss teenager Stefanie Voegele 5-7, 6-1, 7-5 in the opening round of ASB Classic tennis here Tuesday. She, however, lost in the doubles opener with new partner Virginia Ruano Pascual.

Sania and Pascual, seeded second, bowed out to Dominika Cibulkova and Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 7-6 (6).

In the singles, an erratic first set saw seven breaks of serve before Voegele closed it in her favour.

Auckland, Jan 5 : Second seed Li Na crashed out Tuesday from the ASB Classic in a shock start to her season, with Estonian Kaia Kanepi producing a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the Chinese.

Three other seeds advanced as number four Italian Francesca Schiavone beat Stephanie Cohen-Aloro of France 6-2, 6-3, fifth-seeded Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano ousted Monica Niculescu of Romania 7-5, 6-4 and sixth-seeded Russian Elena Vesnina defeated Italy's Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-4.

Auckland, Jan 4 : US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer celebrated the overturning of a 2009 ban for missing drug testing dates by earning an opening-day victory to advance Monday at the ASB Classic.

Wickmayer, a wildcard entry after her sanction was reversed only weeks ago, joined Italian top seed Flavia Pennetta in powering through to start the new season.

Third-seed Wickmayer, the world number 16, defeated German Julia Goerges 6-3, 7-5 as play began an hour late due to bad weather.

Top seed Pennetta, who last played the event seven years ago, produced a 6-2, 6-4 success over veteran American Jill Craybas.

Wellington, Dec 31 : New Zealand’s talented opener Jesse Ryder has resumed training, but is still half way to declaring himself fully fit for a come back.

Ryder has been out since September 28 when he tore an abdominal muscle during an innings of 74 off 58 balls for New Zealand against Sri Lanka during the Champions Trophy in South Africa.

The troubled but immensely talented batsman spent 10 minutes in the nets doing some light fielding drills before leaving the two-hour practice halfway for a physiotherapist appointment.

Wellington, Dec 28 - More than 120 pilot whales died in mass strandings at two New Zealand beaches, it was reported Monday.

A pod of 105 died after beaching themselves at the eastern tip of remote Farewell Spit, at the top of the South Island, Saturday, the Southland Times newspaper reported, quoting a Department of Conservation (DOC) official.

Twenty-one other pilot whales died and 42 were successfully refloated after stranding at Colville Bay, on the North Island's Coromandel Peninsula, Sunday.

The economy of New Zealand reported a growth rate of just 0.2 percent in the three months to September, reporting a very sluggish growth rate according to official data released today by Statistics New Zealand. The GDP growth for the quarter is less than the forecasts of 0.3 per cent and 0.4 per cent by the leading economists and the central bank.