Oceania

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuador's embassy in London, gave an upbeat assessment late Thursday to his chances of winning a seat in Australia's Senate, AFP reports.

Sex offender Stewart Murray Wilson will remain behind bars for breaking his parole conditions and contacting a cousin of one of his victims, the Parole Board has ruled.

The company behind the flawed Novopay system has sent a number of schools the wrong emails about yet-to-be-processed actions regarding their payrolls.

A climber suffered head injuries when he fell about 100m from Mt Awful in Mt Aspiring National Park this morning.

Australia's Prime Minister Julia Gillard faces a leadership challenge after rivals called for a ballot to resolve months of slipping polls and internal tensions that put her minority Labour government on course to be swept away at September elections."This is not personal. It's about the party, the future of the country," said senior Labour minister Simon Crean, calling the challenge to break a deadlock between Gillard and chief rival Kevin Rudd, who she deposed in 2010.

Air New Zealand said Friday that one of its pilots fell into a deep sleep while at the controls of an international flight but insisted that safety aboard the aircraft was never compromised, AFP reports.

Australian authorities urged the evacuation of parts of the resource-rich northwest Tuesday as a powerful cyclone whipped up huge seas, while a man died in heavy flooding in the northeast, AFP reports.

A smooth-talking conman who stole about $1.4 million from his 20 mostly vulnerable victims has been handed a five year prison sentence.

Fires are blazing on Waiheke Island and in Canterbury's Selwyn district today, with properties being threatened.

Five people appeared in Masterton District Court this morning in connection with the brutal death of Featherston man Glen Jones.

Australia's record-breaking heatwave has sent temperatures soaring, melting road tar and setting off hundreds of wildfires - as well as searing new colours onto weather maps.

Medical experts in New Zealand are bracing themselves for the arrival of a deadly flu that is sweeping the US which has already killed 20 children.