NZ at Noon: Freak accident, Sushi and rates strikes

Fletcher Oxford pictured with his new cat Zoe after his wild cat and inspiration Sushi went bush.

Stories making headlines across New Zealand at noon include a cyclist's freak fall and a missing cat inspiring some musical talent.

Cyclist Peter Halstead was enjoying a ride home when a flag suddenly leapt out and wrapped around him sending him head first onto the roadway.

Behind all of budding star Fletcher Oxford's music and all of the songs is Sushi, and the most common thing he is now asked is 'has Sushi come home yet?"'

If you are thinking of having a rates strike, be aware that your council can claim the unpaid rates from your bank if it holds a mortgage over your property and then the bank will just take the money from your account.

Tahai Matete could not bear to watch when his shoe exploded.

Dargaville has fought for its courthouse before and it will fight for it again.

Here's some pictures of Hobbiton.

If you don't believe Santa is real, go to Queen Street in Auckland at about 2pm on Sunday.

Yellow is unmoved by a large number of botch-ups in its Hawke's Bay phone directory.

A Napier man is in a serious condition after his digger tumbled down a hill.

High unemployment and axed support programmes are hitting disabled Northland residents hard.

Rodeo is apparently a dated blood sport that should be banned. And what about the stuffed jockeys racing sheep in Stratford.

Meanwhile Federated Farmers is apparently wary of classifying the intentional drowning of any land animal as an offence.

Mountain bikers in Whakarewarewa Forest are upset horses are damaging the mountain biking trails.

Meanwhile "It's just mates talking s*** about the week," apparently.

Labour leader David Shearer is apparently in danger of being "eaten".

A 16-year-old has been charged with holding up the Welcome Bay Foodmarket with a handgun. Meanwhile a 16-year-old boy is in Wellington Hospital in critical condition after a fight in Wanganui.

A 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl tried to nick a keg of beer from Speight's Brewery.

Music will be used to help raise awareness of loneliness at this year's Tairawhiti Age Concern variety concert.

Around 3000 performers from 74 groups have made this year's Turanganui Schools Maori Cultural Festival the biggest ever.

Here's Chilean tourist Ignacio Falk posing with some of the 33 LandSAR volunteers who apparently rescued him from certain death.

Carterton schoolgirl Grace Yeats successfully underwent brain surgery aiming to calm powerful spasms and is now sleeping.

Paul Gottermeyer stabbed a young Christchurch mother to death in front of her three-year-old daughter, who later told police "Mummy did bleed everywhere... and mummy scream."

Palk Flanco has been living in fear ever since two 15-year-old boys absconded from a non-secure CYF home and allegedly robbed and threatened to stab him.

Waikouaiti police want to talk to a motorist who saw a car flip with an elderly man and large dog inside at the southern end of the Kilmog.

Communities and families are apparently suffering in a hopeless financial straitjacket. Meanwhile a painting by one of New Zealand's most renowned living artists, Ralph Hotere, has fetched $183,000 at auction.

Domestic violence is apparently hidden in a range of places, such as rugby clubs, netball clubs, schools and in our normal communities.

Top trending topics on Twitter in NZ at noon were: Happy Thanksgiving, #MentionSomeoneYoureThankfulFor, Wellington, Auckland, New Zealand, #50ReasonsWhyILoveJustinBieber, #DeJuernesConEuroclub, #VolvamosALosTiemposEnDonde, #10CoisasQueQueriaTer and #SongsWithHiddenMeanings.

-Herald online