A former New Zealand teacher has been deregistered for posing nude - but she has no regrets, 3 News reported today.

Rachel Whitwell, 29, was photographed draped over a school desk for the pornographic magazine Penthouse's Australia and New Zealand editions in January 2010.

Following a number of complaints and an investigation by the New Zealand Teachers Council (NZTC), the Teachers' Disciplinary Tribunal found the former elementary school teacher's actions had brought the profession into disrepute and reflected poorly on her fitness as a teacher, Radio New Zealand reported.

In her defense, Whitwell argued she was not working as a teacher when she posed for the photographs and had not acted illegally, stuff.co.nz reported.

"I simply modeled for some photographs in my role as a model, not as a teacher," she said in submissions to the NZTC.

Former Playboy playmate and B-movie actress Yvette Vickers kept to herself and tended her flowers on a quiet, tree-lined street perched above Beverly Hills that actors, producers and writers call home.

So it came as a shock when neighbors learned a badly decomposing body had been inside the home for several months to a year.

''There is a feeling of safety on this street,'' said Terri Cheney, an author and entertainment attorney who has lived there since 1994. ''You don't feel like that would happen here - someone being neglected like that.''

It was still unknown if it was the body of Vickers, who appeared in ''Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,'' ''Attack of the Giant Leeches'' and other cult films of the 1950s.

The Christian Brothers in North America, the religious order that runs schools around the country, has filed for bankruptcy, becoming the second Catholic order in the US to do so because of sexual abuse claims.

The order did not say how many claims were pending against the order, and that information was not immediately available.

Victims' lawyers estimate there are more than 50 claims.

In the US, most of the cases come from the Seattle area, stemming from abuses at the now-defunct Briscoe Memorial School near Kent, Washington.

Several cases also involve Edward Courtney, a former brother who taught at O'Dea High School and was principal at St Alphonsus School, both in Seattle.

In an effort to attract a younger demographic, Playboy is using a new Internet platform called “gamification” that uses game-like mechanics on non-game sites to engage users with a company’s product or brand.

According to Rajat Paharia, founder and chief product officer of Bunchball, a San Jose, California tech company, Playboy is using his Nitro gamification platform to power its Miss Social Facebook app.

In a month-long competition any woman who aspires to be in Playboy can get her friends to vote for her as Miss Social of the month and the winner then has a shot at getting a pictorial (clothed or not) on Playboy.com.

GamesBeat reported that the trend has been creating a hot buzz like social networking and mobile games, despite some criticism.

Bunchball has been working with companies since 2005 and has recently attracted some big names along with Playboy including CBS, NBC, SyFy, Comcast, Warner Bros and more.

GamesBeat reported that the result of the Playboy Bunchball gamification has yielded an 85 percent rate of re-engagement and a 60 percent improvement in revenues from one month to the next.

The world's first 3D soft-porn movie has topped the weekend box office chart in Hong Kong.

The movie pulled in A$1.6 million on its opening weekend, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing the local Motion Picture Industry Association.

The box office figure, for the four-day period ending on Sunday, was unusually high for Hong Kong, especially since the movie carries a Category III rating that prohibits people under the age of 18 years old from seeing it.

The movie, which its creators billed as "the world's first major 3D erotic movie," packed Hong Kong theatres, with many screenings sold out or nearly sold out, as curious movie-goers paid up to A$14.70 a ticket. One theatre chain in the city was charging A$21.40 a ticket for a small screening room that seats fewer than 20 people.

Its producers used various marketing gimmicks to lure audiences into cinemas, including ladies' night screenings and midnight shows. "3D Sex and Zen" cost HK$25 million (A$3,056,717) to make, the producers said.

The Cantonese-language movie is about a young Ming Dynasty-era scholar who embarks on a journey of sexual self-discovery after leaving his wife. The film - with its frequent campy humor - includes scenes of nudity and explicit - and at times even violent - sex, which got mixed reactions from audiences.

The movie also topped the weekend box office in Taiwan, where it opened Friday. For the three-day period, it earned $7.22 million New Taiwan (A$30,322.60) in the capital Taipei and an estimated $15 million New Taiwan across the island, according to distributor Long Shong Group.

Source: Adelaide Now

Suicide attempts by gay teens -- and even straight kids -- are more common in politically conservative areas where schools don't have programs supporting gay rights, a study involving nearly 32,000 high-school students found.

Lack of such programs raised the odds and were a substantial influence on suicide attempts even when known risk contributors like depression and being bullied were considered, said study author Mark Hatzenbuehler, a Columbia University psychologist and researcher.

Source: New York Post