public static function parseJSON($json) 
    {
        if (function_exists('json_decode')) {
            $return = json_decode(trim($json), true);
            // json_decode and UTF8 issues
            if (isset($return)) {
                return $return;
            }
        }
        include_once 'Zend/Json/Decoder.php';
        return Zend_Json_Decoder::decode($json);
    }