New Zealand is perceived as having the least corrupt government and public institutions in the world, topping the Corruption Perceptions Index 2011 survey. 178 countries were included in this year’s iteration of the annual survey,…
Without any human intervention, the Argentine ant — the world’s most invasive species — is disappearing from New Zealand. The alien ant arrived in New Zealand in 1990 and has since marched across our…
Peter Jackson’s Meet the Feebles is “a hilariously offensive film,” the Muppet’s exact reverse,” writes New York Times’ blogger Lia Miller. “As I began researching this article,” Miller writes, “I was reminded of the most fantastically warped Muppet-style…
Almost one in five Maori — or 151,000 of the total population of 815,000 — now live outside New Zealand, with most — 140,000 — calling Australia home. An increasing number were born in…
Hamilton-born singer Kimbra has taken the title of Best Female Artist at the Australian 2011 ARIA Awards, following in the footsteps of fellow New Zealander Jenny Morris who won the title twice in 1987…
Bret McKenzie has said he has hopes for a film version of his and Jemaine Clement’s hit television show Flight of the Conchords. “We’re going to try and do a movie,” McKenzie said at The Muppets premiere…
About an hour from downtown Wellington is Kapiti Island, one of New Zealand’s most successful nature reserves and a model for wildlife and flora conservation. Award-winning journalist Jill Robinson takes a day-trip there. “On…
The Karangahake Gorge, between the Coromandel Peninsula townships of Paeroa and Waihi, features walkways offering a glimpse of goldmining history amidst dramatic scenery. The USA Today’s Liz Lewis describes: “Enormous foundation ruins of the gold…
Wellington-born 21-year-old Willy Moon is “dressed up to the nines in a black wool coat, white suit, pale blue shirt and tie, hair greased and parted with precision — the spitting image of a…
Masterton-born batsman Jesse Ryder, 27, smashed a world record 16 sixes against Australia A in Brisbane on 27 November. Ryder blasted 175 off 137 deliveries primarily against Australia A’s spinners and part-time bowlers at…
A 1960s Boston house designed by Hamilton-born Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor and architect Maurice Smith is advertised as for sale in the Boston Herald. “This Weston contemporary is built to harmonize with its…
With only a 25cm telescope, amateur New Zealand astronomer Rolf Olsen has for the first time been able to get a direct photograph of the disk of swirling material forming a planet around a…
Abel Tasman National Park, Lake Tarawera and Urupukapuka Island in the Bay of Islands are all included in The Australian’s “Ten top paddling experiences in Australia and New Zealand.” “ day-touring itineraries include…
New Zealand bellbird, Anthornis melanura was the Guardian’s ‘Mystery Bird’ on 24 November. “This bird is named for its gorgeous song, which consists of three distinct sounds that resemble the chiming of distant bells,” evolutionary…
Kerikeri resident Russell Garcia, an California-born arranger, composer and conductor who was an influential figure in the West Coast music scene during the 1950s and ‘60s and whose work in Hollywood included writing the…
Seventeen-year-old Junior All White Aucklander Tim Payne is the second New Zealander, after All White Ryan Nelsen, to join Lancashire Premiere club the Blackburn Rovers. Payne, who is expected to sign his first professional…
Brent Marris’ Marlborough winery Marisco Vineyards, which produced its first vintage just two years ago, has been named New Zealand Wine Producer of the Year by the International Wine & Spirits Competition. Former chief…
Forty-nine little blue penguins rescued from the Rena oil spill that occurred in October off the coast of Tauranga have been returned to the wild at Mt Maunganui beach. Most of them immediately ran…
“Step into the volcanic crater on White Island, among the steaming fumaroles and geysers, and you’re instantly in a geothermal wonderland,” American journalist Jill Robinson writes for The Washington Post. “The hissing and bubbling…
The 3000km Te Araroa, or The Long Pathway, the world’s longest walking trail, will be officially opened on 3 December in Wellington. The trail is the result of a massive volunteer effort that…
Andrea Hewitt, 29, won the women’s event while Kris Gemmell beat compatriot Bevan Docherty in the men’s race as New Zealanders dominated their home leg of the ITU World Cup triathlon series in Auckland….
New Zealand’s first-ever entry in the foreign-language Oscar race, Samoan-born director Tusi Tamasese’s debut feature The Orator is being hailed as a brave new voice in world cinema. Orator is pioneering in more ways than that:…
New Zealand filmmaking is at an all-time high thanks to Lord of the Rings’ director Peter Jackson who, 12 years ago, boosted the country’s Hollywood stock The Hollywood Reporter’s Pip Bulbeck writes. Jackson — who also appeared on…
New Zealand actor Charles Chan writes about his role as Wang in the play The Bone Feeder — which was on at Auckland’s TAPAC in November — for a story in The Malaysian Star. The Bone…
“You may know her as Xena from Xena: Warrior Princess and, more recently, Lucretia from Spartacus, but you may not expect that Lucy Lawless would fly all the way from New Zealand to California for TEDMED, a…
Takaka native Jack Bauer, 24, represents a “signing coup” for CEO Jonathan Vaughters of Boulder-based cycling unit the 2012 Team Garmin-Cervelo. Vaughters went deep into cycling’s hinterland to find a possible star for Europe’s…
Papakura-born fly-half Stephen Donald, 27, who signed a two-year deal with Premiership club Bath in August, says he wants to help the team recapture their “glory days”. “They’re very ambitious. I’d love to contribute…
An image of Hurricanes assistant coach Alama Ieremia working with his horse during a leadership programme run by Talkinghorses in Te Horo, is included in the Globe and Mail’s ‘Day in Photos’. The publication…
Christchurch biochemist Professor Christine Winterbourn has become the first woman to receive New Zealand’s top science award in its 20-year history, the Rutherford Medal. Winterbourn, Otago University pathology department’s director of the Free Radical…
Hamilton-based eight-piece reggae group Katchafire play at the Prince of Wales Hotel in Bunbury on 25 November as part of the band’s Australian tour promoting their new album, On the Road Again. Vocalist Logan Bell,…
General manager of The Gilbert Scott restaurant in London, New Zealander Chantelle Nicholson, 31, is profiled in the ‘Modernisms’ section of the British biannual magazine The Gentlewoman. Nicholson “is the warm welcome” at the…
Wellingtonian Bret McKenzie has applied “his rare talents to a sacred” and “daunting” “Muppets-related endeavour” writing three songs for the forthcoming movie The Muppets. The New York Times’ cultural editor Adam Sternbergh writes for the publication’s magazine:…
Invasive rats are compensating for the loss of native pollinators in New Zealand, scientists report in a paper published in a Royal Society journal. “New Zealand offers a really interesting and rare opportunity to…
One of the world’s smallest and rarest marine dolphins, the Hector’s Dolphin, has been seen in Wellington Harbour, more than two years after the last sighting. The person who spotted the dolphin said it…
When tickets went on sale for pop-up restaurant WLG in Fitzroy run by New Zealand’s best chefs, 500 seats were sold in 25 minutes. The temporary restaurant, named after Wellington’s airport code, opens for…
New Zealand intelligence expert Upper Hutt resident Major Rory McGregor was among 25 New Zealand Defence Force personnel to receive US military medals from visiting Major General Peter Talleri, the Okinawa, Japan-based commander of…
“Like many of his contemporaries, Blair Stewart is a valuable commodity: a New Zealand rugby player,” Tadhg Peavoy writes in a profile of Christchurch-born Stewart, 28, for RTÉ Sports. “Stewart began his career playing…
“Geo-thermal activity is everywhere ,” Ritu Singh writes for The Times of India. “Pits steam, holes smoke and water boils wherever you look – inside hotels, behind bushes even in people’s…
Pinot noir from New Zealand’s Marlborough region is inimitable says the Telegraph’s Victoria Moore. “If I had to choose one New Zealand region whose pinot noir I would drink for the rest of my life, I…
New Zealand firefighters Rob Holah and Donny Butters recently travelled to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to compete in the 20th annual Firefighter Combat Challenge World Challenge. Holah said camaraderie is one of the biggest…
Palmerston North model Jessica Clarke, 18, is the first New Zealander to feature in a Victoria’s Secret show, which was held at New York’s Lexington Avenue Armory on 10 November. Father, Shaun Clarke said:…
New Zealanders and Australians once flocked to the UK for the opportunity to gain experience and return home with some valuable pounds, but the booming Australian economy and a sharp appreciation in the New…
“I just got back from a trip to New Zealand and loved it. What are New York’s top spots for Kiwi cuisine?” asks a Village Voice reader in the publication’s ‘Ask the Critics’ section. Critic Lauren…
Best known for her many novels, including The Room of Lost Things, New Zealand-raised writer Stella Duffy has most recently been spending her time scribbling lists on the walls of London’s Ovalhouse Theatre devising a…
Auckland is projected to be the new hot destination for Koreans in the upcoming months with Korean Air increasing capacity on Auckland flights by 30 per cent, injecting a potential $10 million in to…
Otago University expert on the works of English playwright William Shakespeare Professor Evelyn Tribble has criticised the film Anonymous — which questions the bard’s authorship of his attributed plays — calling it Hollywood “libel.” Tribble said…
A new study undertaken by global network Kea claims that encouraging expatriate New Zealanders to invest in their home country is the best way to “achieve improved prosperity.” The research was based on interviews…
Auckland’s “sleek” New Zealand Insurance Centre is “one of the city’s most eye-catching and sustainable buildings utilizing energy efficient technology” according to CNN. “Situated on a busy junction, the diagonal glazing that wraps the…
Message to My Girl is a “latter-day classic from Split Enz” and “the missing link between I Got You and Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over according to the Guardian’s Russell Cunningham writing for…
“Here he was, in his 50th year, a successful television boss and New Zealand sporting icon embarking on a comeback he hopes will see him end up playing the first-class game again,” The Telegraph’s…
Player agent New Zealander Tyran Smith, 37, knows he’s set himself a tough benchmark by brokering perhaps the NRL’s most extraordinary contract — a two-year deal worth A$1.7 million for 19-year-old Will Hopoate who…
“Geeks will love the stereoscopic cameras and 3D methods” on Peter Jackson’s fourth video blog and “most people wouldn’t care if it was shot on a hand-held,” according to Guardian film blogger Ben Child….
Wellington-born film director Jane Campion has written and will direct a Sundance Channel seven-part miniseries starring Madmen actress Elisabeth Moss, called Top of the Lake. Campion wrote the script with Gerard Lee of Sweetie…
“For the first time in 26 years, a team from New Zealand will make a bid for the Volvo Ocean Race without New Zealand legend Grant Dalton whirling dervishly around deck demanding more effort…
New Zealand is the only MSCI developed country index still to be in the black over the past year. Throughout the year, global economies have been rocked by the eurozone sovereign crisis, rising US…
Affectionately known as ‘Machine Gun Rock’, pool player Rocky Lane — former police officer and prosecutor, world record jump shooter, and now resident House Pro at Macau’s Private Party Bar — is…
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