London to Gaza
Six New Zealanders, calling themselves the “Kia Ora Gaza” team, will make up part of an aid convoy taking humanitarian assistance to Gaza departing from London on September 18. Queen’s Service Medal recipient, Aucklander…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Watch This Space
Eighteen-year-old superheavyweight boxer Joseph Parker has been invited to compete at the Youth Olympic Games in Singapore this month. Parker, who stands at 1.95m, recently pummelled Pan-American champion Cuban Yuniel Castro Chavez in the…
They’ve Done it Again
New Zealand have secured their 13th consecutive Test win beating Australia 2-1 in Christchurch, securing the Bledisloe Cup for the seventh straight year. After their 48-29 hammering when the teams met in Melbourne last…
Record latching on
Hundreds of women throughout New Zealand have taken part in an attempt to set a breastfeeding record as part of the annual Latch On campaign. Former Silver Fern Julie Seymour, 39, and 27 other…
Excelling on all levels
Dunedin ballerina Jordan Mullin, 16, had high hopes ahead of her 21 McDonald’s Ballet Scholarship contemporary and classical solos in the Concert Hall at Sydney Opera House. Mullin, who moved to the Gold Coast…
Tumult at Tanz
New Zealand-based choreographer Lemi Ponifasio and his troupe MAU continue their worldwide tour performing Tempest: Without a Body at Berlin’s Internationales Tanzfest on August 28-29. In an interview with English-language magazine ExBerliner, Samoan-born Ponifasio…
Avalanche Highlight
The 8th Annual New Zealand Heli Challenge was recently held in Wanaka. The two-day Heli Challenge involves a “freestyle” day, while the other is reserved for “freeride” stylings. The highlights of the contest included…
Celebrating a decade
Designers NOM*d, Zambesi, Trelise Cooper and Starfish — who will stage the very first Eco Show — all feature as part of the largest ever line up at New Zealand Fashion Week held from…
Lucky for Some
Whitianga-based vet Alex Elson, 58, has completed Britain’s 117km South West Coast Path 13-years after she began it in the coastal town of Minehead. Elson and her British friend Sandra Fairchild met about 17…
Hammers Signing
Auckland-born Winston Reid, 22, who scored the memorable last-minute equaliser for New Zealand at the World Cup against Slovakia, has signed a three-year contract with English Premier League club West Ham United for an…
Don and his euphonium
Singer Don McGlashan, 51, performed at San Francisco’s Café Du Nord ahead of a “songwriting train trip” from Chicago to Oakland. Former Muttonbirds frontman, Auckland-born McGlashan, learnt the French horn at school before settling…
Chance taken
Auckland-based hip-hop women’s dance troupe Request has won the 21 World Hip Hop Dance Championship at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. The eight-member group is the first dance crew from New Zealand to…
Mobile Learning
Students at Auckland’s Howick College are using free software to convert computer files into mobile phone study notes for a pilot study called ‘mLearning’ which is examining the result of using mobile phones as…
Default pop accent
Auckland University of Technology University culture, discourse and communication masters student Andy Gibson has found that an American-influenced accent is the default when singing pop music. Gibson studied three New Zealand singers and looked…
Calcium Cancer Link
Professor Ian Reid and colleagues at the University of Auckland have found a link between calcium supplements and a higher rate of heart attacks. The research team pooled the results of 11 clinical trials…
Deliver or die
Christchurch film company Gorilla Pictures has created an interactive YouTube zombie adventure film for Hell Pizza which was launched online on July 31. The film, called Deliver Me To Hell, has been…
Snowy Did it All
“So remarkable was the sporting life of Eric Tindill, who has died in Wellington at 99 years and 226 days, that being the longest lived of all the 2600 men who have played test…
UN Confirms Palmer
With Israel agreeing to participate in a UN investigation of its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla earlier this year, former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer will chair the four-member panel inquiry made up…
Ski resort purchase
Auckland-based entrepreneur Nick Wood has bought the Teton Pass Ski Resort, west of Choteau, Montana for just under $41, and will spend a further $4 million upgrading the area over the next three years….
Following Frodo
Fiordland’s Routeburn track may attract significantly fewer visitors to it than the Milford Sounds, but the “majestic, snowcapped peaks in every direction, along with waterfalls and hidden tarns” are well worth the hike says…
Walker Makes Podium
Whakatane-born Sarah Walker, 22, has won silver at the UCI BMX World Championship in Peitermaritzburg, South Africa. Racing in the elite women’s category, Walker, the 29 world champion, took second place after a hard…
All Blacks dominate
“Dan Carter inspires as freewheeling New Zealand crush Australia,” headlines the Guardian. “The All Blacks gained their third successive five-pointer in the tournament at a sandy Etihad Stadium in Melbourne beating the Wallabies 49-28…
Our pick for ICC
Chairman of New Zealand Cricket Alan Isaac, 58, has trumped former Australian Prime Minister John Howard as the region’s nominee to take the ICC’s vice-presidency, which after a two-year term leads to the top…
First-rate funny man
Wellington actor Jemaine Clement, 36, “steals every scene he’s in” in the Steve Carrell comedy Dinner for Schmucks, according to Peninsula Clarion reviewer Chris Jenness. Clement, who plays a narcissistic artist with an animal…
WW2 Pilot Laid to Rest
The puzzle of New Zealand pilot officer W. Stuart Beattie who was killed 69 years ago has finally been laid to rest. Torquay Royal British Legion secretary Ena Pethick turned supersleuth to find out…
Broadening horizons
A 13,6-kilometre sub-sea fibre-optic cable linking New Zealand, Australia and the US will be ready for service in 213. The US$4 million Pacific Fibre cable will be laid jointly by Pacific Fibre and Asian…
Wartimes’ yarns touching
The Gaylene Preston-directed film Home by Christmas is a “touching memoir” based on interviews which Preston “conducted with her now-deceased father” and “not only re-creates those conversations and their evocation of wartime yarns, but…
Sell-out in Soweto
The All Blacks’ historic test against the Springboks in Soweto at Johannesburg’s famed Soccer City — now called the National Stadium — has sold out, with nearly 9, fans to attend the match on…
Gold stars for Lam
Bay of Plenty baker Patrick Lam has won the national Supreme Pie Award for the fourth time in the competition’s 14-year history. His bacon-and-egg special was named the best of a record 4336 entries…
Craving more bleu
Former sheep farmer New Zealander Alistair MacKenzie moved to Canada 11 years ago with his French-Canadian wife, Karien Piché and made a career change, purchasing a small artisan cheese-making and sheep farming business called…
Record for Rocket Man
All Blacks star Joe Rokocoko, 27, is the team’s most-capped winger surpassing national treasures John Kirwan and Jonah Lomu. “It’s a huge honour for myself considering the players who have gone before me — it’s…
No sweat merino
Wellington-based merino wool pioneer for the outdoors, Icebreaker, recently launched its new range of technical knits for runners, the GT Run range, at a product show in Friedrichshafen on the shores of Lake Constance…
Progress Continues
The New Zealand Government’s recent endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has been welcomed by UN indigenous human rights expert Professor James Anaya, who says good progress is being…
Copper’s collection
The Public Trust Building on Dannevirke’s main street has been transformed by former Hamilton Senior Sergeant Bruce Lyon and wife Maureen from a brothel into The International Police Museum. The Museum also serves as…
Citrus solutions
The University of Otago’s Free Radical Research Group claim vitamin C can help curb the growth of cancer cells. “Our results offer a promising and simple intervention to help in our fight against cancer…
Rules Are Rules
New Zealand IndyCar driver Scott Dixon has won the Honda Edmonton Indy, the second win of the year for the 3-year-old racer with the Target Chip Ganassi team. This latest victory however was somewhat…
Kitchen for hot shots
One thousand young chefs will compete in the 18th Annual New Zealand Culinary Fare at the ASB Showgrounds in Auckland on August 22-24. The three-day ‘hot kitchen’ competition is the largest of its kind…
Obama in multigrain
Paeroa-born artist Maurice Bennett, famous throughout New Zealand for portraits made from toast, has recently unveiled his latest piece. Bennett’s Barack Obama portrait required over 12 pieces of toast, including white, whole wheat, and…
Judgement day
Wellington-born actor Karl Urban, 38, who played Dr Leonard “Bones” McCoy in last year’s Star Trek, will soon play the sci-fi law enforcer Judge Dredd. “Yes, there is a lot of truth to that…
Visual Poetics
In the Fall 21 issue of the Kehrer catalogue, New Zealander Harvey Benge is featured for his recent work in All the Places I’ve Ever Known. Kehrer, based in Heidelberg and Berlin, specialises in…
Holy Smoke He’s Good
Takapuna Grammar student Jacko Gill, 15, has astonished the athletics world with his shot put ability winning gold at the World Junior Championships in Canada. Gill threw the 6kg ball 20.76m winning by more…
Thawing an icy tipple
Canterbury Museum is slowly thawing out a crate of Scotch whisky which was found in Antarctica earlier this year beneath the floor of a hut built by British explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton. The New…
Justice argued
Rob Hamill — whose 28-year-old brother Kerry fell into the hands of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime when his yacht was captured in Cambodian waters in 1978 — was in Cambodia for the sentencing…
Battle of Wool
Te Kuiti’s David Fagan, 48, and Cam Ferguson, 26, from Waipawa have won the teams machine shearing title at the 14th Golden Shears World Shearing and Woolhandling Championships in Wales, with Ferguson taking out…
Tourists keep coming
Statistics New Zealand has released figures which show the number of overseas visitors arriving in New Zealand for short term stays has topped 2.5 million for the first time in the past 12 months….
Discovering Mansfield’s poetry
Katherine Mansfield’s poem The Candle is the Guardian’s ‘Poem of the Week’. “Mansfield is rightly praised for her short stories,” Carol Rumens. “As a poet, however, she is virtually forgotten — ignored even —…
Educational Benefits
New Zealand is suggested as a good choice for international students by Nepalese newspaper República because the country has a Code of Practice that provides a framework for looking after foreign students. This system…
UAE presence strengthens
New Zealand will open an embassy in Abu Dhabi, its first in the UAE and second in the Gulf region, where it is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully…
Changing family units
Couple without children in New Zealand are expected to surpass two-parent families as the most common household formation by next year, according to Statistics New Zealand figures. National Family and Household Projections released on…
All Blacks start afresh
“New Zealand is revolutionising rugby,” according to The Independent’s Peter Bills. “For those with a brain to think, a mind to rationalise, what the All Blacks are doing right now in world rugby terms…
Off with the polar fleece
Top local fashion designers will soon be represented in the centre of the French capital at a concept store owned by Paris-based New Zealander Catherine McMahon. Koko, which will stock Trelise Cooper, Karen Walker,…
Kiwis Relocate to US
New Zealand Ambassador Roy Ferguson officially presented America’s National Zoo with a pair of rare kiwi. The handover took place in Front Royal, Virginia at the Zoo’s Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute. The Zoo will…
Sedimentary Strata Studied
Waipaoa River was recently visited by a team of international scientists gathering data for research into how materials from land are moved through and accumulated in the ocean and, in particular, how floods carry…
Rex means possibility
New Zealander Hayden Allen, 23, is learning to walk again with the aid of a pair of robot legs after a debilitating car accident five years ago. The device, dubbed “Rex”, is the work…
Dream team celebrated
The New Zealand Olympic Committee has decided to pay tribute to the world’s most famous mountaineering duo by naming the country’s Commonwealth Games logo “2928 Hillary and Tenzing”. The Games will be held in…
NZ’s own Moss shines
Eighteen-year-old Remuera-raised model Georgia Fowler, who featured in June’s Harper’s Bazaar cover story titled “The Rise of The Australian Supermodel”, has generated interest from Calvin Klein, YSL, Top Shop and Armani. Represented in New…
