News of New Zealanders via Global Media

New Role for ANZ CFO Shayne Elliot

New Role for ANZ CFO Shayne Elliot

New Zealander Shayne Elliot, 51, has been appointed CEO of ANZ Bank, the first internal appointment within the bank in 30 years. Shortly after the announcement of his appointment, Elliott said: “Obviously I know ANZ…

New Zealand Paradise in New York Gallery

New Zealand Paradise in New York Gallery

Transcendental images of New Zealand sky, horizons and water by photographer Brian Sweeney are on show at pop-up New Zealand gallery ORA on New York’s Seventh Avenue. “Paradise Road,” Sweeney’s exhibition of…

Ho Hai Tran Reminisces about Pizza Hut

Ho Hai Tran Reminisces about Pizza Hut

New Zealand photographer Ho Hai Tran has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for a book that will record his photographic journey of over 8700 miles from Australia to the US to document…

Burlesque Dancer Bonita Muntz off to Vegas

Burlesque Dancer Bonita Muntz off to Vegas

Christchurch burlesque artist Bonita Muntz, who performs as Bonita Danger Doll, is the first New Zealander selected to perform at the Las Vegas Burlesque Festival, held over three days, from 8-10 October. “This will be…

New Zealand a Slopestyle Ski Wonderland

New Zealand a Slopestyle Ski Wonderland

New Zealand is one of the greatest places on earth, according to 23-year-old British slopestyle ski star James Woods, who just spent the season here winning both the North Face Freeski Open and the FIS…

John Key Talks Candidly with TIME

John Key Talks Candidly with TIME

Just hours before Prime Minister John Key addressed the United Nations recently, the National Party leader, who has been in office since 2008, spoke with TIME’s editors about Vladimir Putin, why New Zealand needs…

Hip Op-eration Crew Are Ageing with Attitude

Hip Op-eration Crew Are Ageing with Attitude

Waiheke-based Hip Op-eration Crew is the oldest hip-hop dance group in the world with 22 members and an average age of 81. Manager and choreographer Billie Jordan, 45, founded the group to inspire other…

Marlon Williams’ Live Act Is Quite Something

Marlon Williams’ Live Act Is Quite Something

“So often Clash will troop along to watch a new band, and their fringes will droop down over their chins, eyes pointed to the floor. Not so, Marlon Williams,” the music magazine writes. “A…

Fiona Mackenzie Ranked Seventh Most Impactful Public Investor Executive

Fiona Mackenzie Ranked Seventh Most Impactful Public Investor Executive

Fiona Mackenzie, Head of Investments New Zealand Superannuation Fund has been ranked seventh in The Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute’s ‘Public Investor 100’ that lists the most significant and impactful public investor executives…

Golf’s Toughest Par 3

Golf’s Toughest Par 3

Possibly the world’s toughest par 3 – “a tiny green accessible only by helicopter nestled into mountainside overlooking the city of Queenstown” is 4,500ft high, writes Corey Charlton for The Daily Mail. Errand golf balls…

Top Ten Safest Countries Of The World

Top Ten Safest Countries Of The World

New Zealand has been ranked the safest country to travel to in a ranking by news portal ABC News Point. The ranking examined how people living in the respective countries thought about their safety…

ACL Launch Auckland City Limits Festival

ACL Launch Auckland City Limits Festival

“The Austin City Limits Festival now has a sibling in the southern hemisphere as organizers announced Wednesday the launch of Auckland City Limits in New Zealand”, writes Michael Theis for the Austin…

New Zealand Ranked Highest for Experience in HSBC Expat Explorer Survey

New Zealand Ranked Highest for Experience in HSBC Expat Explorer Survey

New Zealand has been ranked highest for experience and second overall in HSBC’s Expat Explorer Survey, which helps people to compare countries across the globe focusing on three categories: economics, experience and…

Air New Zealand Unveils New Auckland International Lounge

Air New Zealand Unveils New Auckland International Lounge

Air New Zealand has unveiled a new international lounge in Auckland, which can seat more than 375 customers comfortably and is significantly larger than the old lounge. The new modern Auckland lounge was designed by…

Bret McKenzie Digs Himself Into a Big Hole

Bret McKenzie Digs Himself Into a Big Hole

Starring Bret McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords digging himself a massive, literal hole in the ground, the latest single by the New Zealand powerpop group Phoenix Foundation features on the Guardian’s music site. “If…

The Modern Pantry Is a Pleasure to Be In

The Modern Pantry Is a Pleasure to Be In

“Anna Hansen first made her mark in London as one of the cooks and co-owners, along with fellow New Zealander Peter Gordon, of Providores in Marylebone, the restaurant that pioneered Pacific Rim ‘fusion’ food,”…

Claudia Li Makes NY Fashion Week Debut

Claudia Li Makes NY Fashion Week Debut

Before her official New York Fashion Week debut, New Zealand-born designer Claudia Li was unexpectedly peaceful – aside from the preshow jitters. “Everything was done two weeks before the show,” Li told news site Fashionista…

American Cinematheque to Honour Cliff Curtis

American Cinematheque to Honour Cliff Curtis

New Zealander Cliff Curtis, 47, who portrayed speed chess genius Genesis Potini in The Dark Horse, will be honoured by the American Cinematheque at a ceremony on 11 October at the Aero Theatre in…

Real Life Castaway Tom Neale Never Lonely

Real Life Castaway Tom Neale Never Lonely

“The phrase “sole survivor” evokes scenes of violent disaster — a plane crash; an explosion in a mine; the eruption of a volcano whose lava destroys a city and all its inhabitants but one,”…

An Irish Emigrant Living Life in Two Parts

An Irish Emigrant Living Life in Two Parts

Lower Hutt asthma nurse educator Alice Paul tries to retain her identity as an Irish person, but says she is also “a new New Zealander eager to fit in.” Paul tells the Irish Times…

TIME Looks Back at 1997 Everest Cover Story

TIME Looks Back at 1997 Everest Cover Story

The new movie Everest is all Hollywood, with big movie stars meant for a big IMAX screen. But the story it tells is very real. TIME magazine looks back at the images and account…

New Zealand’s Otago Beautiful in Fall

New Zealand’s Otago Beautiful in Fall

New Zealand’s Otago has been featured in German magazine RP Online as one of ten destinations that are well worth a visit in fall. In fall Otago is even more beautiful and its vast…

Trans-Tasman Flat White War of Origins Heats Up

Trans-Tasman Flat White War of Origins Heats Up

New Zealand and Australia have been in a cold war for decades over the origins of a meringue and marshmallow pie. But now a new front threatens to emerge over the origins of the…

After 40 Years Rocky Horror Has Become Mainstream

After 40 Years Rocky Horror Has Become Mainstream

The Rocky Horror Picture Show, co-written by New Zealand-based Richard O’Brien, has risen “from a shelved failure to a cult hit to a beloved cultural staple is thanks to its dedicated groups of fans,”…

Plain Language Expert Lynda Harris Earns Award

Plain Language Expert Lynda Harris Earns Award

Plain language expert Lynda Harris (pictured centre) has won the Christine Mowat Plain Language Achievement Award at a conference in Ireland, the first New Zealander to win the prestigious prize. The founder and chief executive…

Antony Young Leaving Adland to Live on NZ Farm

Antony Young Leaving Adland to Live on NZ Farm

Media agency veteran Antony Young will trade in spreadsheets for orchards as he plots a move back to his native New Zealand with his wife and children to live and work on a farm. Young…

Linda Villumsen Wins Women’s World Time Trial Title

Linda Villumsen Wins Women’s World Time Trial Title

New Zealander Linda Villumsen, 30, has won the women’s individual time-trial at the World Road Cycling Championships in Richmond, United States. Villumsen who won last year’s Commonwealth Games time-trial, captured the world crown by completing…

NZ Student Rugby Team Performs Haka at Fast Food Restaurant in Ireland

NZ Student Rugby Team Performs Haka at Fast Food Restaurant in Ireland

A New Zealand student rugby team from Wairoa College Rugby Academy has performed a haka at a Supermacs at a service station in Ireland. The video that was filmed by customers of the restaurant was…

Lorde’s New Track With Disclosure

Lorde’s New Track With Disclosure

Lorde has released a new track together with Disclosure. The Kiwi singer “co-wrote the track with the electronic duo comprised of brothers Howard and Guy Lawrence” as reported in Rolling Stone Magazine. The…

New Zealand’s Record Number of Immigrants

New Zealand’s Record Number of Immigrants

Over the last year New Zealand’s visitor numbers have increased by 7% to 3.02 million a year. Data from Statistics New Zealand also shows a record-setting net gain in migrants – mostly from Australia,…

New Zealand’s Haka – “the World’s Most Perfect Act of Nationalism”

New Zealand’s Haka – “the World’s Most Perfect Act of Nationalism”

The New Zealand haka – “a traditional Maori dance, a sequence of foot-stomping, tongue-wagging and violent gesticulation, accompanied by deep, rhythmic chanting “is an intimidating sight for any opponent”, writes Ishaan Tharoor for The…

Steve Hansen Backs Sonny Bill Williams

Steve Hansen Backs Sonny Bill Williams

“Victory over Argentina already leaves New Zealand overwhelming favourites to top Pool C, with Namibia, Georgia and Tonga hardly expected to trouble the defending champions”, reports an article in The Belfast Telegraph. All…

5 Stunning South Island Must See’s

5 Stunning South Island Must See’s

“When it comes to the most spectacular natural wonders of the world, New Zealand undoubtedly belongs to the world’s most stunning destinations”, according to Veru and Petra – two travellers’, who share their New…

All Blacks 58-14 Namibia – New Zealand Cruise to Commanding Victory

All Blacks 58-14 Namibia – New Zealand Cruise to Commanding Victory

The New Zealand All Blacks have won their second Rugby World Cup match against Namibia 58-14. “Namibia battled heroically but there was never any chance of it being another Japan versus South Africa”, writes…

Air New Zealand’s ‘Sustainability Framework’

Air New Zealand’s ‘Sustainability Framework’

Air New Zealand has launched a new ‘sustainability framework’ in Auckland on Wednesday September 16. “You find the best companies in the world doing well commercially are also doing well in a sustainability sense, they…

How Jonah Lomu Led to the Success of World Cup

How Jonah Lomu Led to the Success of World Cup

“On 18 June 1995, Rupert Murdoch was sitting in his Los Angeles office watching the World Cup semi-final between England and New Zealand,” Sydney Morning Herald rugby columnist Spiro Zavos writes. “England winger Tony…

Strengthening Trade Ties With India

Strengthening Trade Ties With India

“Amy Adams, New Zealand Minister of Justice, Courts, Broadcasting and Communications is leading a trade mission to India to strengthen trade ties between both the nations”, as reported in Businessworld. “India is our…

When Dorothy Morris Went off to War

When Dorothy Morris Went off to War

Wellington historian Mark Derby first heard of Dorothy Morris while editing the 2009 book, Kiwi Companeros: New Zealand and the Spanish Civil War. As Derby began asking Spanish Civil War historians worldwide if they…

Sam Cane to Captain All Blacks

Sam Cane to Captain All Blacks

Flanker Sam Cane, 23, will captain the New Zealand All Blacks for the first time in the upcoming World Cup match against Namibia. “It is a very special moment for Sam,” Hansen told www.allblacks.com. “He…

How to Avoid Panic over Technology in Schools

How to Avoid Panic over Technology in Schools

New research questioning the value of computer use in schools should not deter Ireland’s government from boosting its investment in classroom technology, according to leading educationalist, New Zealander Professor Mark Brown. Brown, who is director…

Anna Paquin to Star Alongside Forest Whitaker

Anna Paquin to Star Alongside Forest Whitaker

Golden Globe and Academy Award winner Anna Paquin has been cast in a new role opposite Forest Whitaker in the epic television miniseries, Roots, which is based on Alex Haley’s 1976 novel as well…

Nina Hall Swims in Solidarity with Refugees

Nina Hall Swims in Solidarity with Refugees

New Zealander Nina Hall, who is a post-doctoral fellow at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, recently swam from Turkey to Greece in solidarity with the refugees who are making the dangerous journey…

New Zealand Labels to Know Before Everyone Else

New Zealand Labels to Know Before Everyone Else

According to Vogue Australia there are six New Zealand names in fashion you should know before everyone else and these are: Georgia Alice, Eugénie, Harman Grubisa, Lucilla Gray, Stolen Girlfriend’s Club and Twenty Seven…

NZ Dishes up Perfect Conditions for US Ski Team

NZ Dishes up Perfect Conditions for US Ski Team

New Zealand offered up the US Alpine Ski Team some of the best conditions to kick off their 2016 on-snow prep period, with the perfect mix of off-snow activities that only this adventure capital…

South Pacific Secret to Breaking Poverty Cycle

South Pacific Secret to Breaking Poverty Cycle

“Migration to pick fruit is probably not the first thing you think of when you think of the World Bank’s work, or the broader global effort to eliminate poverty after 2015,” global development expert…

Emilia Wickstead Delivers Her Best Collection Yet

Emilia Wickstead Delivers Her Best Collection Yet

New Zealand-born designer Emilia Wickstead, who has dressed the Duchess of Cambridge and Samantha Cameron, carpeted the foyer of an unfinished office block in King’s Cross in sugar-almond pink at London Fashion Week, and…

Lucy Lawless on a Quest in Splatterfest

Lucy Lawless on a Quest in Splatterfest

New Zealand native Lucy Lawless didn’t appear in the original Evil Dead movies, but she brings her own cult following to the television revival of that classic horror franchise. Lawless stars as the mysterious and…

New Zealand All Blacks Beat Argentina to Begin Title Defence

New Zealand All Blacks Beat Argentina to Begin Title Defence

The New Zealand All Blacks have begun their title defence with a 26-16 victory against Argentina in front of 89,019 – the biggest ever crowd at a Rugby World Cup match. “New Zealand dominated possession…

New Music Platform STA Travel Sounds Will Showcase NZ Artists

New Music Platform STA Travel Sounds Will Showcase NZ Artists

SBTV, a digital music discovery and entertainment platform has partnered with STA Travel to curate artists for their new music platform, STA Travel Sounds. New Zealand artists will soon be showcased on the…

Jake Gyllenhaal’s  ‘Nail-Biting’ Adventure

Jake Gyllenhaal’s ‘Nail-Biting’ Adventure

“Stuck atop the highest peak in the world, nobody can hear you scream. That’s what makes this white-knuckler, about an ill-fated ascent to Mount Everest, such a harrowing and haunting force of nature”, writes…

Kiwis Save Baby Humpback Whale

Kiwis Save Baby Humpback Whale

A rescue team have “saved the life of a baby whale which was entangled in buoy lines off the coast of New Zealand’s capital”, as reported in The Daily Mail. “It was entangled…

Born to Dance at TIFF

Born to Dance at TIFF

“Auckland, New Zealand may seem a world away from the heart of hip-hop culture in the US, but the local dance crews featured in Born to Dance totally own it”, writes Justin Lowe for

Researchers Identify New Fossil Whale Species of New Zealand

Researchers Identify New Fossil Whale Species of New Zealand

Researchers from the University of Otago have identified three new whale species that once lived in New Zealand. The “researchers’ discovery and description of the Tokarahia kauaeroa and Tokarahia lophocephalus whales helps to fill in an important gap…

Richard Taylor to Help Bring Monkey King to US

Richard Taylor to Help Bring Monkey King to US

Special effects maestro New Zealander Richard Taylor will direct the design of characters in the upcoming American film version of The Monkey King, a Chinese blockbuster. “There has been a rush to bring Western-originated movies to…

Brendon McCullum Honoured as New Zealand Order of Merit

Brendon McCullum Honoured as New Zealand Order of Merit

Brendon McCullum has been recognised as an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his achievements during the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 as well as the Black Caps’ incredible success in 2014. “McCullum…

Ron Stenberg Painting Mystery Solved

Ron Stenberg Painting Mystery Solved

When Auckland artist Ron Stenberg launched an appeal to discover the identities of two people in a £100,000 painting he donated to one of Scotland’s leading art galleries he had no idea what a…