Badass Woman Nancy Wake
Nancy Wake was included in Buzzfeed’s list of “14 Badass Historical Women To Name Your Daughters After”. If you would like your baby to be exceedingly glamorous you should name her Nancy after Nancy Wake –…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Moa’s Range of Ecological Roles Irreplaceable
Filling the ecological gap left by the extinction of the moa with imported Australian emus and cassowaries would not work, according to insights into the giant flightless birds’ feeding behaviours. The findings, reported in the…
Fiji Appointment for Prof Nigel Healey
Professor Nigel Healey has been appointed the new vice-chancellor of Fiji National University (FNU) with the New Zealander, who is currently the pro-vice-chancellor and head of the college of business, law and social sciences…
Antarctica shaping up as 21st century geopolitical hotspot
The locale of one of today’s greatest real estate development grabs might surprise you. It’s not Dubai, Las Vegas, or Shanghai, but the frozen continent that rests at the end of the world. Writing…
Measuring the Anzacs for Online Database
Researchers at Waikato University are calling on the public to help create an online database of all the New Zealanders who served during World War One for a project called Measuring the Anzacs. Volunteers are…
James Bertram’s Mao Zedong Letter Sold at Sotheby’s
A letter from Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong sent to British Labour leader Clement Atlee and typed by New Zealand-born journalist James Munro Bertram, has sold at Sotheby’s for £605,000, more than…
Lyttelton Is Banking on Time
When the port town on Lyttelton was devastated by the 2011 earthquake, a time bank – the first of its kind in New Zealand – helped the community harness the resources to rebuild. Time banking…
Helen Clark Says Living Standards of 2 Billion Better
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP), led by New Zealander Helen Clark, says that 2 billion people have lifted themselves out of low human development in the last 25 years. The Human Development…
Pataka Taonga Returned to New Plymouth
Five intricately carved storehouse carvings have been returned to New Zealand after 150 years buried in a swamp and 40 years exile in Europe. They are the Motunui epa and once were almost sold off…
Face of Climate Change – Helen Clark
Helen Clark, Head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and former Prime Minister of New Zealand was featured in an article on the Deutsche Welle as one of the faces…
New Zealand One of the Best Countries to Retire
New Zealand has been named the tenth best country to retire in the 2015 Global Retirement Index. According to the report retirees in New Zealand can enjoy relatively high levels of material wellbeing…
Charlie Smith Trades in Wedding for Dream Sail
Former ITV weather presenter and model New Zealander Charlie Smith, 27, and her fiancé, who goes by the name, Captain, 34, made the choice to sell their house and put their wedding plans on…
New Zealand Voices Strong Protest over Japan’s Antarctic Whaling
New Zealand has led an “international protest on Monday against Japan’s plans to resume its research hunt for whales in the Southern Ocean, while Australia said it is considering further legal action”, as reported…
Long-legged Arachnids Go to Battle
Entomologists from the University of Auckland have found that harvestmen, Pantopsalis cheliferoides, which live in the wet forests of the North Island, are the first animals found to have different types of weapon in…
Norman Harris – Not Bad for an Old Jogger
New Zealand-born sportswriter Norman Harris, organiser of London’s Sunday Times National Fun Run, and quite possibly the inventor of the word “jogger”, has died in Britain. He was 75. Harris worked as a sports reporter…
Wellington Aims To Be Most Prosperous, Liveable and Vibrant City in the Southern Hemisphere
“Admittedly before visiting Wellington, I didn’t know much about the city, besides that it is supposed to be very windy. But after spending a couple of days exploring the town and meeting the people…
World’s Newest Cat Cafe
The world’s latest cat café has opened in Auckland. At BaristaCats café on Queen Street cat lovers can enjoy a hot drink and a cuddle with the café’s resident cats for only NZ$15 cat…
New Zealand Launches Smart Recycling Program for Soft Plastics
A new Soft Plastics Recycling Program that could keep over four million plastic bags out of the landfill has been launched in Auckland by Environment Minister Nick Smith last week. Whether or not the program…
Fighting the IS Publicity War
New Zealander Janna Hamilton, who has worked for Oxfam in the Middle East and Africa, largely with Syrian refugees on the Jordanian and Lebanese borders, argues in an opinion piece for the New Zealand…
Why New Zealand Shouldn’t Be a State of Australia
The Australia liberal senator Ian Macdonald has caused a media ruckus joking that New Zealand should become Australia’s “seventh and eighth state”. Guardian correspondent Eleanor Roy, who is “half Aussie, half Kiwi”, explains that…
Kiwi Model Eats 22 Big Macs in One Hour
Kiwi model Nela Zisser “devoured 22 Big Macs in under an hour, which was she followed up by scarfing 100 gyoza dumplings in nine minutes, 31 seconds”, as reported in an article on Vice. “It’s just a good…
NZ Launches Online Simulation for International Drivers
The Automobile Association New Zealand (AA) has launched an online driving simulator for international drivers on Wednesday. The online programme can be accessed on the AA website for free. “It will help inform visiting drivers, improve…
Vietnam and New Zealand Sign Cooperation Agreements
“Vietnam and New Zealand have signed several cooperation agreements during a visit by Prime Minister John Key to Hanoi as they seek to double bilateral trade in the next five years”, as reported in…
New Zealand Student’s Speech Goes Viral
A New Zealand student’s emotional valedictory speech has gone viral online with more than 170,000 views. 18-year-old Jake Bailey, who had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer in his final year…
Indigenous NZ Practice Aims to Reunite Kids in Care with Families
A delegation from New Zealand, led by Katie Murray has travelled to Winnipeg to work with the Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre Inc. on reducing the number of children in foster care. The delegation’s…
Legatum Institute Releases Annual Global Prosperity Index
The London based Legatum Institute has released its annual global Prosperity Index, that ranks 142 countries according to their prosperity. New Zealand has been listed on rank four. “Strong social cohesion and community…
Adele Rickerby Keeps Her Romanian Promise
New Zealander Adele Rickerby had to overcome a number of limitations to adopt a Romanian baby in the 1990s. After she semi-retired, due to back surgery, she found the peace and time to sit…
Replacing the Union Jack Flag, but With What?
The idea of replacing New Zealand’s flag, a blue banner with Britain’s Union Jack in the upper left quadrant and the four stars of the Southern Cross in red on the right, has percolated…
New Zealand Fur Seal Population Increasing
The New Zealand fur seal population seems to be recovering after being pushed to the brink of extinction, according to a recent NZ government report. “I went to Kaikoura in 1984 and all I saw…
Peter Cooper’s Unprecedented Act of Philanthropy
New Zealand-born Peter Cooper, who developed Auckland’s Britomart site, has donated NZ$74 million to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. to expand an athletic leadership programme and upgrade a sports field, in what’s been called…
Wrestling with Wellington’s Wild Weather
The wind speed in this breeziest of cities Wellington once hit 247kmph at Hawkins Hill in 1962, but it’s not as bad as it sounds – 62 turbines generate the city’s electricity, while air…
New Zealand Fur Seal Still Squatting on Opera House Stairs
A young New Zealand fur seal has made the steps of Sydney’s Opera House his permanent home. The New Zealand seal was first spotted on the stairs in October 2014. “The Opera House may not have…
Celebrating Our Ties to Korea
“The New Zealand Embassy has kicked off a month-long festival in October to celebrate growing commercial and cultural links with Korea, expected to expand further after the free trade agreement likely comes into force…
Helen Clark Comments on 70 Years of the UN
As the UN marks the 70th anniversary of its founding this autumn, those imperfections – and how the UN addresses them – have come to the fore as the organisation struggles to define its…
New Zealand Negotiates Itself into the Future
Why can New Zealand negotiate vast trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the largest regional trade accord in history, while Britian continues to argue over markets of the past, the Telegraph’s Harriet Maltby…
New Zealand Creates 620,000 Km2 Ocean Sanctuary
“A vast stretch of New Zealand’s exclusive economic zone is being turned into an ocean sanctuary in a landmark deal to preserve one of the most pristine and unique environments on Earth”, according to…
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…
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…
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…
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
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…
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…
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,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
We’re All Thinking Number One
Just about every famous New Zealander, including Lorde, the Flight of the Conchords, Kimbra and Shihad’s Jon Toogood, have packed into Neil Finn’s studio to record Team Ball Player Thing, a fundraising effort for…
Christchurch Returning to Cycling Roots
After the 2011 earthquake, Christchuch residents were asked what they wanted from the city once known as ‘Cyclopolis’. They demanded a greener, more people-focused city – and investment in new cycleways means it is…
New Zealand Launches First Chinese Language Week
New Zealand’s first Chinese Language Week has been launched from September 7 until September 13 and will be celebrated during the second week of September each year to coincide with the Chinese Moon Festival. “Learning…
Hello Sailor Frontman Graham Brazier
Dave Dobbyn is one of a number of local artists who have paid tribute to Hello Sailor frontman Graham Brazier (pictured centre), who has died in Auckland aged 63. Dobbyn described Brazier as the consummate…
New Zealand Launches Currency Notes
The Reserve Bank of New Zealand has launched new banknotes with new security features, which will go into circulation later this year. “The polymer notes are striking in their design and innovative in their security with the…
Final Designs for New Zealand’s New Flag Chosen
“For more than a century, New Zealanders have fought wars and won Olympic medals under a flag with four red stars on a blue background and Great Britain’s Union Jack in the corner”, writes…
Domestic Market Key to Demise of Imperiled Dolphins
American environmental writer Andrew Revkin, in his regular column for the New York Times, says local nets, not faraway markets are the key to the “deeply imperiled toothed whale” New Zealand’s Maui’s dolphin. “The subspecies…
McLaren Stalwart, Kiwi Phil Kerr
New Zealander Phil Kerr, an instrumental figure in the formative years of McLaren, has died in Auckland aged 80. Born in Auckland in 1934, the Kiwi became friends with Bruce McLaren when competing in hillclimb…
Memorial to Battle of Britain Hero Unveiled
A memorial to a Battle of Britain hero, New Zealand-born Cecil Henry Hight has been placed at the location he was shot down when his Spitfire squadron was scrambled to intercept German bombers on…
