Native Methuselah
“The animal that may well be New Zealand’s most bizarrely instructive species at first glance looks surprisingly humdrum,” writes The New York Times’ Natalie Angier. “The tuatara — whose name comes from the Maori…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Paradigm shift
“New Zealand is very much within the US ‘Sphere of Influence” and Clinton just confirmed it by signing the high-profile Wellington Declaration,” Balaji Chandramohan writes for the Diplomatic Courier. “This is the first…
Beware the shy crook
“It does not pay to be a shy criminal in New Zealand,” Tim Dick writes in an opinion piece for The Sydney Morning Herald. “On this side of the Tasman, if you are invisible…
Death of an Iron Man
All Black prop Johnny Simpson, who played 33 matches including nine Tests for New Zealand in the late 1940s, has died in Wellington, aged 88. Know as the “Iron Man” for his strength and…
Help from Afar
A conservation awareness “Kakapo Parrot Day” event in Greenwich, Conneticut organised by a local teenager keen to help with the endangered bird’s survival will be held on December 11. Aaron Friedman, a student at…
Pago Pago challenge
Fletcher Construction of New Zealand has been awarded a US$7 million contract for the replacement of 33 homes destroyed in last year’s 8. earthquake and tsunami in American Samoa. Fletcher Construction has done business…
Postulating intrigues
“A private sale under way ‘outside New Zealand,’ according to the sale’s official Web site (and which we first read about on Jalopnik) has the enthusiast community scratching its collective head and postulating…
Welcome to Grimsby
Former Prime Minister Helen Clark, the first female administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the third-highest UN position, will make an appearance at Grimsby Central Hall on November 19 to discuss the…
Mozart deters crims
Since 29, in a downtown Christchurch mall, music by Mozart and other classical composers has been played over speakers to deter would-be criminals. The music has led to a steep fall in petty crime,…
In the Top Three
New Zealand has made the top-three list of the best place to live in the world, following a United Nations human development annual survey. Norway took first place, followed by Australia in second place….
Formalised Relationship
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited New Zealand in November “formalising its progressively warm relationship with New Zealand,” writes Wall Street Journal blogger Lucy Craymer from Wellington. “With a strategic agreement that promises…
Gud on youse
In an article entitled: ‘Culubrating thu daggiest ick-cent of all’ Clare Barry writes for The Age: “Back in the ‘7s, when John Clarke called himself Fred Dagg and got around in a black singlet…
Holiday hero
Hamilton sergeant Murray Stapp has received a bravery award from the Governor of Victoria, Professor David de Kretser, after a July 28 arrest of an armed man who had just dragged a motorist from…
Simply affordable
Earlier this year, director of Auckland-based S3 Architects Limited Stephen Smith won a Department of Building and Housing competition challenging entrants to come up with a design for a cheap, easy-to-build house which complied…
Transparency reigns
New Zealand has tied with Denmark and Singapore for first place as the world’s least corrupt governments and public sectors, according to watchdog group Transparency International (TI). Finland, Sweden, Canada, Netherlands, Australia, Switzerland and…
Southern Surprises
Southern surprises “The Chatham Islands off the coast of New Zealand offer a unique ecology rich with opportunities to discover plants and birds that live nowhere else,” American horticulturist Daniel Hinkley writes for the Seattle…
Positive Food Experience
Pupils at East Tamaki Primary, Meadowbank Primary and Peninsula Primary schools are learning to grow and harvest fruit and vegetables with the help of the Garden to Table Trust Programme. Inspired by restaurateur Stephanie…
Political management
Policy analyst Luke Malpass, who is based in Sydney where he works for the Centre for Independent Studies, claims that New Zealand is in the midst of a “great regression” though “once a beacon…
Te Reo Quandary
Justice Joe Williams who is chairing an inquiry by the Waitangi Tribunal says the Maori language is in “crisis” and only urgent action will halt its decline. As older speakers of Maori die…
Market reforms pay off
Korea should follow the example of New Zealand farmers Special Agricultural Trade Envoy Alistair Polson tells the Korea JoongAng Daily on a recent visit to Seoul to meet Korean agricultural industry leaders. Once highly…
Unanimous decision
“New Zealand’s parliament voted unanimously in September to pass the Canterbury Earthquake Response and Recovery Act (CERRA), which gives government ministers the power to override almost any law in the country’s statute books,” Tom…
One of The Dudes
Singer/songwriter Ian Morris, the frontman of Th’ Dudes has died in Napier, aged 53. Morris formed the band with school friends Peter Urlich and Dave Dobbyn in 1975 but left the group in 1980…
Minnesota Exchange
Wellington teenager Madeleine Kwapisz is on a student exchange student studying at Fulda High School (FHS) in Minnesota and is profiled in the local newspaper. Kwapisz, 16, attends Wellington High School and will have…
Revenue-neutral process
“Killing the lowly was a painless, revenue-neutral adventure for New Zealand, according to a finance official from that country,” Bryn Weese writes for the Toronto Sun as Canada looks at…
Old Market Memories
New Zealand-born Percy Roche, who owned one of the first shops at Omaha’s Old Market shopping district in Nebraska and who is even credited for naming the area, has died in Nelson, aged 88….
Shaky Lessons
In the aftermath of the earthquake that rocked Christchurch on September 4, an Arizona State University (ASU) geotechnical engineer says the US should learn from what New Zealanders did to withstand a recent powerful…
Who is the Typical Kiwi?
An international study on cultural stereotypes, led by the US National Institutes of Health, has concluded that there is no relation between supposed cultural characteristics and the actual traits identified in real…
Complete with diamond
Jeweller Michael Hill is offering a 22-carat princess-cut diamond to the “world’s best couple” in an international competition which will be launched later this month at New York’s Rockefeller Centre. American reality TV performer…
On Board Solo
Rob Thomson, 28, a Canterbury University arts graduate from Christchurch, has completed the longest unassisted skateboard journey ever made, travelling for 462 days over 12,000km from Leysin, Switzerland across Europe, North America and China…
2025 and smoke-free
New Zealand has unveiled an ambitious plan to make the country smoke-free by 225, wiping out smoking in all public places. The only other country with a similar policy is Finland, which plans to…
Safety indoors
The legislative changes introduced in New Zealand de-criminalising adult prostitution have been a model for Canadian judges to do the same, with courts recently ruling Canada’s adult prostitution laws unconstitutional. Justice Susan Himel considered…
Centenary Spread
Marmite is celebrating its 1th year in New Zealand with a competition for New Zealanders living overseas to win one of 1 one-way flights home from anywhere in the world this December. Hayley…
Economical happiness
New Zealand has retained third place in a world economic freedom report carried out by Canada’s leading public policy think-tank, the Fraser Institute. The 21 report takes data from 28 and compares 141 countries…
Long Tan hero dies
Former New Zealand Vietnam war hero Morrie Stanley from Campbells Bay in Auckland, who was recently presented with an Australian Unit Citation for Gallantry, 44 years after the renowned battle of Long Tan in…
Fletchers rebuild city
Though a regional disaster for most, the 7.1 earthquake which hit Christchurch in September will generate some serious business for New Zealand’s largest construction group Fletchers. While acknowledging the tragedy of the earthquake, investors…
Return to the Land
Ethel May Helmbright — for some years a homeless fixture in Waikiki until she was hospitalised last year unable to remember her name — may well be the key to her estranged family’s land…
Historical Appointment
Aucklander Professor Noel Cox has been appointed head of Wales’ oldest law and criminology department at Aberystwyth University. Cox’s main research interests include constitutional, Church-State and cyberspace law. Cox is the author of more…
Participant in History
“I am in the midst of a living, pictorial history as it is being etched into our nation’s collective memory and into the core of this unstable but stunning landscape of Canterbury,” Jacqueline Monkman…
On the Ring of Fire
In the early hours of Saturday, September 4, Christchurch was struck by an earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter Scale, the same magnitude as that which hit Haiti in January. The quake was shallow,…
Land Apart
Garden editor for the New Zealand House and Garden magazine Gordon Collier was recently in Seattle giving a lecture on the flora and fauna of the remote Chatham Islands. Collier’s illustrated lecture, “A Land…
A Load Of…?
“Merde is made to be quoted at cocktail parties: ‘Polly, did you know the Maori have 35 different words for faeces?” “Nigel, really!‘”
Carbon trading issues
Three years ago, in anticipation of substantial growth in the voluntary and compliance carbon markets, governments and business groups around the Asia-Pacific region were jockeying to establish a regional hub for carbon trading, including…
Shift in Aid Delivery
“In an effort to get more value from taxpayers’ dollars, the government wants better co-ordination between development agencies in the Pacific,” Johnny Blades writes for the Guardian. “The type of aid approach…
Constitution Conundrum
Former Labour deputy Prime Minister Dr Michael Cullen is calling for an end to the British monarchy. This month Cullen, who stepped down from Parliament when Labour lost power in 28, will deliver a…
Guardian Wins Red Dot
For the second year running, Massey University honours graduate and designer Annabel Goslin, 22, has won a prestigious Red Dot Design Award for her sports face protector. Last year Goslin entered an all-purpose sports…
Smiling Assassin Woos Investors
John Key, nicknamed “the smiling assassin” during his time at global exchange in London, is now using his trademark beam to woo billionaire immigrants, foreign investors and high-end tourists according to Bloomberg Markets magazine….
Studying the Drain
New Zealand’s best and brightest expatriates are costing the country US$1, each through foregone tax and costs of government services such as education, according to World Bank research. Though returning New Zealand expats can…
Soul on the Outside
Award-winning tattooist Te Tangitu Netana, 37, famed for inking UK popstar Robbie Williams, is offering his services to residents of Colchester in Essex until the end of August. Netana is currently in the area…
We Must Talk About It
New Zealand’s chief coroner Judge Neil MacLean has made “an impassioned plea for people to speak more openly about suicide calling for a re-think of laws and self imposed restrictions on what Coroners can…
Taking the Sting Out
Gisborne-based Dive Tatapouri is defending the reputation of the short-tailed stingray, offering plucky tourists the opportunity to hand-feed the sea creatures. “They’re incredibly good-natured,” owner Dean Savage says. “It’s extremely rare for them to…
On Race and Harawira
Senior Lecturer at Victoria University’s School of English Film Theatre and Media Studies Dr Alice Te Punga Somerville discusses Maori party MP Hone Harawira’s recent comments about intermarriage in the Guardian. “Harawira stated to…
In Defence of Milk
New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Cooperative Group Ltd. is defending products sold to China two years after the 28 milk scandal, in which at least six children died and 3, were sickened from milk…
End of an Era
New Zealand businessman and former chairman of Fletcher Challenge, Sir Ronald Ramsay Trotter, who was a vocal advocate of economic deregulation and personified big business in this country for nearly three decades, has died…
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…
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…
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…
