News of New Zealanders via Global Media

ANZACS Cautious in South Pacific

ANZACS Cautious in South Pacific

New Zealand and Australia in recent years have turned their attention away from the South Pacific, and increasingly cast it towards Asia. Two coups in as many weeks, in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, have re-focused attention,…

Mike Moore Wants to Give Globalisation a Human Face

Mike Moore Wants to Give Globalisation a Human Face

The cherubic WTO head Moore, readily likened to a panda in caricutures, admitted that the free-traders were losing the PR battle after the “Seattle Debacle” and failed consensus, but vowed to do what it takes to convince…

Oui Fumer

Oui Fumer

A political party in New zealand is to hand out free cigarettes in protest at the countires recent increase in tobacco taxes. The Libertarianz Party will hand out free cigarette’s in the city of Roturua, a geothermal…

McKinnon and the End of the World

McKinnon and the End of the World

“No sooner had former New Zealand foreign minister Don McKinnon stepped across the threshold of London’s Marlborough House to take over as Secretary-General than all hell broke loose across the Commonwealth. It was a coincidence, of course…

Kiwi Commonwealth Leader Gets Pacific About the Pacific

Kiwi Commonwealth Leader Gets Pacific About the Pacific

The Commonwealth Secretary General, New Zealander Don McKinnon, working towards peace in Fiji, admitted yesterday that it would be hard to find an effective way of pressing Fiji to abandon its newly re-imposed race-based constitution.  

Helen Clark on the Edge of World Power Summit

Helen Clark on the Edge of World Power Summit

Kiwi PM attends Conference on Modern Governance in the 21st Century in Berlin. The Conference, chaired by Gerhard Schroeder and attended by Bill Clinton, was a meeting of the world’s “third way” governments. Clark was the only female amongst the…

Kiwi ‘Ghost of 68’ Asks if Secret Service Intelligence is an Oxymoron

Kiwi ‘Ghost of 68’ Asks if Secret Service Intelligence is an Oxymoron

Victoria University’s “frightenly radical” David Robinson gets accused of being ‘a red under the bed’ in a British Secret Service intelligence report, but questions whether a secret intelligence report means that the report is secret or that…

WTO Promises Moore Action

WTO Promises Moore Action

Ex-New Zealand Prime Minister Mike Moore needs to enlist all his skills of diplomacy in taking steps towards launching a round of global trade talks this year if he is to get the World Trade Organisation…

The Cold War is Over, but Rogue Kiwi Spy Wants to Sell Secrets to the Russians

The Cold War is Over, but Rogue Kiwi Spy Wants to Sell Secrets to the Russians

Richard Tomlinson, whose ‘licence to spy’ was revoked by MI6 in 1995 is negotiating with a Russian publisher to disclose details of his experiences as an agent. He claims he was unfairly dismissed. MI6 said he was regarded…

Apology Not Black and White for Aussie PM

Apology Not Black and White for Aussie PM

The Kiwi way puts pressure on John Howard to formally apologise to the aboriginal people. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said: “This is a global issue … he pointed to leaders in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and…

Nuclear Free New Zealand Adds Weight to New Agenda Coalition

Nuclear Free New Zealand Adds Weight to New Agenda Coalition

United Nations, New York: After pressure from the New Agenda Coalition, weeks of intense negotiation and decades of international pressure, the five original nuclear powers have agreed for the first time to the “unequivocal” elimination of nuclear…

GST Fringe Not so Taxing

GST Fringe Not so Taxing

“New Zealand’s goods and services tax is relatively foolproof because it makes few exceptions, but it hasn’t stopped those with a touch of entrepreneurial flair making the odd killing, especially on the land.”

‘Red Ken’ Appoints Blue-chip Kiwi as His Business Advisor

51-year-old New Zealander Judith Mayhew has joined London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s cabinet as his business advisor. Announcing the appointment on Thursday, Mr Livingstone said he was “delighted.”  The appointment of Tory Mayhew gives new meaning to socialist Ken’s…

Tomlinson, Richard Tomlinson, MI6

Tomlinson, Richard Tomlinson, MI6

Richard Tomlinson, New Zealand born Cambridge educated British spy, faces prosecution under the Official Secrets Act for revelations about his past work for M16. Tomlinson, claiming wrongful dismissal and already sentenced to prison for…

New Zealand Under the World’s Microscope

New Zealand Under the World’s Microscope

South Africa: while New Zealanders have mixed feelings about the manner in which their economy was overhauled, few in business have argued with the results and each year hundreds of public and private sector players visit…

Not the Third Way, But the Kiwi Way: Clark Impresses in the Uk

Not the Third Way, But the Kiwi Way: Clark Impresses in the Uk

John Monks, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, marvels at NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark’s golden ride in government, “That’s a government that knows what it’s doing, that is business-friendly, but insists on some rules too”. …

New Zealand Spreads No-nukes Message

New Zealand Spreads No-nukes Message

In a letter to the editor of the Financial Times spokesperson for the New Agenda Coalition, Mexican Ambassador Antonio de Icaza, expressed concern at current developments “whereby nuclear weapons are being re-rationalised for the foreseeable future; indeed…

Kiwi Kosovo Peacekeeper Threatens UN Withdrawal as Violence Escalates

Kiwi Kosovo Peacekeeper Threatens UN Withdrawal as Violence Escalates

Dennis McNamara, the UN High Comissioner for Refugees top official in Kosovo, threatened to suspend UN activities in the Kosovo city of Mitovica, if attacks on its staff and vehicles did not cease.  

Singapore looks to New Zealand Model in Fair Trading Laws Debate

Singapore looks to New Zealand Model in Fair Trading Laws Debate

Edmund Baker, Executive Director of the Consumers Association of Singapore is pushing the Kiwi and Australian Fair Trading Acts as model examples in debates over fair trade legislation in Singapore.  

Davids and Goliaths: Coalition Says Nuclear States Fall Short of Goals

Davids and Goliaths: Coalition Says Nuclear States Fall Short of Goals

United Nations: the “New Agenda Coalition”, of which New Zealand is a key member, criticised the ‘big guns’ (US, Russia, France, Britain and China) for making an empty pledge to eliminate nuclear weapons but falling short…

The Future is Kiwi

The Future is Kiwi

“Helen Clark met Tony Blair in Downing Street last month. Apparently he asked her lots of questions about her flying start in government: let’s hope he was taking notes”. New Zealand’s Labour government looked upon as role-model…

Aotearoa Casts Big Shadow Over Australia

Aotearoa Casts Big Shadow Over Australia

Australia’s population is five times bigger, its economy six times bigger and its defence capability similarly robust. Yet in recent years New Zealand has been the far more influential of the two neighbours in world affairs….

Big Spin-off in Positive Trade Ties, Says Kiwi PM

Big Spin-off in Positive Trade Ties, Says Kiwi PM

A successful economic tie-up between Singapore and New Zealand could kick start multi-lateral talks on trade-liberalisation, says New Zealand PM Helen Clark.

Celebrities Endorse NZ-led Anti-nuke Campaign

Celebrities Endorse NZ-led Anti-nuke Campaign

“Call To Action” is the dramatic headline in an advertisement put forth in the mainstream broadsheets by an eclectic group of spiritual leaders, Nobel laureates, Hollywood superstars, sports legends, authors and scholars coincide with the opening of…

New Zealand and Sweden Take Stance on Zimbabwe Crisis

New Zealand and Sweden Take Stance on Zimbabwe Crisis

Harare – Sweden and New Zealand have openly called for President Mugabe’s resignation as international anxiety continues to rise following the collapse in law and order, indiscriminate farm killings and strained race relations.

New Zealand Leads the Have-nots Against the Haves at UN Battle

New Zealand Leads the Have-nots Against the Haves at UN Battle

Impatient at the slow progress in arms control, governments from Brazil to New Zealand plan to tell the United States and other nuclear powers on Monday they have to do more to make the world safer.

McKinnon Asserts Himself in New Role

McKinnon Asserts Himself in New Role

The new Commonwealth Secretary General Don McKinnon, has asked Pakistan’s military government to release deposed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif from prison and set a definite timeframe for national elections.  

Commonwealth to Help Develop Vulnerable States

Commonwealth to Help Develop Vulnerable States

So stated Don McKinnon on his first visit to Bangladesh since being elected Secretary-General of the 54-country assembly last November.  

“Put Another Kiwi on the Barbie Mate” New Zealand Scoffs at Statehood Idea

“Put Another Kiwi on the Barbie Mate” New Zealand Scoffs at Statehood Idea

Prime Minister Helen Clark has dismissed a suggestion that NZ should become a part of Australia. Former Australian Liberal Party Leader John Hewson, said it was time to consider incorporating New Zealand into a new independent…

New Zealand at Forefront of ‘World Citizenship’ Project

New Zealand at Forefront of ‘World Citizenship’ Project

The World Citizenship Curriculum is to develop and implement in Bangladesh a pilot plan, led by Dr. Muhammad Nur Nabi, to educate people to become true citizens of the world and also to promote social justice….

Diplomatic Ingratiation: US Ambassador Consigned to Paradise

Diplomatic Ingratiation: US Ambassador Consigned to Paradise

Mosely-Braun, who came from her New Zealand post just to attend the Feminist Expo 2000 … called New Zealand and Samoa, where she is now the U.S. Embassy official, “about as close to paradise as I…

Democracy Challenge for Commonwealth Chief

Democracy Challenge for Commonwealth Chief

New Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, Don McKinnon, takes up his post formally on Monday, his main task being to make the 54-nation organisation “more relevant and useful” to its 1.6 billion citizens.  

Kiwi in “Britain’s Most Powerful Women” List

Kiwi in “Britain’s Most Powerful Women” List

Judith Mayhew, currently head of policy (effectively its boss) of the Corporation of London, came in 31st in Management Today magazine’s annual ranking of Britain’s most powerful women. She was recently appointed as London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s business advisor.

Solid Achieving New Zealand Economy – an Oxymoron?

Solid Achieving New Zealand Economy – an Oxymoron?

“In broader terms, the best-performing economies of the 20th century have been the “Western Offshoots” of Western Europe – the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand”.

New Zealand Sets the Standard in How to Say Sorry

New Zealand Sets the Standard in How to Say Sorry

“The question of an official apology to the indigenous people which is proving so contentious in Australia, has been dealt with quite differently in New Zealand, as part of the settlement process initiated by the Waitangi Tribunal”….

Where There’s Smoke…

Where There’s Smoke…

Green MP Nando Tanzcos and political cartoonist Tom Scott debate the currently topical subject of marijuana decriminalisation on Crossing Continents.

Three wishes for the World

Three wishes for the World

On the eve of International Women’s Day Thinkers from the four corners of the globe, including a New Zealand women’s rights and healthcare advocate, offer their visions for enriching the economic, educational, social and emotional lives of their…

WTO Chief Reminds Rich of Moral Duty to Help Poor

WTO Chief Reminds Rich of Moral Duty to Help Poor

Mike Moore said on Tuesday that opening up the markets of wealthy nations to exports from the poorest countries was a crucial pillar of free trade.