News of New Zealanders via Global Media

A Renaissance Man

A Renaissance Man

“Denis Dutton, a distinguished philosopher, writer and digital-media guru who founded Arts & Letters Daily, one of the first Web sites to exploit the Internet as a vehicle for meaningful intellectual exchange, has died…

Honoured this year

Honoured this year

Golfer Bob Charles, 74, has been made a member of the Order of New Zealand (ONZ), restricted to 2 living New Zealanders, in the New Year Honours. Carterton-born Charles was the first left-hander to…

Notable Remembered

Notable Remembered

Hawera-born artist Tim Chadwick is included in an Art Daily “roll call” of “notable people in the Arts and Popular Culture Who Left Us in 21”. Chadwick’s mixed media paintings have been exhibited at…

Tintin draws closer

Tintin draws closer

Three new images from the Peter Jackson-produced and Steven Spielberg-directed 3-D motion capture film The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, have just been released online. Secret of the Unicorn is the…

Displaced in New York

Displaced in New York

Dame Kiri Te Kanawa was amongst those present at the annual Christmas night dinner in the baronial Lincoln Center duplex of Sissy and Max Strauss in New York. Each holiday, more than a hundred…

New crowd descends

New crowd descends

Visitors from the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to New Zealand was up 57 per cent in the last eight months, largely driven by UAE tourists, according to the latest figures from Emirates…

One big game changer

One big game changer

Air New Zealand’s new Boeing 777-3ER is reviewed by industry publication NYCAviation reporter Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren who takes a detailed tour on board “one of the biggest game changers to hit the commercial aviation industry…

Ginseng dilemma solved

Ginseng dilemma solved

Otago University senior chemistry lecturer Dr Barrie Peake has come up with a way to prove that Wisconsin’s ginseng really does comes from Wisconsin, putting an end to fraud in places like China, where…

New migration findings

New migration findings

New research led by Janet Wilmshurst from Landcare Research, and Atholl Anderson, from the Australian National University has found that New Zealand was colonised by humans more recently — and faster — than previously…

Customise Your Cool

Customise Your Cool

Auckland-based One Cool Habitat designs small portable container habitats for use as home offices, studys or sleep outs and ships them around the world. The company’s site says: “Our design is your…

Part of Camden history

Part of Camden history

New Zealander Francis Upritchard, 33, is one of 3 artists and designers included in a Camden Arts Centre (CAC) exhibition curated by British artist and Turner prize-winner Simon Starling. In ‘Never the Same River…

Scenic Rail Journeys

Scenic Rail Journeys

Travelling by train from Wellington to London, BBC journalist Robert Greenall writes that “there are still plenty of good reasons to go by train.” “The joy of ‘slow travel’ is that you see how…

If only in Afghanistan

If only in Afghanistan

Hamilton doctor Marc Shaw is the first civilian doctor to be deployed with the New Zealand Defence Force in Afghanistan, recently donning a red suit to play Father Christmas at the Banyan camp he…

Taking on the World

Taking on the World

New Zealand quintet  The Naked and Famous have already topped local singles and album charts and now they want to repeat their success globally. They’re off to a blistering start after being named in…

Pristine Parengarenga

Pristine Parengarenga

“Somewhere ahead is Parengarenga Harbour on New Zealand’s North Island,” Peter Gosnell writes in an article about a kayak tour for The Daily Telegraph. “Legendary oceanographer Jacques Costeau once declared it the cleanest harbour…

Stretching Out on High

Stretching Out on High

“In what is being hailed as the most important development in air travel for decades,” Air New Zealand has taken delivery of the world’s first passenger plane with a redesigned interior, allowing economy class…

Kayaking with Seals

Kayaking with Seals

Tauranga winemaker Tim Taylor, 24, has kayaked almost 1km on his attempt to be the first person to complete a solo circumnavigation of New Zealand. Taylor has been travelling for 25 days, paddling for…

New Zealand’s X-Files

New Zealand’s X-Files

New Zealand’s military has released hundreds of files, dating from 1954 to 29, detailing claims of sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs), including New Zealand’s most famous UFO sighting over Kaikoura in 1978. The…

Breath of Fresh Air

Breath of Fresh Air

“It’s an extraordinary place, New Zealand,” British writer and journalist Daniel Hannan writes in a blog for the Telegraph. “Its pure air gets to work on even the most casual visitor. No country is…

Polished Parisian Finish

Polished Parisian Finish

A simple New Zealand-designed plastic-clip system — originally made for superyachts — held together a recent Parisian exhibition celebrating the 125th anniversary of Italian fashion brand Bvlgari. The fifteen 8.5m-high pyramids constructed at the…

Dealing in Cricket

Dealing in Cricket

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) and the USA Cricket Association (USACA) have announced an historic deal that is designed to grow the game exponentially in one of the ICC’s target markets. The partnership establishes a…

Wright takes up reigns

Wright takes up reigns

Former Black Caps test captain and coach of India from 2 to 25, John Wright is the new coach of the New Zealand cricket team, taking over from Mark Greatbach beginning with the Boxing…

Luscious success

Luscious success

Handmade cosmetics company Lush, which Wellington-born Andrew Gerrie helped found in the UK in 1995, will release chewable toothpaste tablets to help reduce the amount of tubes thrown into landfills every year around the…

Camel spotting in UAE

Camel spotting in UAE

New Zealand couple Thomas Carl Akash and Julie William arrived on bicycles at this year’s Al Dhafra Festival, a camel festival held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Akash and William have been travelling…

Lester’s mini Mini

Lester’s mini Mini

Retired Napier mechanic Lester Atherfold, 67, has transformed his 1964 Mini 85 into an even mini-er Mini trimming the 1ft long British classic car to a mere 7ft 1ins. Atherfold sliced 2ft from the…

Generations Loved Her

Generations Loved Her

New Zealand-born author Ruth Park, who moved to Sydney in 1942 and who was the author of classic Australian books such as The Harp in the South and The Muddleheaded Wombat, has died in…

Looking at the Liberal

Looking at the Liberal

Chief executive of the Alcohol Advisory Council Gerard Vaughan says that because New Zealand is a small country, an issue can get on the public agenda quickly and then become part of public debate,…

Tickets sales on track

Tickets sales on track

Rugby New Zealand 211 Ltd chief executive Martin Snedden has said that key World Cup match ticket sales and revenue targets had been met in 21. Since the sales program was launched earlier this…

Sweet Start to Season

Sweet Start to Season

Dunedin cyclist Alison Shanks, 28, has won two gold medals at the UCI World Cup in Cali, Colombia at the Alcides Nieto Patiño Velodrome taking first place in the 3m individual pursuit and in…

Airline alliance

Airline alliance

Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue will form an alliance on trans-Tasman routes, after the competition regulator dropped its opposition to the plan. After indicating three months ago that it would block the deal,…

Royal Advertising

Royal Advertising

Shortly after the royal wedding date was announced, Education New Zealand published a quarter-page advertisement in Britain’s The Times newspaper offering Prince William and Kate Middleton’ s first-born child a scholarship to a New…

Incentive for training

Incentive for training

All Black Sonny Bill Williams, 25, will soon step back into the boxing ring for a bout against Australian Scott Lewis on January 29 ahead of the Super rugby season and the 211 World…

Sinkhole Record

Sinkhole Record

New Zealander William Trubridge, 3, has set yet another world freediving record descending 1m on a single breath into Dean’s Blue Hole on Long Island in the Bahamas beating his previous 95m world record….

Diamond forever

Diamond forever

Auckland couple Cameron and Shariyah Morris have won the title of “The World’s Best Couple” and a 22-carat diamond ring worth $1 million, which was presented by US reality television celebrity Kim Kardashian, in…

Compassion from grief

Compassion from grief

Emma Woods, whose four-year-old son Nayan was killed by a teen driver who careened onto a footpath after losing control of his modified car, has been named New Zealander of the Year by The…

Sevens trophy for NZ

Sevens trophy for NZ

New Zealand has beaten England in the Sevens World Sevens final 22-19 in South Africa taking the title in extra-time. New Zealand’s captain Aucklander DJ Forbes, 27, said of the team’s win: “We really…

Man of many matches

Man of many matches

The International Rugby Board’s player of the year Richie McCaw, 3, “is a hero to many… establish himself as one of rugby’s great players,” The New York Times’ Emma Stoney writes. “As a fresh-faced…

Films advancing art

Films advancing art

“The most exhilarating show of 2th-century art to be seen in this country right now is by the New Zealand artist Len Lye,” Laura Cummings writes in a Guardian review of the retrospective exhibition…

Island artscape

Island artscape

Bailey, a full-time artist whose Maori, Irish and Dutch heritage is central to his work is one of more than 1 who make Waiheke Island their home, many of whom open their studios to…

Alcatraz role for Neill

Alcatraz role for Neill

Actor Sam Neill has a role in the upcoming Fox pilot series Alcatraz which chronicles the efforts of a team of FBI agents tracking down a group of missing prisoners and guards who reappear…

Easy on the eye

Easy on the eye

Auckland’s Eden Park features in green design blog Inhabitat which describes the renovation of the stadium for the 211 World Rugby Cup. “For a century Eden Park has been the epicentre of rugby and…

Human Footprints

Human Footprints

The effect of early humans on New Zealand forests is being studied by scientists from Montana State University in a project titled “Ecosystem resilience to human impacts: ecological consequences of early human-set fires in…

World-first treatment

World-first treatment

Auckland-based Living Cell Technologies, which is pioneering a world-first treatment for type 1 diabetes using insulin-producing cells grown in pigs, has been approved for sale in Russia. Professor Bob Elliott, who heads the Auckland…

Onward to Invercargill

Onward to Invercargill

Wellington actor Bret McKenzie will co-star with Australian television and radio personality Hamish Blake in a New Zealand feature film, Two Little Boys, which is due to start filming in January in Southland. Based…

Speedshear fundraiser

Speedshear fundraiser

Te Kuiti veteran shearing champion David Fagan will join current World Champion Cam Ferguson, 1994 World Champion Alan MacDonald and 1984 World Champion Tom Wilson amongst others in a Speedshear to …

Classic reimagining

Classic reimagining

“Reports that Cate Blanchett and Orlando Bloom will reprise their Lord of the Rings roles in The Hobbit suggest Jackson’s two-part production may be more epic than its source material,” the Guardian’s Ben…

Benji Bags the Boot

Benji Bags the Boot

New Zealand Test captain and Wests Tigers star five-eighth Benji Marshall, 25, has won the 21 Rugby League Golden Boot Award. Now in its 25th year, the prestigious award is presented to the game’s…

Gallantry Cross awarded

Gallantry Cross awarded

Wellington-born Rifleman James McKie, 29, a member of the British Forces, has been presented with the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross at Buckingham Palace. McKie was providing security for a new patrol base when a live…

Swell Protection

Swell Protection

Nineteen New Zealand top surf breaks will now be officially protected from inappropriate use and development under the revised New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement which came into effect in early December. New Zealand is…

Lifestyle for sale

Lifestyle for sale

A Waimauku three-bedroom cedar home on five acres is advertised for sale in a recent New York Times. Priced between $1.2 and 1.4 million, the main house has a steeply sloped asymmetrical roof and…

Gimblett’s workspace

Gimblett’s workspace

Auckland photographer John Savage and Auckland-born New York painter Max Gimblett have collaborated on a book from Italian art publisher Charta about Gimblett’s studio and home on The Bowery. The book was launched at…

Back on the Wards

Back on the Wards

Auckland-born actor Martin Henderson is profiled by Canadian television station site Global Lethbridge. Henderson, who currently lives in Los Angeles, will soon appear on the American small screen as “legendary Dr Ben Keeton” in…

Two shorts for Sundance

Two shorts for Sundance

Two New Zealand short films have been selected for the 27th Sundance Film Festival which runs from January 2 to 3. Both short films are part of a group of seven to be selected…

Volcanic adventure

Volcanic adventure

“The precipitous mist that clung to the peaks of this volcanic island did little to obscure the ominous scene that was quickly emerging in front of our boat,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Elisabeth Ponsot describes…

Steamy sightseeing

Steamy sightseeing

Rotorua’s “Buried Village is a museum where you can walk around the excavations and see a Victorian gentleman’s hat and Sunday best crockery preserved in mud as perfectly as were the artefacts from ancient…

Makarora patience

Makarora patience

The Makarora River, which enters Lake Wanaka from the north, is where the Edmonton Sun’s Neil Waugh heads to fish. “You quickly learn that New Zealand trout fishing is unlike most other…