Cyber-policing
In Porirua, New Zealand, the thin blue line has turned into the thin blue URL in the fight against crime. Police have decided to enlist the use of a website as a way to…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Russell Crowe: Hollywood Actor of the Year
Russell Crowe was named Hollywood Actor of the Year at the Hollywood Film Festival Awards held at the Beverly Hilton on August 7th. Internet users voted online at Entertainment Tonight site ETonline.com and Reel.com…
Sheep Shearer’s Delight Strolling the Paris Catwalks
Watch out Rod: “you wouldn’t want to mess with a girl like Rach. She is an Alp of a woman. Throw in the facial features of a young Judy Finnegan, a formidable Sports Illustrated…
New Zealand Firm to Introduce CNG Equipment to Pakistan
Prescon Technology Limited has been chosen to introduce quality Compressed Natural Gas equipment to Pakistan, as well as introducing new and cheap water filters for domestic and commercial treatment plants. The aim of the enterprise is to…
All Black Diplomacy
Kiwi Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Don McKinnon, is “a New Zealander in the traditional mould … he’s a refreshing antidote to the blandness of his three predecessors, who knew that if they stopped being boring they were…
Just Add Soap and Hey Presto: 20m Geyser!
In the notes and queries section of the Guardian a reader enquires about the practice of putting soap down geyser spouts to stimulate eruption. Leo Pyle elaborates on the science of the practice by refering to…
NZ Research Finds Anticholesteral Drug May Modify Stroke Risk
Pravastatin, a drug used to help lower blood cholesterol levels, may have a role to play in stroke prevention according to research (published in The New England Journal of Medicine) led by Dr Harvey D. White of…
Sam Neill: vintage celebrity
The Telegraph investigates the latest celebrity trend: the wine-making lifestyle: accessorise with vines, winery and bottling linel. Kiwi Sam Neill makes the star vigneron along with Aussie golfer Greg Norman, French actor Gerrard Depardieu,…
‘Human’ Cow Milk an MS Aid?
The lush pasture of some of New Zealand’s finest farming land will soon be home to a special herd of cows. New Zealand’s state-owned agricultural research institute has just won government approval for a five-year field trial…
Kiwi Banker Helps Bosnia Rebuild
As the Bosnian economy struggles to recover from the ravages of war, its citizens are struggling to accept the recovering local currency. “The most telling detail on the new Bosnian currency is the signature on every…
Sport of Kiwis
New Zealand beat South Africa 11-10 after withstanding an onslaught in the final chukka, to win the BMW polo series 2-0 in Durban. They won the first test 10-8 and showed the benefit of professional experience,…
Getting Jiggy: Bolstad Axes the Competition at ESPN Outdoor Games
Dave Bolstad “considered to be one of the world’s best” of Taumarunui won the most medals at the inaugural ESPN Outdoor Games held in the last week of July. The timber expert and world champion axeman…
Anna’s new rhythm
Vanity Fair profiles the maturing of Kiwi actress Anna Paquin, from precocious Oscar winner in Jane Campion’s The Piano, to upcoming roles in Bryan Singer’s blockbusting sci-fi flick X-Men and Cameron Crowe’s 70’s rock…
Taking You to the Edge … and Jumping Off
“Not so long ago, New Zealand was finding it hard to shake off its “beautiful but boring” tag. It may have been renowned for its spectacular scenery – dramatic mountains and sweeping coast lines -…
Edge Exposure
Fiona McCann might have frozen as she hitchhiked around the South Island, but she was comforted by the warmth of Kiwi hospitality in “the thrill inducing, stomach curdling adventure capital of the world”. On the soft side…
Holy Boy! From Nintendo to Nepal
A Kiwi kid is giving up his game-boy, chicken nuggets, cricket, pokemon, and other typical Kiwi 7year-old delights to study Buddhist philosophy and rituals at a monastry in India for the next 15 years….
Poetic shock tactics
An extensive Guardian profile of New Zealand poet Fleur Adcock that elaborates on everything from her OBE, the end of her muse, her relationship with Barry Crump (“New Zealand’s answer to George Best or…
“Luck Star” shines in Shanghai
Lydia, an 8-year old New Zealand girl attended, with her father, the 2000 Shanghai International Children’s Art Festival. She was picked as one of the honour guests from millions of children who registered on…
Edge Theory from Miami
A Kiwi in Miami offers a defence of the urge to retain national identity and pushes the New Zealand edge: “I met my American husband in my homeland where he lived many years and gained citizenship……
“They Kiss With Their Noses in New Zealand”
In an exploration of social climbing etiquette the Philippine Star explores the kissing conventions around the globe, from the Latin influenced beso-beso, to hand kissing in France, to bowing in Japan to Maori hongi in New…
Hallertau hops give organic beer a bite
Bateman’s a family owned organic brewery in Lincolnshire has joined the swelling ranks of organic beers with Yella Betty Bitter, brewed with organic chariot pale malt and Hallertau hops from New Zealand – “wonderfully…
A Leftist Free-trader: Oxymoore-onic?
Kiwi WTO chief Mike Moore, speaking to an audience of young socialists in Sweden responds to criticism of the World Trade Organisation “It is odd that some on the left have sometimes opposed free trade. If…
A Bob Either Way
“The only cast-iron certainty in golf right now is that New Zealand veteran, Bob Charles, will finish in the top six in the British Seniors Open.” The Belfast Telegraph correctly placed its bet on the Kiwi left…
Biking Versus Hiking and the DOC Peacemaker
Mountain biker Yuri Kuzyk takes issue with an Ottawa Citizen article claiming that mountain biking erodes mountain trails in Gatineau Park. He cites the hard science of a 1995 New Zealand Department of Conservation Study that shows…
Natural History New Zealand double Emmy nomination
Natural History New Zealand writers Ian McGee (who won NZ’s first Emmy last year) and Quinn Berentson were nominated for their for an episode “The Rat” in the 13 part series Twisted Tales co-produced…
Crunchies for a flat stomach
Looking to get in shape for her acting career Kiwi supermodel Rachel Hunter enlisted the help of SunWoman who came up with a brilliant eating plan which included Hunter’s favourite foods: Crunchie bars, Frosties,…
Cyberpunk Sisters
Female hackers have proved so elusive that they slip under the radar of sociologists. ABC News investigates part of an underground subculture better known for the misogynistic stink of a high school boys’ locker room – geek…
Dionysian Olympic Success
“Eventually, excellence of all sorts is rewarded, and one day New Zealand will be able to show off its medals.” The New York Times explores the success of New Zealand’s contender in the wine making Olympics:…
On Top of the Brief
The Times profiles New Zealander Carrie de Duluin, Personal Assistant to Serena Rees and Joseph Corré (son of Vivienne Westwood), creators of Agent Provocateur, the label that gave new meaning to “naughty, but nice”…
Cate Blanchett Talks About Me, My Elf and I
Blanchett, Academy Award nominated for her performance in Elizabeth is in the final stages of filming another Queen, the role of elf Galadriel in Lord of the Rings. Blanchett explains why an attraction to…
On Taupo Pond
Sucking the marrow out life isn’t quite as easy as it seems: “I once sat for a whole day fishing on New Zealand’s Lake Taupo, enjoying the sunshine and the superlative smoked salmon … pretending to…
Bloodlust ballet brings in the crowds in Australia
The Royal New Zealand Ballet’s Dracula is slaying audiences across the Tasman. Described as “grand gothic entertainment layering gloom, psychological gutsiness and new eroticism over a hackneyed old plot” it has opened in Melbourne…
NZ Victim of Black May Massacre
An official inquiry has only just been launched into the infamous Thai massacre where Kiwi Brendan Mahoney was almost killed eight years ago. He was staring up towards Bangkok’s democracy monument on a balmy…
Kiwi President of Iconoclastic Toronto Advertising Agency
New Zealander David Fong was earlier this year appointed President of Toronto advertising agency TBWA/Chiat/Day and along with Creative Director Jamie Way has turned the agencies flagging fortunes around with the attraction of some…
The Panthenon, the Pyramids, Eiffel Tower … Christchurch?
In a Chicago Tribune survey of readers’ favourite man-made destinations, Christchurch came in tied for 14th as the place most readers would like to travel to, ahead of the Taj Mahal, Leaning Tower of Pisa and Disney…
Silence is Regulated Golden
Not doing a great deal to dispel the stereotype of the loud-mouthed ocker, an article on the art and science of noise in the Sydney Morning Herald looks at the menace of noise pollution,…
Anti Spam Crusade
A Palmerston North, New Zealand-based firm ORBS (Open Relay Behaviour-Modification Service) is joining the crusade to save the suffering masses from the indignity of spam. Identifying culpable open servers, ORBS then persuades their administrators to close…
Newzedge Footnote: “I Link Therefore I Am”
Paying tribute to the emblematic (and Kiwi conceived) Arts and Letters Daily, Jenny Lynn Bader writes, “There are entire publications on the Web that are just indexes of other publications … an imaginatively hyperlinked…
More *Aussies* to join
Putting more Kiwis in Kangeroo skins and calling them Aussies, news.com.au reports that four more ‘Australian’ actors have been added to the cast of George Lucas next Star Wars movie, including Martin Csokas, formerly…
More Rings Buzz
No, not the Lord of the Rings … amidst speculation about upcoming productions of Wagner’s Ring Cycle, New Zealand soprano Margaret Medlyn has been picked to sing the part of Kundry in the State…
The End of an Aussie Icon: Hats off to NZ Scientists
“It just may spell the end of the world’s ugliest headgear: that staple of the Australian tourist shop regular, the cork-fringed hat.” Two researchers from Massey University have developed a technique that kills female fruit flies in…
Immunising Roadkill to Protect Livestock?
Imagine a countryside filled with possum traps, not designed to kill, but to entice the pesky pest in for a quick facial spray to vaccinate them against bovine TB. Hailing some edge thinking the Guardian writes: “It…
Guinness Peat Told to Bugger off and Have a Beer
New Zealand listed corporate raider Guinness Peat’s edge proved too sharp at Young & Co (Britain’s oldest brewery), after chairman John Young turned the screws on them using megaphone diplomacy. Despite having support from ‘A’ investors, private…
Rutherford and Oliphant: the Physics of the Affair
From tree-pruning to atom bombs, on the death of physicist Sir Mark Oliphant the Guardian remembers the contribution his friendship with Sir Ernest Rutherford made to Twentieth Century science, ” greatest personal triumphs in science came in…
Cut Along and Make It Your Own Way: Magnificent Cycling on the Road
The South China Morning Post’s took the North to South bicycle route through through the magnificent volcanic landscapes, tumbling glaciers and rugged coastlines of Aotearoa, and reflected back in the office: “Already I was yearning to be…
As Good as It Gets? Back in Black!
“The jagged edge is back to New Zealand’s game, the legal violence of execution beneath the blades of the All Black harvester,” writes the Sydney Morning Herald. We couldn’t have said it better. Shell-shocked Aussie captain John…
Pass the Budder
The Guardian explores the new linguistic imperialism and the effects of media on language: a New Zealand researcher has found that, under the influence of programmes like Eastenders, increased glottalisation of the dialect has occured….
World Cup Win for Waddell
Kiwi World Champion Rob Waddell confirmed his Gold Medal prospects for the single sculls at the Sydney Olympics by winning the World Cup in Zurich. The Kiwi four also caused a oarsome upset becoming the first…
The Truth is Out There
An international effort to find biological life in the stars, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (‘Sophia’), a joint project between NASA and the German Aerospace Centre, will spend two months of every year in New Zealand, the…
Kiwi singer new sensation in INXS
Two years after the death of Michael Hutchence, Australian rock legends INXS have announced that they will return with former Noiseworks lead-singer Kiwi Jon Stevens at the mike. “We’ve got to get on with…
Wellywood
Hobbits boost the local carpentry trade: “They haven’t begun construction of a new Hollywood sign yet on the steep hills that encircle New Zealand`s capital city of Wellington, but it would not be surprising…
Xerox CEO Finds Copy of Heaven in Godzone
Asked to describe his most memorable trip, Dodo Cu-Unjieng, CEO of Philippine Fujitsu Xerox, answers (of course): New Zealand. “We were constantly overwhelmed by the beauty of the country. We would comment that when God…
Kiwi Metric Model
Well, hardly on the edge, but a Canadian tourist bicycling through New Zealand has managed to tear his eyes away from the scenery long enough to notice the benefits of the firm application of the metric…
Organic Expert Export
Organic farmer Evelyn Eng-Lim is introducing the organic lifestyle to Singapore and hopes to set an example for other farmers to follow, “If other farmers see that it is commercially viable, then they will be convinced…
“The Greatest Game Ever Played? This One’s the Winner”
A world record crowd at Stadium Australia witnessed what was acclaimed as one of the great test matches. A waltzing Jonah scored the winning try in injury time in a miraculous end to a thrilling match,…
Bob Charles Swings into History
On the occasion of the millennium British Open the Royal and Ancient celebrated past champions, including Kiwi Bob Charles: “Thirty-seven years after he became the first left-hander to win the title, New Zealander Bob Charles still swings…
