Healthy Competition
A NZ healthy fast food chain has opened its first European outlet in Glasgow, Scotland. Owner Conrad van der Klundert believes that Reload, a South Island-based juice, salad and sandwich bar, can take…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
A Star Among Men
Frank Bateson, one of the world’s most respected astronomers, has died in Tauranga aged 97. Born in Wellington in 1909, Bateson was the internationally acknowledged expert on variable stars (those which intermittently vary in brightness)….
Blanket Bay Among World’s Best
Queenstown’s Blanket Bay Lodge has been selected as the best lodge in the world by the US Discovery Travel & Living channel. Blanket Bay will feature on Discovery’s new Five-Star Insider series alongside the world’s best…
NZ Triathletes Dominate at Ishigaki
NZ athletes dominated at Japan’s Ishigaki Island World Cup series triathlon, despite their lack of a gold medal finish. Bevan Docherty, Kris Gemmell, Shane Reed and Andrew Hewitt finished second, third, fourth and sixth in the…
Fight night
Two New Zealanders have been nominated for the 2007 Taurus World Stunt Awards. Ben Cooke (pictured) and Kirk Maxwell are both up for Best Fight, for their work in Casino Royale and…
Icon and Storyteller Who Inspired All
Veteran actor and filmmaker Don Selwyn has died aged 71 after a long illness. Selwyn was a founding member of the New Zealand Maori Theatre Trust and He Taonga Films, and was…
Auckland Pioneers Landing Technique
Auckland International Airport is leading the world in trialling a landing method designed to reduce fuel use and emissions. Beginning April 18, the test landings will see selected Air NZ and Qantas jets glide into the…
Tributes Flow for Reading Expert
Educators the world over have mourned the loss of Dame Marie Clay, an internationally renowned reading expert who has died in Auckland aged 81. Clay was a leading figure in the International Reading Association…
Big pond, big promise
Wellington singer/songwriter Brooke Fraser relocated to Sydney three years ago, hoping to create an Australian following to rival the one she enjoys back home. In NZ, Fraser’s first album – What to do…
Cliff’s time in the sun
NZ actor Cliff Curtis has a starring role in Sunshine, the latest critically acclaimed film by English director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later). The film is a futuristic sci-fi thriller about…
Planned to Perfection
The Toronto Star reports on the wonder of Victorian-era town planning that is Christchurch, NZ. Prior to its December 1850 settlement, Christchurch was designed to be a replica of the ideal English, Anglican town – right…
Something for Everyone
The recent volcanic lahar at Mount Ruapehu has done nothing to put off eager skiers, from NZ or overseas. As a news.com.au article points out, visitors continued to ski and snowboard both during and immediately after the…
Keats Inspires New Campion Film
The doomed love affair between English poet John Keats and his neighbour, Fanny Brawne, is to be the subject of a literary biopic written and directed by Oscar-winning NZ filmmaker, Jane Campion. Keats and…
Cheap Solar Power a Step Closer
Massey University researchers have developed a novel means of harnessing solar energy, at a fraction of the price. Scientists at the university’s Nanomaterials Research Centre have produced a range of coloured synthetic dyes for use in dye-sensitised…
Te Mata in Dream Opener
Hawkes Bay’s Te Mata Estate will open next month’s London International Wine and Spirits Fair (LIWSF) with a tasting celebrating 25 years of its flagship Cabernet/Merlot, Coleraine. Te Mata CEO John Buck and winemaker Peter Cowley will…
“A Little Savage From New Zealand”
A Telegraph review of Penguin’s Collected Stories of Katherine Mansfield celebrates the influential author’s short yet remarkable life. Born in Wellington in 1888, Mansfield made a strong and lasting impression on the London literary…
More Gold for Kendall
NZ sporting legend Barbara Kendall is back in the spotlight after winning the women’s RS:X windsurfing event at the Princess Sofia Trophy regatta in Palma, Spain. The three-time Olympic medallist was also named the overall Princess…
Fresh Perspective on Antarctica
A NZ doctoral student and her Dutch counterpart have initiated a radical new program to involve the humanities and social sciences in Antarctic research. Canterbury University’s Daniela Haase and Machiel Lamers of the University of Maastricht launched…
Zambesi Marches on Moscow
NZ fashion label Zambesi has netted its largest ever international account. Zambesi will be stocked in Moscow’s soon-to-open Cara & Co concept store, which describes itself as a “deluxe boutique for intellectuals.” Label owners…
Praise for Bright and Vital
Ferris South Australian Liberal Senator Jeannie Ferris has died after a two-year battle with ovarian cancer. Born in NZ, Ferris studied agribusiness and worked as a journalist and political adviser before entering Australian parliament…
Writing in the margins
Auckland writer Tzeming Mok spoke about globalization and the Chinese Diaspora at last month’s Shanghai Literature Festival. Mok, a published poet, author, blogger and journalist, is known for writing about issues of displacement, with…
Smither reveals wild side over tea and cake
NZ poet laureate Elizabeth Smither was a guest speaker at the recent Kuala Lumpur International Literary Festival. A journalist interviewing her for the Malaysian Star was amazed at her calm and easygoing persona, which…
NZ a Modern Treasure Hunter’s Dream
NZ features in a “21st century treasure map” for entrepreneurial Americans, published by Inc. magazine. The interactive online map is a guide for American business owners looking for international opportunities. The NZ economy is described as one…
Stamps Commemorate Centenaries
NZ Post has issued a series of stamps celebrating the centenaries of four organisations that have played a major role in the country’s history. Released April 24, the stamps pay tribute to Suzanne Aubert’s House of…
Surf Secrets Revealed
Artificial Surf Reefs (ASR) co-founder Kerry Black has been profiled by CNN. Black, a former Waikato University professor, has spent the last few years perfecting the world’s first fully adjustable computer-controlled reef. He expects the technology to…
Herne Bay Haven
Wallpaper’s April issue includes a Pacific-inspired Herne Bay home designed Auckland’s Stevens Lawson Architects. “For us, it’s the ultimate modernist abstraction,” says architect Nicholas Stevens of the impressive structure, which features a…
Mason Wins at Raglan
NZ surfer Airini Mason has scored her second Billabong Pro Junior Series title for 2007 by winning the girls’ division of the $13,000 Raglan leg. The 18-year-old beat pre-event ratings leader Sally Fitzgibbons (Gerroa,…
Fashionable Folk
Australia’s Frankie magazine features an 8-page spread on NZ “fashionable folk” in its April/May issue. Students, models and DJ’s are asked to name their favourite hang-outs, shopping haunts and things about NZ while wearing…
Toast of TriBeCa
New Zealander Claire Fergusson has become a mainstay of the annual TriBeCa Open Artist Studio Tour (TOAST) in New York. TOAST is a free, self-guided tour of around 100 studios in the TriBeCa…
Incredible Journey Revealed
Massey University ecologists are conducting a groundbreaking study of the bar-tailed godwit’s northern migration. While the 11,000 km southern migration of the godwit from Alaska to NZ is thought to be the longest non-stop flight by any…
McCarten joins local colour
Auckland-born Donald McCarten is a featured artist in the upcoming ColorField.remix event in Washington D.C. The four-month event celebrates the American capital’s influential 1950s/1960s Color Field visual art movement, of which McCarten…
Chinese tour for RNZB
The Royal New Zealand Ballet is set for its first tour of China since 1985. The company has been invited to perform at the Shanghai International Arts Festival in November and will stage further…
Schoolgirls Spill the Juice
A science experiment by two Auckland schoolgirls has resulted in a major lawsuit against GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the world’s second-largest food and pharmaceutical company. In 2004, Pakuranga College students Anna Devathasan and Jenny Suo (then 14) tested several…
Clark Visits Oval Office
Helen Clark made an official visit to Washington last month, in what was her second such meeting with President Bush and just the third between NZ and US leaders in the last 24 years. Bush described Clark…
The Future of Fabric
Auckland-based Zephyr Technology Ltd has developed “smart fabric” for the US army which is capable of monitoring wearers’ vital signs. The patented fabric works through flexible sensors which detect and measure displacement, distance, pressure and bio-data. Wireless…
Queen of the Track
Current world champ Katherine Prumm enjoyed back to back wins in the opening round of the Australian Women’s Motocross Championships in Victoria. The South Auckland Kawasaki rider was her own harshest critic, claiming “I…
Piano plagiarism causes aesthetic dilemma
Denis Dutton, Canterbury University professor and founding editor of Arts & Letters Daily, writes about a “scandal unparalleled in the annals of classical music” for the New York Times. Dutton’s piece explores the…
Lullabies and Love Songs
Dean Wareham of Dean & Britta recently toured the US with a well-received new album, Back Numbers. Born in Wellington, Wareham first emerged on the New York indie scene in 1991 with the…
Double Victory in Pakistan
NZ cyclists Robin Reid and Justin Kerr have completed a 1-2 victory in the annual Tour de Pakistan road race. Reid won the gruelling 1,648km rally with a time of 44 hours, 59 minutes and 33 seconds….
Victory in Hong Kong
NZ horse trainer Paul O’Sullivan has leapt to second place on the trainer’s premiership table thanks to a stunning feature win in Hong Kong. Together with Australian jockey Brett Prebble and NZ-bred horse Vital King, O’Sullivan won…
Falklands History Discovered in NZ
An important piece of Falklands War history has been discovered by New Zealander Neil Shaw on the eve of the conflict’s 25th anniversary. A former member of the British Antarctic Survey, Shaw discovered the message…
Substance Over Style
The Guardian’s Simon Mills is the latest travel writer to fall for Great Barrier Island’s rustic charms. Home to just 800 people, the island has no mains electricity or centralised plumbing system and once famously refused…
Courage Under Fire Remembered
Maori WW2 hero Lance Sgt. Haane Manahi has been posthumously honoured by the Queen, 64 years after being denied the Commonwealth’s top gallantry award, the Victoria Cross. The Duke of York presented Manahi’s…
Economics World Loses Star Thinker
John McMillan, the man who “could make Economics jump right off the page,” has died from cancer complications aged 56. Born in Christchurch, McMillan taught economics at America’s Stanford Graduate School of Business since 1999. “John in…
Westenra joins Celtic Woman
NZ soprano Hayley Westenra is currently touring the US with Irish group “Celtic Woman”. The group of five women – four singers and a fiddler – shot to fame on the back of a…
International appeal
Valerie Reid’s Sand Dancer has won Best Documentary in its first US screening, at the Foursite Film Festival in Utah. The award is the latest in a string of wins for the…
Legend of The Bear Lives On
NZ car racing great Denny Hulme was the subject of a retrospective article on the sport in the Guardian. Known as The Bear for his rugged looks and gruff manner, Hulme dominated Formula One…
Tribute to Peter Munz
Historian, author and Victoria University of Wellington emeritus professor Peter Munz has died aged 85. Born in Chemnitz, Germany, Munz was part of the wave of mostly Jewish intellectuals who fled fascist…
Making Poetry Out of Darkness
A profile of novelist, poet and critic CK Stead focuses on both his historical prominence in the NZ literary scene and his remarkable late-life burst of creativity. Last year, Stead (74) published his eleventh…
Paradise Home to Future Leaders
Paradise, NZ, could be home to the first United World College (UWC) in Australasia, and just the second in the southern hemisphere. Based on the philosophy of Kurt Hahn, who also founded the Outward…
Triumphant return to the airwaves
Te Kuiti-born comic Tony Martin has made a brilliant return to Australian radio with the success of his Get This show on Triple M. Martin was regarded as one of Australian radio’s leading figures…
New Era in Online Advertising
NZ internet entrepreneurs Firstlight are emerging as world leaders in online advertising with their Editorial Related Advertising (E|R|A) programme. With offices in Bangalore (content support), New York (sales) and Wellington (research and development), Firstlight have developed what…
Impossible is Nothing to Lomu
All Black legend Jonah Lomu is one of 21 elite athletes to feature in the latest advertising campaign by Adidas. Titled Impossible is Nothing, the series shows internationally recognised sports figures discussing how they overcame adversity in their…
Being Nice Makes Business Sense
Tourism NZ has launched a new campaign encouraging Australians to travel to NZ at different times of the year. At the same time, it urges New Zealanders to ease up on the traditional taunting…
Real achievement
Dunedin artist Peter Lyons has found critical and commercial success in the US after being “discovered” while working as a security guard at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Lyons’ strikingly rendered…
NZ Retreat in Roppongi
Tourism NZ and Air NZ are co-sponsors of the New Zealand Travel Cafe, recently opened in Tokyo’s Roppongi entertainment district. The café serves NZ burgers, beer, wine and ice cream, plays NZ music and houses a…
