June 2013 Archives

Life Behind Many Doors in a Vintage Ho Chi Minh Home

Life Behind Many Doors in a Vintage Ho Chi Minh Home

New Zealand engineer Rick Stockley and his wife Rosie Pollard, 30, a choreographer, were not planning to move in October 2011, but a surprise offer prompted them to reconsider. Some acquaintances were going to…

Skimming Shallow Waters at Breathtaking Speed

Skimming Shallow Waters at Breathtaking Speed

“Shortly after the invention of the jet unit by New Zealander Bill Hamilton, the Melhop brothers started the world’s first commercial jet boating on the Shotover River in 1960,” Richard Irwin writes for the…

Naked and Famous ‘Have Winning Formula’

Naked and Famous ‘Have Winning Formula’

New Zealand techno-pop quintet The Naked and Famous have a winning formula, says Tom Lanham, writing in the San Francisco Examiner. But it took a while for others to comprehend, Lanham writes. “I had…

American Football Lineman Going Far

American Football Lineman Going Far

New Zealander Nic Purcell “is the most improbable player in Eagles camp this summer”, according to Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia. The 27-year-old lineman grew up playing basketball and rugby and never set foot on…

In the League of Flavins and Filling Up La Pietà with Flotsam

In the League of Flavins and Filling Up La Pietà with Flotsam

Artist Bill Culbert is representing New Zealand at this year’s Venice Biennale with a series of three-in-one works occupying nine rooms in the Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, including the ongoing Daylight Flotsam…

New Zealand Sailors Dominate Rugby Field

New Zealand Sailors Dominate Rugby Field

Crew from the Royal New Zealand Navy Frigate Te Mana took on sailors from the USS George Washington aircraft carrier near Yokusuka Naval Base, Japan, in the final of a 10-aside tournament, beating the…

Rugged Coast a Place of Refuge for Hillary

Rugged Coast a Place of Refuge for Hillary

Sir Edmund Hillary’s daughter, Sarah reflects on the area in New Zealand – along the wild coast of the Waitakere Ranges – where the mountaineer found refuge, from the attention that followed his conquest…

Gender Never Discussed in Castle Appointment

Gender Never Discussed in Castle Appointment

Netball New Zealand head Raelene Castle, 42, has been appointed chief executive of the Bulldogs, the first time an NRL club has hired a woman for the top job. Bulldogs chairman Ray Dib said…

Skincare Made Beautiful by the Bees

Skincare Made Beautiful by the Bees

New Zealand actress and founder of Kalon Skincare, Anna Wilding, talks with The Times of Northwest Indiana about the benefits of bee venom as a beauty treatment. “We make a premium grade…

Reviving the Legacy of a Great Chieftain

Reviving the Legacy of a Great Chieftain

“After 150 years of marginalisation, things are finally looking up for the ,” Yasmine Ryan writes for Al Jazeera. “The central New Zealand town of Matamata is world renowned for its thoroughbred horse…

New Zealand Union Coaches Taking over the World

New Zealand Union Coaches Taking over the World

The appointment of Vern Cotter as next head coach of Scotland is testament to the quality of rugby coaches that have been developed in New Zealand, according to Steve Hansen. The 51-year-old’s appointment means…

‘Courageous’ and ‘Comical’ Ali Williams Calls Time on All Black Career

‘Courageous’ and ‘Comical’ Ali Williams Calls Time on All Black Career

New Zealand’s second highest-capped lock Ali Williams announced his retirement from international rugby, the Chicago Tribune reports. The 32-year-old had played 77 tests for the world champion All Blacks in his 10-year international career. Ian…

Leave the Hillary Step Ladderless Urges American Mountaineer

Leave the Hillary Step Ladderless Urges American Mountaineer

“Sixty years ago this week, as Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay approached the summit of the world’s highest mountain, they were stopped by a 40-foot wall of rock and ice,” American mountaineer Ed Viesturs…

NZ’s WWII Polish Orphans Impress and Inspire Pulitzer Prize Winner

NZ’s WWII Polish Orphans Impress and Inspire Pulitzer Prize Winner

Anne Applebaum is an American journalist and historian. She is a Pulitzer Prize winner for Gulag: A History, a remarkable and eye-opening account of the horrors and madness of the Soviet penal system. Recently,…

Former Press Editor Wins ‘Friend of NZ Award’

Former Press Editor Wins ‘Friend of NZ Award’

Andrew Holden, former Christchurch Press and now Age editor-in-chief, was honoured with the prestigious 2013 Friend of New Zealand award for his ‘brave efforts’ in ensuring the people of Christchurch received vital information during…

New Zealand in Midst of Year-long Earthquake

New Zealand in Midst of Year-long Earthquake

For the past five months a magnitude 7 earthquake, centred near Wellington, has been slowly rocking the country. It’s the strongest earthquake to hit the region in 150 years says The New Zealand Herald,…

Reviving Palates with Lifting Fruit and Zesty Acidity

Reviving Palates with Lifting Fruit and Zesty Acidity

Of the 32 vintages of 2011 and 2012 Marlborough sauvignon blanc tasted at the Dallas Morning News and TexSom Wine Competition, nine were awarded gold medals, “an exceptionally high proportion for any…

Quantum Move with Australian Pharmaceutical Acquisition

Quantum Move with Australian Pharmaceutical Acquisition

New Zealand’s Ebos Group Ltd. has reached a $1.1 billion deal to buy Australian pharmaceutical supplier Zuellig Healthcare Holdings, in what would be the biggest acquisition by a New Zealand-based company in two years….

Les Munroe, ‘Dambuster’ Pilot Marks 70 Years Since Daring WW2 Raid

Les Munroe, ‘Dambuster’ Pilot Marks 70 Years Since Daring WW2 Raid

‘Older people still recall the grim days of 1943 and remember the good news – when that was a rare commodity – that Germany’s massive dams were breached by an elite squadron of British…

Mighty River Float Raises $NZ 1.7 Billion

Mighty River Float Raises $NZ 1.7 Billion

Some 110,000 New Zealanders bought shares in the Mighty River Power float, and around 68,000 of these may be first-time investors. However, the NZ Green Party claims that half the shares sold went to…

Child Poverty ‘Stains’ NZ’s Human Rights Record Says Amnesty

Child Poverty ‘Stains’ NZ’s Human Rights Record Says Amnesty

Amnesty International blasted New Zealand for its high rate of child poverty, and its poor treatment of female domestic violence victims and asylum seekers. The condemnations came in Amnesty’s 2013 Global Report on Human…