Top New Zealand Radio Presenter Recognised Internationally
Radio New Zealand presenter Kim Hill has been awarded a Gold Medal for Best Talk Show Host by the Grand Jury at the 2013 New York Festival Radio Awards. This is Hill’s second major…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Internet Giant Launches Balloon Connection over Canterbury
Google has launched a balloon over Christchurch emitting an internet connection, which could connect to remote parts of the world to the web. “Project Loon” came to fruition in the South Island, where the…
Race to Save Maui’s Dolphin
With only 55 adults remaining, experts fear Maui’s dolphin will disappear entirely within the next 17 years unless urgent action is taken. An expert panel was appointed by the New Zealand government last year…
Lots of Impish Relations and More Aluna Than Aretha
Takapuna singer-songwriter Lorde, 16, “is about to make a big splash beyond blog-land,” according to The Guardian’s daily column “New Band”. “Think Lily meets Lana, only cuter and more cutting,” reviewer…
New Paint Job for National Carrier’s Aircraft
Air New Zealand has unveiled a new livery for its aircraft, which will feature an iconic silver fern, to adorn its entire fleet by the end of 2014. The new look will phase out…
Transport Man Made Tough Decisions from the Top
Nelson-born Frank Baldwin, who died in March aged 81, was “known for a career marked by innovation and a certain amount of controversy,” Mark Juddery writes in an obituary for The Sydney Morning Herald….
French Left Scoreless with All Black Aerial Bombardment
New skipper Kieran Read has led the All Blacks to victory over France winning the Dave Gallaher Cup and celebrating their 500th Test with a resounding 30-0 full-time score. An astute kicking…
Wanaka Area Boasts Otherworldly Scenery
“‘If you’re walking up to Lake Crucible, then it’s a good grunt,” explains the lady checking us in for the Siberia Experience; one of the most spectacular ways of seeing the Southern…
Artist Will Light Up Sydney at 2013 NYE’s Party
Former guitarist for band Mental as Anything, New Zealand visual artist Reg Mombassa, 61, has been named the City of Sydney’s NYE13’s creative ambassador. This year’s theme will be “shine”. Kylie Minogue had Sydney…
NSA Intelligence Not Sure Against Citizens PM Tells Parliament
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said in Parliament that the country does not use foreign intelligence agencies to circumvent local laws or illegally spy on citizens, but declined to say whether the controversial…
Famed Potter Found Answers in Social Artform
New Zealand-based potter Mirek Smíšek, who won fame with his ceramic artifacts for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, has died in Wellington, aged 88. Smíšek and his wife made some 700 vases,…
New Zealand Tourism Up Thanks to Middle-Earth
New Zealand has seen a boast to its international tourism as a result of the first Hobbit film released in December 2012, says government agency Tourism New Zealand. Figures released by the agency this…
New Zealander Directs “Engrossing” Documentary
New Zealand documentary film maker Sally Rowe is continuing to make an impression with her documentary A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt. The film is an “engrossing full-length documentary” that…
From Bermuda Merton Painted Far from Roots
Christchurch-born artist Owen Merton was an accomplished Post-Impressionist painter who did some of his best work in Bermuda; a selection of these paintings feature in an article about Merton on the Bernnews website. “Primarily…
Signing Away Her Life and Giddy with Survival
“It was beginning to feel as if New Zealand’s national emblem wasn’t the silver fern, but the disclaimer form,” Guardian correspondent Rebecca Nicholson writes on a recent backpacking adventure throughout the country….
Use the Whole Chicken Recommends MasterChef Galetti
New Zealand chef Monica Galetti moved across the world for the chance to work with world-renowned Michel Roux Jnr at London’s Le Gavroche. Galetti has now been there for 10 years and…
Sookie Grows Up and Accepts Her Fate in New Season
New Zealand actress Anna Paquin, 30, features on the June cover of Manhattan magazine. Paquin tells the publication about the new season of cult show True Blood, in which she stars as…
Classifying Brilliant Antipodean Pinot Noirs
New Zealand’s pinot noirs seduce The Wall Street Journal’s Will Lyons with “some Antipodean brilliance”. “Unlike other fine wine regions such as France’s Bordeaux and Burgundy, where the best and most expensive wines have…
Standing Ovations in Holland for Douglas Wright’s rapt
Pre-eminent New Zealand choreographer and award-winning writer Douglas Wright’s work rapt was performed in The Hague at the prestigious Lucent Danstheater in April to standing ovations from sold-out houses. The invitation from one of…
New Zealand’s Oldest Driver Has No Plans to Give Up
Born before the first Model T rolled out of Henry Ford’s factory in Detroit, Northland man Bob Edwards, 105, is New Zealand’s oldest licensed driver – and one of the oldest in the…
Modern New Zealand Cuisine Hits New York
Auckland-born chef Matt Lambert’s new enterprise The Musket Room, is a “New Zealand-centric … upscale, casual neighborhood restaurant,” with “a wine list weighted to New Zealand selections beyond the usual…
Berkett Joins Guardian Media Group as Chairman
Departing Virgin Media chief executive New Zealander Neil Berkett has been named chairman of Guardian Media Group (GMG). During his six-year tenure in the same role at Virgin Media, New Zealand-born Berkett focused on…
Aaradhna Signs with Winehouse Label Republic Records
It has been a monumental year for Porirua-raised R&B singer Aaradhna Jayantilal Patel – better known by her stage name Aaradhna. The recording artist has secured an American record deal and won…
NZ Navy To Visit US Navy Base For First Time in 30 Years
A New Zealand navy ship will visit a US port in Guam for the first time in 30 years, in what NZ Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says is a further sign of thawing…
Jane Campion, ‘Child of Cannes’, Announces Festival Winners
NZ Film Director Jane Campion headed up the Short Film and Cinefoundation Jury at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival. Campion and her jurors awarded the Best Short Film Palme d’or to Safe, directed by…
Small’s Book One of Only a Few About Listening to Music
Palmerston North-born musicologist and writer Christopher Small’s book Musicking is one of three books, “and there aren’t many” – “about listening as process and reaction and ritual, how our listening might change music”– recommended…
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
“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’
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
“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
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
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
“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
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’
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
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
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
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
‘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
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
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…
Indonesia Seeks Better Trade Balance with NZ
Indonesia’s deputy Minister of Trade has called for New Zealand to evolve into a ‘true partner’ that will help Indonesia solve its problems, writes Ruth Le Pla for stuff.co.nz. Speaking at an Indonesia/New Zealand business…
Reserve Bank’s Intervention Marks ‘New Direction’ in Currency War
The Wall Street Journal uses the Reserve Bank of New Zealand’s recent action to bring down the NZ dollar as an example of the ‘new direction’ in what it calls the global currency…
Minister Blasts Department Over China Meat Export Bungle
A bungle by the NZ Ministry of Primary Industries (MPI) was responsible for NZ meat exports being held on Chinese wharves for up to two weeks, says stuff.co.nz. The hold-up was caused by MPI…
Bamiyan Fears for Future with NZ Troops Gone
‘There are New Zealand soldiers, so there is no Taliban. When they leave, the Taliban for sure will return,’ Ibrahim Chaman, a resident of Bamiyan, Afghanistan, told reporter Emma Graham- Harrison of The Guardian….
Royal NZ Navy Revisits Shanghai
The Royal New Zealand Navy frigate Te Mana, commanded by Commander Andel, visited China on a goodwill visit for five days in May, according to The Peoples Daily. The visit began at the Yangtze…
Jemaine and Bret’s Stateside Legacy
The legacy of Flight of the Conchords has been the creation of a new stereotype for New Zealanders travelling in the US, writes James Robinson. Robinson, a New Zealand journalist who lives in San…
NZ’s ‘Papple’ Pear Makes Dream California Debut
‘Like an Asian pear with flavour’, the Papple is a NZ bred and grown cross of various Asian pears. The Papple has just made its Californian debut at Gelson’s markets, one of America’s premiere supermarket…
Huawei Founder Choses NZ to Speak to Media for First Time
Huawei Technologies Founder Ren Zhengfei chose New Zealand for his first ever media briefing, The Wall Street Journal reports. ‘New Zealand may be a tiny market for most global companies, but for Chinese telecommunications…
NZ Rugby Sevens Win 11th World Title
New Zealand crowned their Rugby World Sevens title for 2012/13 with victory in the final tournament at London. The victory came with a 47-12 ‘thrashing’ of Australia, says The Age. Coach Gordon Tietjens’ team…
