Wellington Most Liveable City Second Year Running
The city shocked many when it was ranked the most liveable city in the world last year, but it won’t surprise Wellingtonians to learn it has kept that number one spot in 2018, mayor…
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Scientist Richard Dawkins Considers Move to NZ
The British scientist Richard Dawkins has told current affairs programme The Project he would like to move to New Zealand as a refuge from the “madness” of a post-Trump, post-Brexit northern hemisphere. “I thought about…
Helen Clark Talks Global Health and Gender Equality
In a joint opinion piece for Project Syndicate former New Zealand prime minister and UNDP administrator Helen Clark discusses gender equality and global public health. Organizations advocating for improved public health…
Ways to Better Water Quality in NZ Lakes and Rivers
“Two years ago, New Zealanders were shocked when contaminated drinking water sickened more than 5000 people in the small town of Havelock North, with a population of 14,000,” writes Professor Troy Baisden, chair of…
Peter Gordon’s “Who’s Cooking Dinner?” “Top Foodie Fundraising Event”
Top foodie fundraising event “Who’s Cooking Dinner” 2018 boasted a line-up of 20 chefs and 15 Michelin stars. At the annual event which was hosted by Leuka, diners in attendance were assigned to…
Getting More Done in a Four-Day Week
On the first long weekend of her employer’s experiment with a four-day working week, Kirsten Taylor freaked out a little bit. Like a housework hurricane, she got through mounds of clothes-washing, weeded the garden,…
On the Rodeo Trail in New Zealand
Animal activists are calling for rodeos to be banned in New Zealand, but cowboys say bull riding is their calling. Eleanor Ainge Roy and Paul Roy report on the controversial sport in a photo…
NZ Government Joins UN Clean Seas Campaign
“New Zealand has become the latest country to sign up to the five-year long United Nations Environment #CleanSeas campaign to rid our oceans of plastic,” reports Australian sailing publication My…
New Zealand One of Ten Happiest Countries
New Zealand has been ranked the eighth happiest country in the 2018 World Happiness Report released by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network for the United Nations. CNN reports. Finland took…
Jacinda Ardern’s Favourite Kiwi Hangouts
“At just 37 years of age, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is the world’s youngest female Head of Government.” Vacations & Travel Magazine spoke to Ardern about her favourite spots in Auckland…
Summer Heatwave Sets All-Time Record
“New Zealand has sweltered through its hottest summer on record and can expect more of the same if climate change continues unabated, the government’s scientific agency said Tuesday,” an article in
NZ Company Offers Employees $10 a Day to Cycle to Work
Christchurch advertising company Make Collective “is offering hard cash to employees who bike to work every day in a bid to energise staff and move the city away from a…
New Zealand Is the World’s Least Corrupt Nation
New Zealand has been identified as the world’s least corrupt nation in the latest Corruption Perceptions Index published by Transparency International. Each country is receives a score out of 100. New Zealand scored 89…
Sam Neill Wants to Ban the Plastic Bag
Actor Sam Neill is the latest recruit on board Greenpeace’s campaign against plastic bags. He joins Dr Jane Goodall and former NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark in the quest to ban single-use plastic bags,…
Why New Zealand and Australia Should Bid To Host The Winter Olympics
“The five interlaced rings on the Olympic flag represent the five continents of the world, but the Winter Olympics has only been hosted on three continents by just 12 countries. No southern hemisphere country…
How NZ Peanut Butter Inspired This Couple to Make Their Own
After returning to the UK in 2012, after seven years in New Zealand, Stuart Franklin and his wife Kathryn “found they were missing one thing about New Zealand more than anything else: peanut butter.” …
New Zealand One of the Friendliest Countries for Expats
“Many experienced expats will tell you that the friendliness of the locals should be one of your key considerations in your search for a new home abroad,” writes Sam Gardner in an article for…
New Zealand’s Role in Apocalypse Now
“If you’re interested in the end of the world, you’re interested in New Zealand. If you’re interested in how our current cultural anxieties – climate catastrophe, decline of transatlantic political orders, resurgent nuclear terror…
Why New Zealand Has So Many Gang Members
“For a quiet country, New Zealand has a peculiar problem with gangs. It is reckoned to have one of the highest membership rates in the world. In a population of 4.7m, police count over…
Pirate Involved in Peter Blake’s Death Recaptured
Brazilian police on a remote Amazon River island have arrested a man involved in the murder of round-the-world sailor New Zealander Sir Peter Blake in 2001. José Irandir Cardoso had been a fugitive for the…
Perpetual Guardian Announces Shorter Work Week
New Zealand trustee company Perpetual Guardian is on the cusp of granting its employees the ultimate in work-life balance: four days work for five days pay, Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for UK newspaper The…
Celebrating 125 Years of the Female Vote in NZ
New Zealand Minister for Women Julie Anne Genter recently called for communities across New Zealand to celebrate women fighting and gaining the right to vote, 125 years ago. “New Zealand was the first country in…
Country Swelters Through Hottest Ever Month
January was the hottest month ever recorded in New Zealand, according to figures released by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), and experts say climate change is one factor. The heat has…
PM’s Pregnancy Sparks Knitting Movement
New Zealander Heather McCracken, who is based in the United States, has kicked off the knitting movement #KnitForJacinda inspired by the news that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is pregnant. Ardern recently announced that she and…
How the Queen Was Almost Killed On Royal Tour Of New Zealand In 1981
“A new report reveals how the government of New Zealand attempted to conceal just how close a young man came to assassinating the Queen during a diplomatic trip to the country in 1981,” writes…
What André Spicer Reveals about Self-Help
New Zealander André Spicer and Swede Carl Cederström, business-school professors in a field called “organisation studies,” recently set out to chart their progress, count their steps, log their sleep rhythms, tweak their diets, record…
Paving Hamilton’s Streets with Beer Bottle Sand
Hamilton has launched a pilot programme that’s repaving roadways with old beer bottles. No, you can’t see a bunch of Budweiser labels when you come to a stop. Instead, the bottles are crushed into…
The Global Search for Skilled Workers
“New Zealand is undergoing the biggest infrastructure build in the nation’s history,” writes Jeff Kerns in MachineDesign. “As such, a group of private companies and government organizations has launched a…
Secrets of Real-Life Game of Thrones Revealed
A team of British scientists are set to make the trip to New Zealand this month, all in the hopes of unlocking the secrets hidden in the 600-year-old Canterbury Roll, the only genealogical scroll…
Mt Taranaki given Same Legal Rights as a Person
The sacred mountain in the North Island is the third geographic feature in the country to be granted a “legal personality” entitled the same legal rights as a person, Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for…
Fond Memories of Flying Pioneer Jean Batten
“Jean Batten was the first woman to be awarded the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale’s highest award, the FAI Gold Air Medal. Awarded 80 years ago in 1937 she got it for the remarkable feat of…
Southern Hemisphere Christmas Variations
“As the resident southern hemispherian, my colleagues had a lot of questions about what Christmas is really like down under. Spoiler: we eat the same things as you,” UK-based digital and lifestyle reporter Laura…
Former MP Maurice Williamson a Gay Icon in Japan
Former MP Maurice Williamson’s rising popularity as a gay icon among many Japanese people is thanks to a video of a speech he made during the third reading and vote on the Marriage Equality…
Andrew Parker Flying High for the Kids
For the past four years, New Zealander Andrew Parker has been travelling the world with his hot air balloon as part of the inspiring project Flying High for Kids, that aims to spread cultural…
Chocolate Factory Saved by the Community
New Zealanders have pledged $2m in just over 24 hours to keep the century-old tradition of chocolate-making alive in Dunedin, after Mondelez International announced in February it planned to close its 80-year-old Dunedin Cadbury…
What the Unfortunate Experiment Can Teach US
For an instructive example of how to respond to abusive medical research, the Boston Review considers New Zealand and its response to the mistreatment of women with cervical cancer at Auckland’s National Women’s Hospital….
John Campbell Named Top Presenter at Global Radio Awards
“RNZ Checkpoint presenter John Campbell has been named Presenter of the Year at the prestigious Association for International Broadcasting (AIB) Awards in London”, reports Radio New Zealand. “Thank you all. And…
Coffin Club Throws Glitter on Idea of Dying
The members of New Zealand’s quirky Coffin Clubs, which consist of senior citizens who seek comfort, community, and coffin-making – is gaining popularity among New Zealanders, as well as internationally. Coffin…
Library Solves Mystery of Missing Books
Auckland Library “has finally solved the mystery of why some books were going missing from its shelves,” writes Mark Molloy in an article for The Telegraph. When staff first discovered…
Rainbow Youth Ad Challenges Casual Homophobia
An advert released by LGBTIQ rights charity Rainbow Youth is calling out New Zealanders over the negative use of the word “gay” through the medium of a dropped pie. The video was created to draw…
Shearer Kerry-Jo Te Huia Busts the Stereotypes
It’s one thing to shear a sheep, but try fleecing 507 in just eight hours. New Zealand-born South Australia-based Kerry-Jo Te Huia, 29, relishes the challenge and says even though some sheep are “big,…
Octogenarian Wilf Deck’s New Direction
At the age of 82, New Zealand-born Wilf Deck is embarking on a new career as a counsellor and life coach in Australia, where he splits his time between Dee Why and Norah Head…
Evelyn Marsters Finds Home in Berlin Four Years On
“What has collapsed the barbed edges of my experience and allowed me to feel like I have a community and live in a place where I can not just survive – but actually…
Isaac Giesen to Row Solo Across the Atlantic Ocean
Isaac Giesen, 24, has set his sights on being the first New Zealander to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean, an extraordinary mission to raise funds for awareness about depression. All funds raised will be…
New Zealand to Rebuild Christchurch Cathedral
More than six years after being destroyed in the deadly earthquake that struck Christchurch, the city’s iconic cathedral will be rebuilt by the Anglican Church. For many locals, the wreck has become a visual reminder…
How Christchurch Is Bouncing Back After the Quake
“The devastating 2011 earthquake in Christchurch took hundreds of lives, felled dozens of buildings and wrecked countless homes. In the years since, the city has been slowly getting back on its feet—and coming out…
Record McLaren Road Car Gathering Held On Bruce’s 80th
“Last weekend during the annual Silverstone Classic, a special parade took place to commemorate Kiwi motorsport legend Bruce McLaren on what would have been his 80th birthday,” writes David Kavermann for
WA’s Only Female Abalone Diver is Alex Pere
Meet Alex Pere, 27, Western Australia’s only female abalone diver and the state’s unlikeliest gender equality campaigner. Pere is the newest recruit at Ocean Grown Abalone, an abalone “ranch” in the waters of Augusta’s Flinders…
Kiwi Private Investigator Shares Signs Your Partner Is Having An Affair
“It’s something that will have crossed the minds of many a married man or woman,” writes Billie Schwab Dunn in an article for The Daily Mail. Kiwi private investigator
Eva McGauley’s Dying Wish is To Help Others
Eva McGauley is terminally ill. But she’s determined to fulfill her dying wish to help others. While any decent-minded person would forgive the 17-year-old New Zealander, who has a rare form of cancer, for…
The American Dream is in New Zealand
“What’s the deal with New Zealand?” NBC News correspondent Keith Morrison asks in a recent clip for the network. “It’s become a thing not only to visit but find work, even immigrate to this…
Taika Waititi Tackles Tiny Racists
New Zealand has hauled in its biggest stars in an effort to crack down on rising levels of racism in our famously peaceful South Pacific nation. Hollywood director and New Zealander of the year…
Air New Zealand Best Australasian Airline
Air New Zealand was named Australasia’s leading airline for the ninth year in a row, writes Hannah Moore in an article for The Daily Mail. It’s the airline’s 16th World…
Nepal Fetes 64th Anniversary Of Everest Conquest
“Nepal’s mountaineering community celebrated the first conquest of Mount Everest 64 years ago on Monday (May 29), as well as this year’s climbing season, during which hundreds scaled the world’s highest peak,” as reported…
Richard McChesney Walks 44 Hours Nonstop
Originally from New Zealand, IT consultant Richard McChesney, 48, who now lives in Kingston-Upon-Thames in the UK, has completed a 257km nonstop walk of the M25 in under 44 hours to raise funds for…
Some of Our Top Inspirational Under 30s
Entrepreneur Sam Ovens, 27, rugby player Beauden Barrett, 25, and singer Lorde, 20, are among eight young New Zealanders included on the 2017 Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list. Also making the list are choreographer…
