News of New Zealanders via Global Media

New Zealand Debuts World’s First Digital Teacher

New Zealand Debuts World’s First Digital Teacher

Primary school students in New Zealand will soon be the first in the world to learn from an artificially intelligent (AI) digital avatar. Auckland energy company Vector teamed up with AI…

Sabah-Based Wendy Hutton a Prolific Travel Writer

Sabah-Based Wendy Hutton a Prolific Travel Writer

Renowned food and travel writer, New Zealand-born Wendy Hutton, who lived in Malaysia, has died, aged 77. Hutton first set foot in Southeast Asia in 1967, and had worked in the region ever since. Based…

Aucklanders Share SH1 with Family of Ducks

Aucklanders Share SH1 with Family of Ducks

As a species, humans rarely take the time to exude kindness to each other, let alone our fellow inhabitants of this Earth. But motorists in Auckland recently provided a high-minded example of how to…

Spencer P. Jones Inspired Countless Musicians

Spencer P. Jones Inspired Countless Musicians

Guitarist, songwriter and storyteller, New Zealander Spencer P. Jones, who forged his name in Australia and overseas with rock ‘n’ roll bands The Johnnys and Beasts of Bourbon, has died. He was 62. Born in…

Respected News Presenter Greg Boyed

Respected News Presenter Greg Boyed

“Tributes are flowing in for respected TVNZ broadcaster Greg Boyed, who took his own life on Monday after a battle with depression,” writes Andrew Prentice in an article for the

Christchurch Once Again Refugee Settlement Location

Christchurch Once Again Refugee Settlement Location

The announcement that Christchurch can once again be a settlement location for refugees represents an important step for New Zealand’s ambitions to increase the refugee quota and is a milestone for the city’s post-earthquake…

Yvette Morrissey Walks Scotland for a Cause

Yvette Morrissey Walks Scotland for a Cause

Most people choose to enjoy Scotland’s awe-inspiring views by bus or car, but New Zealand travel writer Yvette Morrissey, 29, has hiked a massive 864km on foot to take in the country’s beauty and…

Kentucky’s Peter Williams a Lauded Equine Artist

Kentucky’s Peter Williams a Lauded Equine Artist

New Zealand-born artist Peter Williams, a familiar figure in the paddocks of the most famous racetracks in the world, has died at the age of 84 at his home in Goshen, Kentucky, in the…

New Zealanders’ Epic Trips to Isle of Skye

New Zealanders’ Epic Trips to Isle of Skye

New Zealander Dr Hannah Bulloch is in Scotland to research a book she is writing based on trips her grandfather made to the Isle of Skye. The BBC’s Annabel Maclennan caught up with Bulloch…

NZ Avocado Shortage Leads to Orchard Crime Wave

NZ Avocado Shortage Leads to Orchard Crime Wave

“People in New Zealand are taking desperate measures to acquire a coveted treat for their breakfast toast: avocados. With prices for the fruit soaring after two years of low harvests, orchards are experiencing a…

Korean-New Zealander April Kwak off to the UN

Korean-New Zealander April Kwak off to the UN

Tri-lingual public servant, and scholarship-winning, Korean New Zealander April Hyorin Kwak, 23, is heading to the United Nations in New York, where she will intern at the Department of Safety and Security. Kwak will be…

NZ Seeks Housing Solutions by Halting Foreign Sales

NZ Seeks Housing Solutions by Halting Foreign Sales

“New Zealand has lured Asian billionaires, Hollywood filmmakers, and tech entrepreneurs with a liberal immigration policy and light regulation of foreign property purchases. Now, as it tries to cool one of the world’s hottest…

How Māori-Owned Small Businesses are Reshaping NZ

How Māori-Owned Small Businesses are Reshaping NZ

Kākano means ‘seed’ in Māori. For Jade Temepara, a Māori woman who was crowned New Zealand’s Gardener of the Year in 2012, though, it means a lot more. Temepara owns Kākano, a Māori restaurant…

NZ Announces Plan to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags

NZ Announces Plan to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags

New Zealand has become the latest country to ban single-use plastic bags in an effort to tackle plastic pollution, Time magazine reports. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced plans to…

Jacinda Ardern Reflects on Life After Giving Birth

Jacinda Ardern Reflects on Life After Giving Birth

From the outside it appears to be business as usual for New Zealand’s prime minister. But eight weeks ago Jacinda Ardern became only the second leader in the world to give birth while in office,…

Why Top Investor Immigrants Choose New Zealand

Why Top Investor Immigrants Choose New Zealand

“People do not usually think of New Zealand as an investment destination,” Andy Semotiuk, a US and Canadian immigration lawyer, writes in an article for Forbes. “However, the country is rated number one for…

Paid Leave a Rare Moment of Empowerment

Paid Leave a Rare Moment of Empowerment

A woman who lived through an abusive relationship writes anonymously for The Guardian, and says New Zealand’s latest domestic violence legislation is a relief from shame and fear. “The years of control, manipulation, blame, gaslighting,…

Jacinda Ardern Returns to Work with Neve in Tow

Jacinda Ardern Returns to Work with Neve in Tow

Juggling the needs of a baby and running a country became a reality for New Zealand’s prime minister as she returned to work after becoming the first western leader to have a child in…

Rugby Leads NZ Sporting Family to France

Rugby Leads NZ Sporting Family to France

New Zealander Johnny Claxton, head strength and conditioning coach for Grenoble Rugby, 40, and his family moved to France in June 2017. Claxton’s wife, former Black Sticks player and double Olympian, Jaimee Claxton talks to…

Parkland Students Find New Zeal in New Zealand

Parkland Students Find New Zeal in New Zealand

Student Tyah-Amoy Roberts, 17, one of 28 students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, said after spending a week in New Zealand that she’s strongly considering moving to the country for…

He Poroporoaki: Te Rangatira Jack Tuhi

He Poroporoaki: Te Rangatira Jack Tuhi

Born 28-11-1958. Died 1-08-2018 Redemption Song On the second to last Monday…

KIWI Act Signed by U.S. President

KIWI Act Signed by U.S. President

A bill has been signed by U.S. President Donald Trump that is intended to make it easier for New Zealanders and Americans to trade with and invest with each other. President Trump is pictured…

New Law Grants Abused Women Paid Leave

New Law Grants Abused Women Paid Leave

Around the world, 1 in 3 women have been physically or sexually abused by their partner, according to the World Health Organization. Forty per cent of all women murdered each year are killed by…

Geopolitics and New Zealand’s Antarctic Presence

Geopolitics and New Zealand’s Antarctic Presence

New Zealand is increasingly mobilising resources to secure a share of Antarctica. Current-affairs magazine for the Asia-Pacific, The Diplomat investigates. “When New Zealand’s Defence Minister Ron Mark presented the new 2018 Strategic Defence Policy Statement…

Google and Disney Join Rush to Te Reo

Google and Disney Join Rush to Te Reo

Te Reo is undergoing a revival – lessons are packed, songs are top of the pops, and even the prime minister wants to be part of it. Māori language teachers from Auckland to Dunedin…

Helen Klisser During Unloads on Gun Violence

Helen Klisser During Unloads on Gun Violence

Connecticut’s Fairfield University exhibition “Guns in the Hands of Artists” is using decommissioned guns to explore and generate conversation about gun violence. The exhibition is being “presented by Fairfield University Art Museum in partnership…

Perpetual Guardian’s Four-Day Week a Hit

Perpetual Guardian’s Four-Day Week a Hit

Auckland company Perpetual Guardian has declared their landmark trial of a four-day working week an “unmitigated success”, with 78 per cent of employees feeling they were able to successfully manage their work-life balance, an increase…

Teacher Jimmy Orange Mentors Kids Through Rugby

Teacher Jimmy Orange Mentors Kids Through Rugby

Fountain Gate Secondary College in Melbourne, Australia never thought it would be putting up rugby posts, at least not until New Zealand-born teacher Jimmy Orange came along. Orange went through a school system where rugby…

PM Makes Fortune’s 40 Under 40 List

PM Makes Fortune’s 40 Under 40 List

The influential Fortune magazine 40 Under 40 list includes Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern at No 12. Co-founder and CEO of Instagram, Kevin Systrom took top place in this year’s ranking. “It’s only appropriate that Ardern,…

Post-Brexit Architect Crawford Falconer Optimistic

Post-Brexit Architect Crawford Falconer Optimistic

In his first interview since taking up the role of British chief trade negotiation adviser, New Zealander Crawford Falconer talks to John Arlidge from The Sunday Times, about why he emerged from the “comfort…

Time May Be Running Out for Tāne Mahuta

Time May Be Running Out for Tāne Mahuta

New Zealand’s oldest and most sacred tree, Tāne Mahuta (Lord of the Forest), stands 60m from death, as a fungal disease known as kauri dieback spreads unabated across the country. Despite stringent efforts by…

German Museum Returns Tattooed Māori Skull

German Museum Returns Tattooed Māori Skull

The Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum of world cultures in Cologne, Germany has returned a tattooed Māori skull, which had been in its collection for 110 years, to a delegation representing the Museum of New Zealand Te…

Media Boss Sam Chisholm Nine Network’s Starmaker

Media Boss Sam Chisholm Nine Network’s Starmaker

New Zealand-born media heavyweight Sam Chisholm has died in Sydney. He was 78. During his four-decade career, Chisholm was head of Australia’s Nine Network and chief executive at Britain’s Sky Television. He was appointed chief…

Sign Up to Help Protect Our Iconic Bird

Sign Up to Help Protect Our Iconic Bird

Kiwis for kiwi is a national charity working with community and Māori-led conservation projects to put a stop to the horrific decline of our national icon. With the support of Old Mout Cider, they have…

New Zealand Is a Haven of Liberal Politics

New Zealand Is a Haven of Liberal Politics

“Unlike most other countries, New Zealand’s parliament appears to have realised that no one’s going to get anywhere by pretending to agree with, or make bargains with, Donald Trump,” freelance journalist Matteo di Maio…

Sue Paterson, Inspirational Arts Producer

Sue Paterson, Inspirational Arts Producer

Sue Paterson, the most impactful New Zealand arts producer of this generation, has died in Wellington aged 65 from cancer. Beloved by everyone she worked with, managed and mentored, Sue Paterson was formative in…

NZ Passport Ranked 7th Most Powerful

NZ Passport Ranked 7th Most Powerful

New Zealand has been placed on rank #7 – tied with the Czech Republic and Malta – in this year’s Henley Passport Index, which ranks “all the world’s passports according…

Frolicking Right Whale Charms Wellingtonians

Frolicking Right Whale Charms Wellingtonians

A huge southern right whale frolicking in Wellington harbour brought the capital’s waterfront to a standstill last week as locals skipped work to catch a glimpse of the animal. Southern right whales used to be…

Trans-Tasman Tussle Over Deportation

Trans-Tasman Tussle Over Deportation

The cancellation of Australian visas on the grounds of “character” has soared since December 2014, when the government amended its immigration law. Last year, more than half of those visas belonged to New Zealanders,…

NZ Most Perilous Place for Seabirds

NZ Most Perilous Place for Seabirds

“Seabirds are more at risk of dying due to plastic in New Zealand than anywhere else in the world, new research presented to parliament has shown.” Eleanor Ainge Roy reports for

“Visionary Agent” & “Theatrical Producer” Harry M Miller

“Visionary Agent” & “Theatrical Producer” Harry M Miller

“One of Australia’s most well-known music and entertainment promoters, Harry M Miller, has died, aged 84,” writes Sam Buckingham-Jones in an article for The Australian. “By his side were his…

New Zealand’s Inside Stories

New Zealand’s Inside Stories

New Zealand Story Group have created a selection of New Zealand stories, which underpin the values of Kaitiaki, Ingenuity, and Integrity, to share with the world.” “New Zealand already has a well-deserved reputation for outstanding…

Photojournalist Susan Skinner New US Citizen

Photojournalist Susan Skinner New US Citizen

After many years of photographing the Carmichael Independence Day Parade in Sacramento, California, newly naturalised US citizen, Susan Maxwell Skinner will this year ride in its first division as Grand Marshal. “4 July has always…

Jacinda Ardern What the Global Left Needs Now

Jacinda Ardern What the Global Left Needs Now

The future of the left is bright if it looks like Jacinda Ardern and American political activist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, according to Guardian Australian columnist Van Badham. As a political communication, Ardern’s recent handheld Facebook Live…

NZ Police Campaign Recognised at Cannes

NZ Police Campaign Recognised at Cannes

The New Zealand Police’s campaign World’s Most Successful Recruitment Video won one Silver and one Bronze Lion at this year’s Cannes Lions. Sam Burne James reports for PR Week. With World’s…

Social Enterprise Empowering Women Refugees

Social Enterprise Empowering Women Refugees

“Government discussion surrounding refugees oftentimes revolves around costs and quotas” and “the human element can get lost in the conversation,” writes Rina Diane Caballar in an article for PRI.

New Zealand World’s Second Safest Country

New Zealand World’s Second Safest Country

New Zealand has been ranked as the second safest country in the world in this year’s edition of the Global Peace Index. Iceland was ranked the world’s safest place for the 11th consecutive year….

Towards Making Auckland Island Predator-Free

Towards Making Auckland Island Predator-Free

At Forest and Bird’s 2018 Conference, New Zealand Conservation Minister Eugenie Sage announced funding for the first step in the country’s “most ambitious island pest eradication”. Sage has committed $2 million over the next three…

Rob Bell’s Wife Is on a Mission to Unite London

Rob Bell’s Wife Is on a Mission to Unite London

After her husband Rob Bell’s suicide, journalist Poorna Bell realised that for all its dazzle, London can create a perfect storm of isolation. In an article for the Evening Standard she writes about her…

New Zealand Fifth Most Reputable Country

New Zealand Fifth Most Reputable Country

New Zealand has been named the fifth most reputable country in an annual ranking by Reputation Institute. Sweden, “known for its generous social benefits and commitment to gender equality, is…

New Zealand Tackles a Surge in Homelessness

New Zealand Tackles a Surge in Homelessness

New Zealand is known to many outsiders as a beautiful, affluent country, the place where the Lord of the Rings movies were made. But Joseph Takairangi and thousands of others know it better for…

Former PM Helen Clark Receives Honorary Degree

Former PM Helen Clark Receives Honorary Degree

Helen Clark, the former prime minister of New Zealand, was in Edmonton recently to collect an honorary degree from the University of Alberta. She was also in Canada to speak at the Victoria Film…

Roadside Gyms Keep Kea Busy

Roadside Gyms Keep Kea Busy

To try to keep New Zealand’s Mountain Parrots “out of harm’s way, conservationists have developed roadside kea gyms which is equipped with ladders, spinning flotation devices, swings and climbing frames,” as reported in an…

New Zealanders’ Screen Time Skyrocketing

New Zealanders’ Screen Time Skyrocketing

New Zealanders now spend close to half a standard working week (18 hours) getting their digital fix online, according to findings of this year’s Nielsen Connected Consumer Report 2018. “Accessing…

NZ’s Leader, Jacinda Ardern, Delivers Baby Girl

NZ’s Leader, Jacinda Ardern, Delivers Baby Girl

“Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand gave birth to her first child, a girl, on Thursday, making her the first world leader in almost three decades to give birth while in office,” writes…

Winston Peters’ 40-Year Political Rise

Winston Peters’ 40-Year Political Rise

The ascension of power will be a curious one for Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters who, at times through his career, has looked like he could take the role with ease and at others…