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Interest Mounting in Abandoning Playground Rules
Swanson School principal Bruce McLachlan’s unconventional approach to playground rules is making waves around the world with school administrators and parents as far away as the United States and…
Getting Away from It All on the Coromandel
The New Zealand way of life, our “fondness for corrugated iron” and how we hang our laundry out to dry, are some Antipodean oddities which charmed a visiting American…
China Ties with NZ Get Closer
China has announced that for the first time it will allow direct trade between the renminbi and the New Zealand dollar, only the fourth currency permitted to do so….
It happened in NZ first: Oceanic Apocalypse
At first it was dismissed as a freak event. In 1998, a mass of jellyfish carried by the tide into Big Glory Bay, Stewart Island, became pinned against the…
Ngai Tahu Investments Pay off
For generations, the Ngai Tahu tribe resembled many other indigenous people around the world: impoverished, virtually landless and experiencing a steady erosion of its language and culture.
However, Ngai Tahu…
New Zealand Stays 4th in the Women in Work Index
13 March 2014 – New Zealand has held on to fourth place in this year’s PwC Women in Work index; ranking higher than Australia (9th) and far higher than…
Tracing Maori Ancestry for Worldwide Family Tree
Over the past year, Gisborne’s Ngai Tamanuhiri has been participating in the National Geographic’s Genographic Project working closely with Oceania’s genographic principal investigator Lisa Matisoo-Smith who is helping the…
NZ Prepares to Wear ‘Big Boy Pants’
British BBC readers overwhelmingly support New Zealand ditching the last official remnant of its colonial past. A referendum will be held at this year’s election on whether to change…
Overland Journey in a Balloon for the World’s Kids
Hot air balloon pilot Andrew Parker, 30, is attempting a four-year overland journey across more than 100 countries, in which he aims to raise awareness and US$1 million for…
Research Flock Saudi Arabia Bound
New Zealand will export a research flock of sheep to Saudi Arabia this year under a breeding project aimed at bolstering the kingdom’s livestock supplies, according to the National….
New Zealanders Fight to Pull Back Kakapo from Extinction
7 March 2014 – New Zealanders are pulling out all the stops to save the nation’s second most favourite bird, the kakapo – a friendly, flightless, green…
New Crustacean Species Could Unlock Secrets of the Deep
Scientists from the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) have discovered a new crustacean species in the Chatham Rise east of New Zealand, that may unlock the…
Egg of Bird Thought Extinct for More than a Century Found in NZ
For the first time, New Zealand scientists say they have found an egg on Little Barrier Island of an endangered bird that had been presumed extinct for more than…
Prince George’s First Royal Trip to Be New Zealand
Prince George will take part in his debut public engagement next month when he accompanies the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to New Zealand, Kensington Palace has…
Air NZ Soars Above Qantas
The last time Air New Zealand invested in the Australian aviation market, the airline required a Government bail-out to stave off bankruptcy as its subsidiary Ansett fell apart. This…
Kiwi Whisky Judged One of the Greats
A top-shelf tipple from the planet’s southern-most country has been named as one of the world’s best by a global whisky expert, Jim Murray. The flagship 21-year-old South Island…
Friends Bid Farewell to an “Outstanding Human Being”
Auckland-born television personality and former model Charlotte Dawson who has died in Sydney, aged 47, was “outrageous, outgoing and outspoken”, said sports presenter Ben Fordham, who worked with Dawson…
Restoring French Colonial Ruins in Southern Cambodia
Chris Connop, a 57-year-old New Zealander with a degree in engineering and a background in horticulture and construction, says he stumbled into his current occupation – restoring and rebuilding…
Learning to Stand Upright in New Zealand
Historically, geographically, culturally – there are many points of comparison between New Zealand and its neighbour to the west, Australia. But there are notable differences. Victoria University’s Professor Harry…
Fledgling Party Giving a Voice to New Zealanders Living Overseas
An estimated one million New Zealanders living overseas will become a serious political force if the newly formed Expatriate Party of New Zealand gets its way, says the Guardian.
Based…
Eric Tracey UK New Zealander of the Year 2014
Eric Tracey has been named the UK New Zealander of the Year 2014 at the New Zealand Society’s Waitangi Day Charity Ball held in London.
Announced by the High Commissioner…
One Summer This Fearless Man Drove off the Luftwaffe
Keith Park was one of the great heroes of World War II, yet years later, when Peter Robb came across the laconic New Zealander, his contributions had still to…
New Zealand Exports to China Are Soaring
Thanks to an ever-increasing demand for milk powder, New Zealand’s exports to China rose 45 per cent last year superseding Australia as New Zealand’s top export market for the…
Rare Red Panda Cubs Open Their Eyes to the World
Rare red pandas, one of Asia’s most threatened species, have been born at Auckland Zoo as part of a global management plan.
The two cubs, born on 3 January, each…
The World Could Do with More Helen Clarks
4 February 2014 – Ranked 21st most powerful woman in the world, Helen Clark, 63, New Zealand’s Prime Minister for nine years, and now head of the United Nations…
Toddler’s Golf Swing a Match for Tiger’s
A New Zealand toddler has just placed third in an international competition for junior golf swings. William Tye, who modelled his golf swing on Tiger Woods after watching a…
Frigate Deployed for Anti-Piracy Exercise in Gulf of Aden
New Zealand will become the second non-member state to join a NATO anti-piracy exercise in the Gulf of Aden, with navy frigate HMNZS Te Mana participating in Operation Ocean…
Kiwi Doctor Has the Best Fisherman’s Tale
A medical degree and a typical ‘South Island’ kiwi attitude has come in handy for one New Zealand doctor who fought off an attacking shark with a knife and…
Clark Tipped for Top UN Job
Introducing UN Secretary General … Helen Clark? The Guardian is tipping the former prime minister is the prime candidate to replace incumbent Ban Ki-Moon when he steps down in…
NZ and UK Leading the Public Sector Digital Revolution
At the Open Government Partnership (OGP) summit in London in November 2013, New Zealand became the 61st member of a rapidly expanding global movement. The OGP is all about…
Ancient Seabird Fossil Found Dating Back 58 Million Years
A fossil of one of the world’s oldest flying seabirds, named Australornis lovei, has been found in in greensand deposits in North Canterbury, linking New Zealand to Antarctica when…
Dotcom Has His Own Party, and Dance Moves
New Zealand-based Megaupload.com entrepreneur Kim Dotcom, 40, is launching two ventures this month: a new political party to contest in the country’s next general election and a debut dance…
New Zealand Outpaces Crawling World Economy
In a world still limping its way out of the global financial crisis, The Wall Street Journal has written that New Zealand’s economy is looking remarkably zippy – and…
Nebraskan Children Get Tortoise Buffett Savings Tips
Children’s author New Zealander Lucas Remmerswaal took his Warren Buffett-inspired financial literacy campaign to Nebraska recently as part of an international promotion which has taken the Whangarei man to…
From Amidst Highland Heather to Paparata Farmland
This week, as part of the Highland News’ “Friends Around the World” series, the newspaper meets Min Walker, who emigrated to New Zealand in the 1960s to work as…
Auckland Zoo Achieves Circle of Life with Flamingo Chicks
Auckland Zoo is claiming a world first after the hatching of two flamingo chicks, the first flamingos ever bred in Australasia and the first successfully bred from an entirely…
19th Century Plate Depicts Extraordinary Set of Birds
“No country on the globe can offer such an extraordinary set of birds as are here depicted,” wrote British naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace of “the peculiar Ornithology of New…
New Zealand’s Warm Weather Patterns to Continue
The year 2013 was New Zealand’s second hottest year on record according to Auckland University climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger, with the winter season found to be the warmest…
New Zealand a Multicultural Model for the EU
January 13, 2014 – Multicultural policies, like those adopted by the immigrant countries of New Zealand and Canada, may be exactly what European Union countries need, according to journalist…
Travelling the Inked Map of Her Father’s Life
A coloured butterfly, a pseudo-celtic armband, a giant spiral: the tattoos on New Zealander Nell Frizzell’s father are an inky historical record of his lifetime’s journey through continents, relationships,…
New Zealanders Living Life in Berlin
“When a German realises you’re a New Zealander … they often can’t quite seem to believe it, the implication of the questioning being ‘You’re from New Zealand! Why would…
Plenty of Scope for More Art and Enterprise
The disaster that reduced Christchurch to rubble has given rise to a spirit of art and enterprise, writes Tijana Jaksic for the Herald Sun, and the city is “embracing…
US President Obama and PM John Key enjoy golf game in Hawaii
In a rare vacation encounter with a foreign official, US President Barack Obama played golf in Hawaii with a new partner, Prime Minister John Key also on vacation, along…
Two weeks off the grid
Newly-former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg and his companion Diana Taylor will spend two weeks holidaying in New Zealand and Hawaii at the commencement of 2014, after…
Mutual Interest Means Increase in India-NZ Study Numbers
Indian studies is attracting more and more students in New Zealand, where seven out of the eight universities offer these courses, according to Sekhar Bandyopadhyay, director of the New…
Tree Traditions for a New Mexico Christmas
New Zealander Aly Hyder lives in Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico and has a very different Christmas experience to the “barbeque Christmas” of the southern hemisphere.
Hyder goes out to the…
Shipwreck Find Could Alter Our History
Timbers from a shipwreck found in Kaipara Harbour have been dated to some 70 years before Captain Cook, identified as having originated in Southeast Asia as early as 1700….
One Small Step for New Plymouth Student
New Plymouth engineering student Hamish Fagg, 21, is preparing to become the first New Zealander in space having won a prize organized by Unilever-owned men’s product LYNX and endorsed…
Decorated Lifetime of Service at Sea
Rear-Admiral Ted Thorne, who has died aged 89, was a New Zealander who was on hand when female naval personnel suffered their greatest loss of the Second World War.
Wellington-born…
Oamaru-Made Gingerbread Cathedral Pleases Exeter Locals
Owners of Oamaru’s Pen-y-bryn Lodge, James Glucksman and James Boussy have built a gingerbread Exeter Cathedral to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the lodge next year.
Glucksman explains: “In a…
Maori Added to Google Translate
Google has added Maori to the list of languages supported by its online translation service.
From today, converting a Maori phrase into English – or vice versa – is as…
NZ Public Institutions Trustworthy
New Zealand has been declared the least corrupt nation on earth, equal with Denmark. Rounding out the top four are usual Scandinavian suspects Finland and Sweden, according to Transparency…
Island Paradise Enticing Auckland Urbanites
“Waiheke Island is now the go-to holiday home destination for wealthy New Zealand urbanites … with the west coast draw the most punters, in particular the beaches near the…
Enabling Teens to Learn Through Responsibility
Fulbright scholar and Victoria University senior lecturer Dr Barrie Gordon was in DeKalb, Illinois this month giving a presentation to students at Northern Illinois University on a teaching model,…
Marathon a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
Twelve years ago, New Zealand-born endurance athlete Janette Murray-Wakelin was told she had six months to live after being diagnosed with breast cancer. Now, she’s in the midst of…
Maori to NY: Let our People Sleep the Sweet Slumber
Pressure will be mounting on the American Museum of Natural History in New York to return sacred Maori remains to New Zealand after USA Today gave prominence to the…
