New Zealand: Leading a Small Nation Across a Tightrope, offers an in-depth analysis of the abilities and international standing of PM Helen Clark, and outlines the numerous difficulties inherent in “governing a country of free-thinking Kiwis.” The…
Two groups of Far North students excelled at the Community Problem Solving Championships in Lexington, Kentucky. Kaitaia Primary School won the junior (9-11) section of the competition with their solution to the regular low-level flooding of their…
PM Helen Clark has signed negotiations for a free trade agreement spanning four continents. The Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement brings together NZ, Brunei, Singapore and Chile, and will come into effect in January 2006.
Free Liberal weblog comments on a Washington Times article detailing NZ’s anti-nuclear stance, military capabilities, and reliance on its more powerful neighbor. “An interesting story about how NZ’s rather modest defense budget and decision to stay out…
The Patea Maori Club was guest of honour at the official opening of the NZ Centre for Culture and Education in Yeoksam-dong, South Korea. The centre is a non-profit organization founded by two Korean-NewZealanders,…
Former All Black captain, agricultural economist, and leading NZRU administrator – Bob Stuart, OBE – died in May aged 84. Although Stuart’s best playing years were taken up by military service during WW2, he successfully lead NZ…
Owen Wilkes, the New Zealand peace activist and global peace researcher, has died in Hamilton aged 65. In a tribute written from Beijing by Peter Hayes, he said “Owen Wilkes was a profoundly wedded…
NZ ranks sixth overall in a new study measuring the gap between genders by the Geneva-based World Economic Forum. The top five positions went to Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway and Iceland. The WEF appraisal of 58 countries…
The UC Santa Cruz Arboretum held a ‘New Zealand Day’ in May, to “celebrate the mix of culture and botanical diversity of NZ through music, against the backdrop of its various plant collections.” Events…
Cambridge-MIT Institute director, NZer Michael J Kelly, speaks about the importance of combining entrepreneurial and business skills with academic learning in the Guardian.”Governments around the world realise that it shouldn’t be left to chance as to whether…
In a show of commitment to the Kyoto Protocol, NZ became the first country in the world to levy a public carbon tax. NZers will now pay an extra $2.90 per week for electricity, petrol and…
Julie Maxton will join former Auckland University colleague John Hood at Oxford University next year, as the institution’s first ever female registrar. The 550 year old post is similar to that of a company secretary, with…
Peter Jackson and Wellington special effects edge-busters Weta Digital have used their expertise to restore the only film taken of the Anzacs at Gallipoli. The Lord of the Rings director has restored the film to the original…
Planet Out feature looks at the newly instated Civil Union Bill in NZ. More than 600 couples registered for a civil union in the first week after the law came into effect. The article quotes GayNZ.com…
A record-breaking crowd of more than 20,000 attended this year’s dawn service at Anzac Cove. Also in attendance were Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Helen Clark, John Howard and Prince Charles, each of whom paid moving…
Dannevirke-born and controversial seven-times Premier of Queensland Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen has died aged 94. The maverick politician was one of the most colourful but also divisive leaders in Australian political history. He was religiously, socially and politically…
76 Tampa refugees were made NZ citizens on April 8, including the youngest on board Azizullah Mussa (now 17). “I’ve been waiting three years for this day to come. I can call myself a Kiwi now,”…
Helen Clark has fast-tracked a bilateral free trade agreement with Malaysia, which could come into effect as soon as this time next year. Malaysia’s NST: “For the trade experts, is neither too big (which would make…
Robert Creeley, who helped transform postwar American poetry by making it more conversational and emotionally direct, has in Odessa, Texas. He was 78. Robert Creeley’s association with New Zealand dates from 1976 when he visited at…
Chief of the New Zealand Defence Force, Air Marshal Bruce Ferguson, in his address at Anzac Cove marking the 90th anniversary of the landing there of New Zealand and Australian soldiers, said that there was no glory in…
NZ’s 5 cent coin is soon to be no longer, thanks to a major overhaul of the national currency by the central bank. 1 and 2 dollar coins will remain unchanged but 10, 20…
NZ has forged closer ties with Bahrain, signing two major agreements on bilateral cooperation in March. “We have vast potential for co-operation, and we have much to gain from each other’s experience,” said Bahrainian PM Shaikh Khalifa…
March 26 saw the tragic death by suicide of drummer Paul Hester, Melbourne-born member of seminal NZ bands Split Enz and Crowded House. “We all knew him as an effervescent, vivacious fireball of talent,” said soul singer Renee…
Auckland University is to house a Beijing-sponsored language institute which will promote Mandarin as a second language in NZ schools. Chinese currently make up over 40% of NZ’s Asian population. NZ is currently in negotiations with China…
NZ economist Anthony Byett was interviewed on ABC Radio about the country’s booming economy. “We’ve had a great 10-year period, and the last three years in particular have been very strong … We have the economy –…
The “brain drain” issue is back in the news with a vengeance, sparked by Immigration Minister Paul Swain’s newly minted campaign to lure ex-patriots home. Writing in the NZ Herald writer Simon Collins received a staggering number…
The Guardian ran an overview of NZ media coverage of Prince Charles’ recent tour of the country. Commentary ranged from the Christchurch Press dismissing the Prince as “a faintly comic participant in a toffee-nosed soap opera” to…
The Guardian celebrated NZ-based academic weblog Arts & Letters Daily‘s 100 millionth hit by profiling its founder, Canterbury University’s Denis Dutton. Quoted is Robert Fulford, a columnist with Canada’s National Post: “The idea of Christchurch, NZ, as the…
The British government is officially considering modeling its pension system on NZ’s current superannuation scheme, which is described in the Guardian as “a model of elegant simplicity compared with Britain’s multi-layered mixture of private and state provision, means…
US pro cyclist David Clinger has joined the list of international celebrities sporting “moko inspired” tattoos, which includes Mike Tyson and Robbie Williams. Clinger’s version covers the upper half of his face and most…
Mike Rann, the Auckland University-educated and former NZBC journalist and now, Labor Premier of South Australia, writes in The Australian that “the world should make no mistake: in 2005, global warming is a real…
A NZ ship has set a new world record for the southern-most point attained by water. The Spirit of Enderby, a polar research ship exploring NZ and Australia’s sub-Antarctic islands, reached a latitude of 78deg 40min and…
John Ziman, NZ-born scientist and humanist, has died aged 79. “After a brilliant youthful career in physics research he turned increasingly to reflection on the values and societal entanglements of the scientific endeavour as a whole ……
NZ’s growing movement in support of a new national flag featured in the Daily Telegraph. Wellington businessman Lloyd Morrison officially launched the campaign in January, with the support of numerous high profile sporting, political, and entertainment industry…
A new archaeology site has been opened in Wellington, on the site of the proposed city bypass. A group of 30 of NZ’s leading archaeologists, led by Rick McGovern Wilson, are examining the remains…
As well as donating $10 million to the tsunami stricken Indian Ocean countries, the NZ government provided Thailand with a state-of-the-art victim identification software package, developed by NZ’s Environmental Science and Research Ltd (ESR)….
Otago University graduate Chris Ford penned an in-depth three part overview on NZ race politics for the Global Politician. The first provides a historical backdrop to the events of 2004 when, in Ford’s words, NZ’s widely…
Joint research by Oxford (UK) and Canterbury (NZ) Universities has uncovered startling new facts about NZ’s native Haast’s eagle. With a weight of 10kg, the Haast’s eagle was 30-40% heavier than the largest living bird of…
Waikato University graduate Paul Hunt has built a high profile international career as a human rights lawyer and independent expert. Hunt was elected to serve on the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in…
Laird Blackwell, Chair of Humanities at Sierra Nevada College (US), his wife Melinda, and a small group from the institution are the first ever non-Waitaha students to be invited to study at the sacred Whare Wananga O…
Janet Frame featured in the New York Times as one of many international art world notables to die in 2004, together with Marlon Brando, Ray Charles, Richard Avedon, Julia Child and more. Frame died of cancer on…
The NZ and Austrian governments have formally agreed to cooperate on the implementation of emission reduction projects, in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol. “NZ’s pro-active, pro-business approach to climate change is good news for the economy and…
Legendary NZ trainer Snow Lupton has died aged 84. Lupton will be best remembered for saddling Kiwi to victory in the 1983 Melbourne Cup. ” an outstanding figure in NZ racing,” said Thoroughbred…
David Norton, associate professor at Wellington’s Victoria University, recently completed the decade-long task of re-editing the English speaking world’s most important religious text: the King James Bible. The New Cambridge Paragraph Bible is accompanied…
Arthur Lydiard, perhaps history’s premier distance-running coach and one of the first to promote fitness through jogging, has died aged 87, of a heart attack. He had been in the United States for a…
The art of moko features in Ancient Marks, a new book by National Geographic photographer Chris Rainier. “We live in a spectrum of possibilities, and I think it’s an exciting time to document ancient cultures dealing with…
The passing of the Civil Union Bill, giving gay and lesbian couples legal recognition in NZ, made headlines around the world. “It is just a fantastic day for us,” said Christians for Civil Union member Margaret Mayman…
The Kids’ Lit Quiz, founded in NZ by educationalist Wayne Mills, is growing increasingly popular in the UK, where it is now in its third year. The 2004 event was won by an all female team…
Since September 2004, NZ troops have been stationed in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Valley to oversee the reconstruction of the area following the US-led war against the Taliban. As well as helping rebuild Bamiyan University, the NZ Army is…
NZ’s recently remodelled academic examination system (NCEA) is being touted by education reformers in the UK. The NCEA system is almost identical to one proposed by Britain’s former chief schools inspector, Mark Tomlinson, in October last year….
Dunedin based production company, National History New Zealand, won two major awards at this year’s Beijing International Science Film Festival. The World’s Biggest Baddest Bugs and Spider Power took gold and silver respectively in the Nature and Environment…
An Independent obituary for Pat Hanly calls him “the jester of modern NZ art … His images – exuberant, colourful, feisty and humorous – reflected the personality of their maker.” The subjects of Hanly’s…
Students at NZ’s International Pacific College took part in a live projection teleconference debate with a class at Cerritos College in Long Beach, California. Cerritos teacher, John Haas, wanted to “literally bring the world to his world…
New scientific evidence reveals that humans may not be entirely responsible for the extinction of the moa. According to research undertaken in NZ and the US, there were 3 to 12 million moa roaming the forests…
In November, NZ became one of the last participants of WW1 to create a tomb of the unknown soldier. The soldier’s remains arrived from France to an emotional Maori and military welcome, and were interred at the…
The re-election of George W Bush has sparked an increase in enquiries about emigration to NZ from US voters seeking more liberal pastures. According to the Telegraph, “the size of victory has led hardcore Democrats, as…
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