Good Background for Conciliation
South African immigrant Gregory Fortuin, New Zealand’s new race relations conciliator, has his experience of “ugly and oppressive racism” under apartheid to motivate him in his new job.
News of New Zealanders via Global Media
Flamin’ Right?
Fire poi are “trendy, hypnotizing and arty”, if a little confused: “The toys draw their name from the Maori people of New Zealand. Barred from speaking around men, Maori women invented poi dancing as a way…
No Free Trade Free Lunch
“There is no short cut, and we should not fool ourselves that some deal will come down from above. The only round we can launch is one that WTO members across the spectrum can identify with…
Kyoto Outcry
Phil Goff, Minister for Foreign Affairs and trade, voiced New Zealand’s condemnation of the Bush back-down on Kyoto after a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
The New Millennium
In Auckland, New Zealand, a Maori warrior greets the first sunrise of the year 2000 with a traditional Maori trumpet.
Groundbreaker Gov-Gen
“As one of the few female law students of her generation, Cartwright was barred from the Law Students association, denied access to textbooks and told she was only at university to find a husband.”…
Jumping Jackie Flash
Australia’s Sports Minister and Howard political protégé, New Zealand-born Jackie Kelly ducks the limelight after “a huge year”.
Phone Re-conversion
New Zealand MP and respected pillar of the Samoan community, Philip Field, retrieved a stolen car – by ringing the car phone and demanding the thieves return the vehicle.
Poker Philosophy
Did Wittgenstein threaten Popper with a red-hot poker in Cambridge 55 years ago? New Zealand academic Dr Peter Munz was there…
Not Bully for You
New Zealand study underlines the importance of early intervention to prevent young bullies becoming violent offenders.
Do They Have Sheep There?
Scotland’s national collection of New Zealand Olearia attract visitors to Inverewe Gardens on the shores of Lake Ewe.
Mystified About Money
Don Brash, the world’s second-longest serving central banker, admits he finds current currency fluctuations as baffling as the next guy.
School Shooting Stopped?
“Crime fighters can score one for the Internet, thanks to a heads-up play by a New Zealand teenager who may have exposed a school shooting plot.”
Clever Kea
The inhospitable alpine environment has caused the kea to develop “a very human-like curiosity and flexibility”.
Insiders Out
The New Zealand Government is to tighten rules controlling insider trading on the stock market.
Plenty to Go Around
New Zealand’s trade surplus widens on the back of a 2.2% rise in the value of New Zealand exports.
Kiwi on Top
Apparel gives German tennis player edge by-proxy. Nicolas Kiefer walked into the interview room Wednesday wearing a blue floppy hat with the word KIWI embroidered across the top. Kiefer, 23, is German. “It’s my own…
Economic Outlook
New Zealand’s economy continues on the up; will the edge buck the downward trend of trading partners and major players?
On the Defensive
International interest in the Clark government’s announcement on defence plans to 2010 .
Hat Trick
“I think it has become so normal in New Zealand that there are women in senior positions, that I was taken aback by this attention,” says Dame Silvia Cartwright. The new Gov-Gen completes the female trinity…
Green Edge
The Greens are a presence in parliaments around the world – the revolution started in Wellington.
Canuck Farming Luck
“In 1985, New Zealand stopped bailing out farmers. Today, its rural areas are thriving. It’s a ‘brutal process,’ experts say, but it would work in Canada.”
Spotte-y Research
Prolific writer Stephen Spotte’s latest collection ranges from “academia to the Maori cannibals of New Zealand and everywhere in between”.
Clean Fingers
European consumers can’t wait to get their hands on sustainably fished New Zealand hoki fish-fingers, but some groups strongly dispute the fishery’s right to the “sustainable” label.
Sock it to Him
Returning from Britain, Agricultural Minister Jim Sutton handed in his shoes for decontamination – accidentally also handing in a pair of dirty socks. These were also “decontaminated” by customs, returning to the minister freshly washed.
Kiwi Burger?
“If you were in a position where every family could eat kiwi for lunch, then you would have solved the problem, wouldn’t you,” says John Wamsley, head of the private Environmental Sanctuaries group. But, “our aim…
Restitution Advance
The New Zealand Maori Council became the executors of the estate of a long-dead ancestor, enabling them to regain his head for burial, and opening a legal channel for other groups to claim remains from museums…
Strenuous Endeavour
“How a poor Yorkshire farm boy became a saltwater giant is an incredible tale. Formally speaking, 4-year-old Cook wasn’t even a captain when, over considerable objection, he was appointed master of a naval ship…
Elegant Astelia
A New Zealand silver astelia adds elegance to Irish garden designer Dominick Murphy’s small garden.
Edge Eden
Cornwall’s bio-dome Eden Project houses vegetation from every part of the planet – including the edge.
Wahine Remembered
March 10 was the thirty-third anniversary of the day the ferry Wahine ran aground on Barrett’s reef.
Peaceful PM
PM Helen Clark sat on the selection committee for the Millennium Peace Prize for Women, alongside writer Alice Walker and Nobel Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta.
In From the Cold
Former New Zealand PM, now WTO-head Mike Moore plans to see China a WTO member in time for the November meeting in Qatar.
Happily.Married
Wellingtonians Rob and Liz Flavhive.Hill say ditch the hyphen – the dot is so much more 2001.
Rating Well
Standard and Poors lifts New Zealand’s long-term foreign currency credit rating to stable on the back of a government surplus and declining debt burden.
Co-operation
The time is right for co-operation between India and New Zealand on food processing, IT and forestry, says Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Phil Goff.
I’m Looking for a Holy Man: Green, Short, Talks Kinda Funny?
The full force of the law is against them: despite attempts to have Jedi registered as an official religion on this year’s census form, it won’t happen unless adherents can produce solid evidence the religion exists. …
Use the Force
The force of email is being tested by a New Zealand group attempting to get Jedi recognised as an official religion.
Antipodean Greatness
Aussie journalist ponders greatness, noting New Zealand’s “two truly international figures,” Sir Edmund Hillary and Ernest Rutherford.
Caught on Film
Father of Polaroid George W Wheelwright III had eclectic interests – including the fodder potential of “exotic grasses from New Zealand”.
Judgement in Paradise
Retired New Zealand Appeal Court judges Sir Maurice Casey and Sir Ian Barker lead the judicial charge for democracy in Fiji.
Orchid Can-do
Volunteers at the new International Orchid Centre in Florida will “communicate their enthusiasm for orchids and an attitude of ‘Hell, if I can grow them, you can too’,” says American Orchid Society director of education, Kiwi…
It’s in the Genes
“Is this new arrival destined to take on the roistering tendencies of his Viking ancestors, the dour fatalism of his grandfather’s West Highland forebears, the mercantile instincts of Scots traders on his grandmother’s side, his mother’s New…
Ambassador Goes Nutty
“I love New Zealand and New Zealand has been a warm and just an extraordinary experience,” says former US ambassador Carol Mosley-Braun, returning to the States to take up pecan farming.
Edge Unity
“There are no two countries in the world that are closer historically, culturally and economically than Australia and New Zealand,” stated Australian PM John Howard on a friendship visit, claiming a “relationship that has substance and durability…
Protest Flotilla
“The people who live around the Japanese reactor that the plutonium is destined for don’t want it, Australians and New Zealanders don’t want their seas being used to transport it and Pacific Islanders are vehemently opposed,” says…
Bad Bird
“Even in New Zealand there are sheep farmers that lose stock to wildlife, namely the Kea, a large native and protected parrot. It may seem incredible, but it’s true.”
Furry Love
Wellington residents disturbed by amorous possums engage in chemical warfare to keep the peace.
Kiwis in Oz
Taking the edge to the world, Russell Crowe and former Australian Channel 9 boss, now Telstra board member Sam Chisholm are examples of Kiwi excellence that “will always float to the top”.
