Kiwi Gets Top Job
NZ-born businessman John Buchanan has been appointed senior independent director of BHP Billiton, effective 1 February 2003. Buchanan was formerly chief financial officer at Britain’s BP.
Tag Archives: Ananova
A Model Diet
British scientists have developed a type of pet food aimed at helping arthritic dogs. The “joint support” food contains NZ green-lipped mussels, which have an ideal combination of fatty acids and antioxidants for reducing pain caused by…
A toast to Elvis
Not content with gracing the billboards of Wellington, NZ toast artist Maurice Bennet is going global. Bennet’s Elvis tribute was noted in Ananova’s quest for the world’s weirdest news: “on his website…
Children subject of Her Majesty
The Edinburgh International Film Festival screens the “quirky New Zealand film” Her Majesty. Mark J Gordon’s feature (from a Sundance award-winning script) tells the story of an impassioned young Royalist during the…
Kaiwhekea Katiki-saurus
A new species of dinosaur has been discovered on a North Otago beach. The 70 million year old fossil is believed to be a type of plesiosaur – a giant, swimming reptile resembling “a…
Wild West Coast designs production
Sam Neill films in NZ for the first time since The Piano on South Island’s rugged West Coast. Perfect Strangers, directed and produced by noted NZ documentary maker Gaylene Preston (Bread and Roses), also…
“All the world’s a stage”
24-year-old Aucklander, Miles Lattimer-Gregory, hits the big time in London’s West End, with the company he founded, the British Touring Shakespeare Company opening its season of Hamlet and the Twelfth Night at the Westminster…
Double Happy
“Deputy chief content producer Peter is celebrating twice. He’s not greedy, he just comes from New Zealand. The Kiwi has already raised a glass as the clock struck midnight in his homeland – 14…
Garden-shed Grenade Guru
The reputation of the garden-shed inventor is upheld thanks to New Zealand entrepreneur Bill Sharplin who, operating in a “rough as guts” garage, wins a bid to build and supply practice grenades to the New Zealand Army.
The Person is Political
Voters across the political spectrum have convinced Georgina Beyers not to quit politics after she said she was stepping down. “The fact that a transsexual, a former sex worker and a Labour candidate could win the historically…
Corporate Drain
“Forget the brain drain – the Kiwis who leave usually come back; the real problem we face is the corporation drain, the breaking up or moving offshore of our top corporations,” says Mike Pratt, dean of…
Driving On
Eric Bailey-Balfour, 99, of Timaru passes his “very easy” driving test and gets a cake from the AA.
Trickster Wasp
Newly discovered New Zealand parasitic wasp creates a whole new insect family – Maamingidae, named after the Maori word for trickster, because it has taken so long to come to light.
Nipple Insulation
Cold nipples – slip on some possum skin nipple warmers to ensure you don’t stand out from the crowd.
If You Can’t Beat ’em, Eat ’em
“We need to take millions of possums out of circulation, not just nibble at it,” said Tauranga farmer Bryan Bassett-Smith promoting Possyum, the possum meat dog food he hopes will solve New Zealand’s marsupial woes.
Fishing for a Decision
The urban Maori/traditional iwi dispute over fisheries reaches the Privy Council in London, New Zealand’s highest appellate court.
Bachelor of the Game
Training? How about a degree in rugby (Certificate in High Performance Athlete Management) from Massey University and the New Zealand Rugby Academy.
Who’s a Clever Kea Then?
The kea outscores gibbons in intelligence tests. “There was definitely learning going on,” says Rachel Johnston who administered the avian IQ tests.
Driving Miss Dotty
New Zealand truck driver Neil Russell found two damp felines (Dotty and Smokey) clinging to the underside of his lorry when he pulled into the Chelsea Flower Show.
Toasted!
Wellington artist Maurice Bennett toasts fine art – his latest piece, the Mona Lisa, took 2124 slices.
Dozing at the Wheel
42% of drivers involved in crashes are affected by lack of shut-eye according to research done by the Wellington School of Medicine Sleep Investigation Centre.
Funny Farm
New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research thinks something funny is going on with cow dung…
Tests Blow Up
Were New Zealand troops used as nuclear guinea pigs? Australian lawyer thinks yes, Government asks the tough questions. Also, New Zealand Government refused to allow testing on Kermadec Island.
Smells Good
Scientists at Wellington’s Industrial Research have been getting a bit sniffing about their new “electronic nose”, designed to help detect chemical spills and fires.
Bare tour
New Zealand playwright Toa Fraser’s Bare tours Sourthern England. Madeleine Sami reprises her award winning role.
Vege Contraceptive
Scientists at Canterbury’s Lincoln University are trialling GE carrots as possum birth control.
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.
Graniator
“No, no leave him alone, don’t hurt him,” yelled Joy Wemyss, Crowe family matriarch at a private screening in Auckland. Also, Audrey Crowe touched by mention of her husband.
Spray Away
New Zealand – SkunkShot, created by Victoria University scientists, hits the garden with eau de skunk; unwelcome cats and dogs keep their distance.
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.
Use the Force
The force of email is being tested by a New Zealand group attempting to get Jedi recognised as an official religion.
Flying Feeling
Air New Zealand is highest-ranked Holiday Which? airline, beating out Britain’s “no-thrills” EasyJet.
Circus Life
New Zealand Olympic gymnast David Phillips has given up the competitive grind for life as a circus performer.
View From an Ass
Masterton man Geoff Roder will fight for his right to watch the drive-in from his donkey.
Wild Scent
Three New Zealand men kayaking across Antarctica have been chased by a leopard seal, run into a humpback whale and they’re starting to smell like penguins.
Lost in Te Anau
New Zealand-filmed BBC production of sci-fi dino classic The Lost World set to be “a ripping yarn with some of the most exotic locations we’ve seen in television drama”.
Johnny Appleseedless
Scientists at the New Zealand Horticulture and Food Research Institute have pin-pointed the gene that creates seedless apples. They hope to develop a commercial variety using the gene to switch off seed production.
Group sex
Veiled body parts and explicit pictures on show at Group Sex, One Eye Gallery, Paekakariki.
Family Planning, Possums!
David Heath of the Wallaceville Animal Research centre is developing a GM bug that secrets a substance designed to curtail possums’ fertility.
One Blind Mouse
Following the lead of New Zealand company Pulse Data, Israeli firm VirTouch has developed a Braille mouse for blind computer users.
Blanchettes
Maybe it was all the fresh air and vigorous activity? Cate Blanchett says “working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy in New Zealand made her feel especially broody”.
Death Deluxe
John Bougan’s Auckland Memorial Park will provide anything “within reason, and within moral and legal bounds and the Building Act”. One customer has already requested a $150,000 building to house himself and his Rolls Royce.
Better Late Then Never
“Perhaps we all have a conscience – it just takes some a little longer to find theirs,” said the manager of the Southland Gun Club after receiving anonymous restitution for a twenty-year old theft.
Pooch Smooch
New Zealand firefighter Trevor Hill has a new best friend – Oscar, the dog he revived with the canine kiss of life.
Hunter Becomes Hunted
Diving for crayfish off the Coromandel, British diver Peter Fuller was hooked by a passing fisherman: “the idiot was rigged for marlin but caught me,” said Fuller, still nursing the hand he was hooked through.
Spin the disc
Radio Pacific DJ Des Coppins hit the airwaves nude after losing his shirt, and his trousers, in an unwise bet.
Shear Mind-power
New Zealander Rodney Sutton holds three major shearing records. He credits his success to understanding “what nervous lambs do under pressure”.
Deadly Thorn
A thorn in your side could prove fatal according to doctors at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. The bug streptococcus pyogenes, present in soil, can enter the bloodstream through small wounds.
Facelift, Mate?
Face peels and face-lifts are hot in rural New Zealand – sun-burned, nuggetty farmers are twice as likely as city-dwellers to put themselves under the plastic surgeon’s knife.
