New Zealand

AUCKLAND, New Zealand -- The Pacific community has stamped its mark firmly on New Zealand society. There are 20,000 more Niueans living here than in Niue.

WELLINGTON, NZ -- Boeing is ahead of schedule in reaching what Air New Zealand says is a major milestone in building the airline's 787-9 Dreamliner.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- Immigration New Zealand is rejecting claims it has breached the rights of overstayers to legal advice before being deported.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand --- New Zealand Government will increase the number of trades training places for Maori and Pasifika trades from 600 to 3,000 places, spending NZD$43 million over four years.

AUCKLAND, NZ --- A baby boy born in Auckland has become the second-in-line to the Tongan throne.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- The US Navy has says its strengthening relationship with the Pacific with the visit of the Secretary of Navy to Tonga.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- Kava can be used as a natural treatment by those suffering from anxiety.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- Samoa's opposition is calling for the Minister of Finance to be sacked after revelations he spent $ST600,000 ($318,000) refurbishing his office.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (FAIRFAX NZ) -- An attempt in Auckland to save one of the world's last great fisheries is on the verge of failing, environmentalists claim.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---- While many Chinese visitors delayed travel to New Zealand last month the number of American tourists rose apparently because of the Hobbit movie, Tourism New Zealand believes.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand ----- As New Zealand moves a step closer to legalising gay marriage, a Samoan church minister in Auckland has said most Pacific Island-New Zealanders are strongly opposed to its legalisation.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---- Air New Zealand will consider extending its trans-Tasman alliance with Virgin Australia to include the Pacific Islands when it reapplies to regulators late this year for a continuation of the existing deal.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ----Amnesty International says video appearing to show the vicious beating of two Fijian prisoners is just one of several cases it is aware of.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ----As Australia attempts to fully restore diplomatic ties with Fiji, the New Zealand Government has confirmed it also wants to appoint a permanent high commissioner to Suva.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand --- New Zealand's Opposition has criticised a United Nations body for allowing a Syrian government representative to be able to pass judgement on how the country runs the Pacific territory of Tokelau.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---- Solomon Islands Foreign Minister,Clay Forau Soalaoi,has commended the New Zealand Government for the establishment of the Recognized Seasonal Employment Scheme (RSE), which is now benefiting a lot of Pacific Island countries, including Solomon Islands.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand ---- The Solomon Islands Government is inviting New Zealand Businesses to consider investing in Solomon Islands in view of the country’s huge investment opportunities and ongoing improvement in the law and order situation.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand – Developing and reforming online/electronic business registries in the Pacific Islands is essential if the region wants to build a vibrant, efficient private sector, delegates said at a workshop jointly organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the New Zealand Companies Office.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand --- New Zealand Parliament has moved a step closer to legalising gay marriage after a resounding vote in support of the law change.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---Tongan overstayers who had their criminal records wiped by Tongan Police have been deported from New Zealand.

SUVA, FIJI --- New Zealand companies injected $342million (US$191 million) into the local economy from 2005 to 2010, adding mileage to its third spot ranking as one of Fiji's top five investors behind China and Australia.

The sole Polynesian constitutional monarch, King Tupou VI and his spouse Queen Nanasipau’u Taku’aho completed their first State Visit to neighbouring New Zealand on 28 February 2013.

WELLINGTON, NZ --- New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will lead one of the country's largest ever prime ministerial delegations abroad when he travels to China next week to mark 40 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries and the fifth anniversary of the China New Zealand Free Trade ...

AUCKLAND, NZ ---- A European Union Commissioner says moving to renewable energy will give the Pacific Islands a stronger moral mandate to pressure larger countries to follow suit as well as saving them significant amounts of money by reducing dependence on diesel.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand --- The drought in New Zealand could cause food inflation in a number of Pacific countries.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand ---- Air Pacific's new Airbus A330 made its maiden commercial flight to New Zealand Tuesday, offering plane enthusiasts a preview of the airline's refreshed branding.

AUCKLAND, NZ--- School board of trustee elections are on the horizon and Pacific Island parents are being encouraged to get in the running.

WELLINGTON, NZ---More asylum seekers disillusioned with Australia will target New Zealand, experts say, after refugees which landed there claimed they were bound for our shores.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---- New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully will this week chair the first meeting of Pacific leaders on Fiji since the Fijian military-led government rejected a draft constitution early this year.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---- Concerns that move to ban psychoactive substances may affect cultural ceremonies.

NELSON, New Zealand --- Pacific Island workers are fast becoming the glue keeping the region's pipfruit harvest together. And some growers want to see the number of Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) workers in the region increased next year as they feel the pinch of staff shortages.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand ---Pacific women are amongst the 600 women dying of breast cancer in New Zealand every year, where early detection is the best protection.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- Tongan Parliamentarians watched and listened attentively during a visit to an apple business in New Zealand’s Wairarapa.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---- The New Zealand Opposition Labour Party’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Phil Goff, says there would be real benefits from a Pacific parliament.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- A New Zealand judge has found Pike River Coal Limited guilty on all nine health and safety charges laid over the 2010 mine disaster which claimed 29 lives.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand ---- A Samoan cabinet minister has called on New Zealand to make it easier for Pacific people to migrate to the country, but Deputy Prime Minister Bill English says New Zealand workers must come first.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand ---- Fewer New Zealanders are leaving for Australia, with 1200 more arrivals from all countries than long-term departures in March.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ---- Rising sea levels, falling fish stocks and more extreme storms have proven destructive and deadly, Pacific leaders told a Wellington forum at the weekend.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand ----- The government minister behind major land reform in Vanuatu says the country’s indigenous peoples must retain title over their customary lands, and the displacement that has happened in Papua New Guinea cannot be allowed in his own country.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand ---- Returning to the burial place of New Zealand soldiers in the Pacific will be especially poignant for Rob McLean who lost three friends there.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- Tonga’s 28 year old Speaker, Lord Fakafanua supports gender equality and believes “there is a need for more women representation in Parliament”. b

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- Thousands marched through the gates of the Auckland Domain and to the cenotaph outside the city's museum today - lit up in the colour of a poppy.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand --- New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser's bid to head the World Trade Organisation has failed.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- British and United States coastguard officials have organised a search for a British man who fell off a yacht in the north Pacific.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- A recent gathering of leaders from around the region at New Zealand’s parliament has drawn attention to the idea of a regional parliament in the Pacific.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- Apathy from Pacific Island media in New Zealand could see the end of an organisation formed to support them.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand --- Until Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird's outburst against Sri Lanka's "appalling" record on human rights and democratic accountability last week, it's a fair bet that most New Zealanders had no idea that this island off the bottom of India would be hosting the biennial Commonwealth heads ...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand --- New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman has returned from an inaugural meeting of South Pacific Defence ministers, a new regional grouping driven by Australia.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand --- Australia wants to further ramp up military cooperation with New Zealand in the South Pacific as problems compound across the island states.

WELLINGTON, NZ -- Global warming might be killing off many species of coral as the world's oceans acidify, but the future for biodiversity in coral reefs might not be as bleak as previously forecast, according to a study by New Zealand and Australian scientists.

Benny Wenda plinks away at the strings of his ukulele, painted in muted colours not unlike an Obama poster. Soft, early evening light filters through the wooden blinds as Wenda continues tuning his instrument, taking a breath from an endless tour by now two decade old.

New Zealand, more particularly Auckland, has been the dream destination for Polynesian Pacific islanders for more than two generations now. Historical ties between the Polynesian islands from well before they became independent states 30 to 50 years ago have established a deep connection between the people of Samoa, Tonga, Niue ...

An alarming rise in suicides and the first reported suicide of a youth under nine years of age has rallied New Zealand’s Pacific community into taking ownership of a social issue that has left many grieving families searching for answers.

New Zealand’s National Party was elected in 2008 on the back of a popular vote and John Key turned out to be the most popular prime minister ever throughout the first term. But that mandate, popularity and goodwill were largely wasted, with his government avoiding taking tough economic decisions, instead ...

Young Pacific people are doing better in the classroom, according to newly released data. But together with Maori, they are still lagging way behind their European and Asian peers in New Zealand schools.

New Zealand’s Recognised Seasonal Employer (RSE) scheme which enables the country’s farming enterprises to employ seasonal workers on their farms and pack houses from overseas—notably from around the Pacific Islands region—is undoubtedly a success story.

I bought a banana in Canberra last weekend. The one single banana cost me two Australian dollars. For the same money, I bought two dozen sweet bananas in Honiara (the Solomon Islands) a month ago.

Ignore the political sideshows and pre-World Cup scaremongering. The possibility of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga ever hosting a Rugby World Cup maybe slim, but New Zealand hasn’t forgotten its Pacific islands neighbours as the country counts down to hosting this year’s biggest international sporting event in September.