新西兰英语 314 MP Chris Carter

The Labour MP Chris Carter is in trouble today. He wrote a letter which he handed to some reporters. The letter said that he believed Phil Goff, who is the Leader of the Opposition, does not have a chance to win the next election. He believed that an

新西兰英语 389 Petrol Prices rise

Regular petrol 91 octane is now $2 a litre well, $1.99.9. Although this price is high, in July 2008 it reached $2.19. At that time, the price of a barrel of oil was higher and the kiwi dollar was lower. Now the price of oil is around $100 a barrel an

新西兰英语 387 Pike River Coal Mine will be closed

The police said today that the Pike River Coal Mine will be closed and sealed perhaps forever and the bodies of the 29 miners will never be recovered. This is bad news for the families of those men. The reason for closing the mine is that it is too d

新西兰英语 249 Sports Teams Going to India

A terrorist threat to sports teams going to India is worrying players, our government and the Indian government. A group connected to al-Qaida warned sportsmen and women not to take part in the World Cup Hockey, the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricke

新西兰英语 174 Avalanche danger

An avalanche is a huge snow slide. It can kill skiers or climbers who are buried in this snow slide. The latest cold weather brought snow to mountains and other high places. Strong winds pushed much more snow onto some places and this could slide dow

新西兰英语 207 Ban on Cell Phones in Cars

From today it is illegal to hold your cell phone and talk or text while driving. If you need to use a phone in the car, you must pull over to the side of the road and stop. You may instead use a hand-less phone which works when it hears your voice. T

新西兰英语 374 New Minister of Women’s Affairs

The Prime Minister, John Key, has chosen Hekia Parata to replace Pansy Wong. Ms Parata has also been given three Associate Minister positions: Associate Minister of ACC, Energy and Resources, and Community and Voluntary Sector. She has only been an M

新西兰英语 126 Earth Hour

Last night at 8.30pm on 28th March 80 countries took part in Earth Hour by turning off lights and other things which use electricity. The idea began in Sydney in 2007. Last year, Christchurch was the only New Zealand city to observe Earth Hour but th

新西兰英语 264 Easter Shopping

There are three and a half days in the year when the law says that shops must not open. Two of these days are at Easter. Good Friday and Easter Sunday are important days in the Christian church. Most shops are closed on these two days. Shops are clos

新西兰英语 262 Ex-head of Immigration is sentenced

Mary Anne Thompson, the ex-head of Immigration New Zealand, was sentenced in the High Court today. She was given a fine of $10,000 and has to do 100 hours community service. She claimed on her CV that she had a PhD from the London School of Economics

新西兰英语 551 Journey to the South Pole

One hundred years ago today, January 17th 1912, Captain Robert Falcon Scott and four other men, reached the South Pole. They had hoped to be the first to reach the South Pole but were very disappointed to find the Norwegian flag flying there. The exp

新西兰英语 230 New Year’s Honours

This government brought back titles Sir and Dame for people who receive the top honours in our country. Listen to March 8 2009. Now our most famous film maker is Sir Peter Jackson. He made the Lord of the Rings movies and King Kong. Three other peopl

新西兰英语 291 Queen’s Birthday Honours

Today, we learnt that one woman is now a Dame and six men are Sir. Many other people will receive medals for community work. The award is not given for their paid job but for the voluntary work they have done. For more about the Honour awards, listen

新西兰英语 100 Bush Fire in Mahia

Firemen have spent the last three days putting out a bush fire in Mahia. Mahia is on the East Coast of the North Island, south of Gisborne. More than 100 fire officers and helpers with fire trucks and helicopters have been fighting the fire. The heli

新西兰英语 340 Commonwealth Games in India

In October, the 14th Commonwealth Games will be held in Delhi, India. This event is similar to the Olympic Games and the Asian Games but smaller, as it is only for teams from the Commonwealth of Nations countries (originally the British Empire). It i

新西兰英语 121 Woman has baby on plane

A 30 year old Samoan woman gave birth to a baby on a plane from Samoa to New Zealand. The baby was found by cleaners after the plane landed. It was in the toilet rubbish. The mother was found waiting at immigration because she had lost her passport.

新西兰英语 311 All Whites Welcomed to Wellington

Almost 20,000 football supporters came out in Wellington on Wednesday to celebrate the success of the New Zealand football team, the All Whites. The Wellington City Council organised a special parade for the team and the Prime Minister, John Key, was

新西兰英语 350 New mayor for Wellington

When votes for mayor of Wellington were counted on Saturday, Kerry Prendergast had won by 40 votes. She has been the mayor for 9 years. However, when the special votes were counted yesterday, Celia Wade-Brown won 176 more votes than Kerry Prendergast

新西兰英语 339 Which buildings survived the earthquake?

The Canterbury earthquake on Sept 4th was unusual because no one was killed. It is the only city in the world which has experienced a 7.1 magnitude earthquake without any deaths. Part of the reason for this is our building code. New buildings have to

新西兰英语 401 Valentine’s Day

Tomorrow is Valentines Day, a day for lovers. The celebration of Valentines Day is mostly an American and British custom but some New Zealanders also like to give cards, chocolates or flowers. Flower growers are happy to encourage this custom because