Ikea in New Zealand: build-up falls flat with news of a shop in a few years’ time

Swedish furniture company’s long-awaited announcement revealed ... a long wait for a store

The stage was set, a tentative announcement had been made, and the foreign minister was already claiming credit for it. Breaking news alerts had been sent by the major media outlets and liveblogs prepared to transmit Ikea’s vision for New Zealand to the people. Even Sweden’s ambassador, Par Ahlberger, told those assembled that he was an ambassador for Ikea, according to Stuff.

But on Friday, as the tension reached fever pitch, reality came crashing down like a set of badly assembled drawers. The vision was more a back-of-envelope sketch showing Auckland would get a store and some point in a few years’ time, plus there would be another, smaller one, in the South Island.

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World’s steepest street: Welsh town challenges New Zealand for Guinness World Record

Some residents of Baldwin Street in Dunedin suggest resurfacing top of street to see off challenge from Harlech in Wales

The Welsh town of Harlech is challenging New Zealand’s claim to the steepest street in the world, forcing the city of Dunedin to contemplate losing one of its most famous and lucrative tourist attractions.

Baldwin Street in Dunedin draws in thousands of tourists a year since being crowned the steepest street in the world by Guinness World Records, with an exhausting 1:3 gradient.

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Alarm after Christmas decorations found tied to New Zealand birds

Animal welfare charity appeals for information after dozens of birds found dead or injured

Dozens of birds in New Zealand have been found dead or injured with Christmas decorations tied around them, prompting calls for anyone with information on who is behind the cruel attacks to come forward.

The Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) said a number of sparrows and pigeons have been reported with “decorative trinkets” tied to them in the capital, Wellington.

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‘What is the sea telling us?’: Māori tribes fearful over whale strandings | Eleanor Ainge Roy

New Zealand’s whale whisperers worry that manmade changes in the ocean are behind the spike in beachings

Whale whisperer Hori Parata was just seven years old when he attended his first mass stranding, a beaching of porpoises in New Zealand’s Northland, their cries screeching through the air on the deserted stretch of sand.

Seven decades later, Parata, 75, has now overseen more than 500 strandings and is renowned in New Zealand as the leading Māori whale expert, called on by tribes around the country for cultural guidance as marine strandings become increasingly complex and fatal.

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Parkland, Florida students embrace New Zealand on field trip

Irsan was convicted Thursday, July 26, 2018, for two slayings described by prosecutors as "... A Jordanian immigrant could face the death penalty after a jury in Texas convicted him of two slayings described by prosecutors as "honor killings." . A dispute over acts of Congress in 1906 and 1937 has put the Trump administration in court _ and into the unusual position of supporting a proclamation by former President Barack Obama.

Ticketmaster NZ profit soars 143%

Ticketmaster New Zealand, which is owned by the world's biggest concert promoter Live Nation Entertainment, posted a 143 percent jump in profit last year as sales ran faster than expenses. Profit rose to $5.1 million in calendar 2017 from $2.1 million a year earlier, according to the Auckland-based company's annual report.

Stonington students, adults ready for March of Our Lives

To continue reading this premium story, you need to become a member. Click below to take advantage of an exclusive offer for new members:  Stonington - Area students and adults are gathering at the high school this afternoon to add their voices to others across the state and nation in the March for Our Lives event to end gun violence.

New Zealand’s prime minister a ” a liberal and mom-to-be a ” inspires ‘Jacindamania’

New Zealanders call their seat of power the Beehive, a sparkle of Kiwi humor for a spiraling concrete building that looks exactly as it sounds. On the ninth floor, the country's leader greets visitors in an unassuming office with posters of women in wartime and a view of the Wellington harbor.

Obama to be protected from ‘wannabe jihadis’ during New Zealand visit

Barack Obama will be heavily protected in New Zealand, with a "wannabe jihadi" the most viable threat against him, a security expert says. The former US president will speak to about 1000 invited guests at an event run by the NZ-US Council in Auckland on March 22. He'll spend about three days in the country, before going on to Sydney.

US Ambassador Brown accepts advice after conduct complaint

In this Jan. 8, 2015 file photo, former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown greets people on the floor of the House Chamber at the Statehouse in Boston. U.S. Ambassador to New Zealand Brown told a New Zealand website Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2017, he accepted advice that he should be more culturally aware after a U.S. inquiry into his conduct at a Peace Corps event in Samoa.

Baby plans, not policy, first hurdle for New Zealand Labour’s new female leader

New Zealand's charismatic new Labour leader, who took over in a desperate gamble to revive her struggling party seven weeks out from an election, spent her first 24 hours in the job fielding questions about babies rather than her policy plans. Jacinda Ardern, 37, took over as Labour's youngest leader on Tuesday after her predecessor quit over "disturbing" opinion poll results, leaving little time to plot a strategy to break the centre-right National Party's decade-long hold on power.

New Zealand PM John Key announces shocking resignation

Wellington: New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who won praise for his economic stewardship after the global financial crisis, unexpectedly announced his resignation on Monday, saying it was time to leave politics after more than eight years in power. Key said he had no immediate future plans, but told reporters he would stay in parliament long enough for his centre-right National Party to avoid a by-election for his seat.