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☆ Colonization Was the ‘Luckiest Thing’ to Happen to Australia, Ex-Leader Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Natasha Frost | More About Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A former prime minister of Australia has stirred a storm of outrage by describing colonization as “the luckiest thing that happened to this country” and praising Britain for being a better overlord than other nations ahead of a contentious referendum on Aboriginal representation in the country. “I do hold the view that the luckiest thing that happened to this country was being colonized by the British,” the former prime minister, John Howard, 84, told The Australian newspaper in an interview this week. “Not that they were perfect by any means, but they were infinitely more successful and beneficent colonizers than other European countries.”Mr. Howard’s remarks were denounced on social media, with some people calling him “ignorant,” “racist” and “evil.”Australia is no longer a British colony, even as it retains King Charles III as its head of state, and Aboriginal Australians continue to face the harrowing effects of colonialism, including significant hardship and discrimination.

Persons: John Howard, Mr, Howard’s, King Charles III Organizations: Australian, Aboriginal Australians Locations: Australia, Britain, British

☆ Fiji’s Leader Declines Invitation to China, Saying He Tripped and Fell
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-26 | by ( Natasha Frost | More About Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Fiji’s uneasy relationship with China has hit an unusual roadblock, in the form of an office door. In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, the Pacific island nation’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, said he was declining an invitation to visit China this week because he had tripped while looking at his phone, striking his head on a door at the entrance to a government building. “I do not know whether my head is hurt more than the door, or the door hurt more than my head,” Mr. Rabuka said. He was wearing a shirt flecked with bloodstains, which he pointed out to viewers, and had a bandage on his head. Because his doctor would have to change the bandage on Friday, he said, “I have had to inform China that I will not be able to undertake the trip coming up tomorrow night.” China had invited Mr. Rabuka to the city of Chengdu, where he was to have met with Xi Jinping, the country’s leader, at the World University Games.

Persons: Sitiveni Rabuka, ” Mr, Rabuka, “, China, Xi Jinping Organizations: World University Games Locations: China, Chengdu

☆ A Yiddish Haven Thrives in Australia
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-18 | by ( Natasha Frost | More About Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

“Mir kumen on, mir kumen on! Un fest un zikher undzer trot!”Late on a recent Friday night, dozens of voices joined in this Yiddish anthem — “We are coming, we are coming! And our step is firm and true!” — and soared from a conference center among gum trees and kookaburras outside Melbourne, Australia. Today, Yiddish is most commonly used in ultra-Orthodox communities in places like Brooklyn or Jerusalem. But in Melbourne, snatches of it can be heard on certain streets, around multigenerational dinner tables, on stages and in classrooms.

Persons: “ Mir kumen, — Organizations: Australia Locations: Melbourne, Australia, Brooklyn, Jerusalem, Sof, Eastern Europe

☆ Where Housing Prices Have Crashed and Billions in Wealth Have Vanished
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-19 | by ( Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Michael Wilson was hopeful when he put his three-bedroom house up for sale: Over a dozen would-be buyers came to the initial showing. Offer after offer fell through because the prospective buyers were unable to sell their homes. Over the last 18 months, homeowners and investors have lost billions of dollars in wealth after prices that spiked during the Covid pandemic started plunging as mortgage rates also soared. “If we listed it, say, two months before we originally did, it would have literally sold the next day,” Mr. Wilson said. He and his wife, Jade, might finally have found a buyer for their three-bedroom house in Te Awamutu, a pretty North Island town of 13,000 people.

Persons: Michael Wilson, ” Mr, Wilson, Jade Locations: New Zealand, Te Awamutu

☆ Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s Ex-Leader, Is Now Dame Jacinda Ardern
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-05 | by ( Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Jacinda Ardern was awarded the title of dame on Monday for service to New Zealand, barely four months after ending her term as prime minister, during which she became the global face of a compassionate brand of liberal politics. The accolade — Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit — is the country’s second highest and was granted as part of an annual tradition of awarding honors for the King’s Birthday holiday. The honorees are usually chosen by the prime minister and approved by the British monarch, King Charles III, who is New Zealand’s head of state. Ms. Ardern said she was “humbled” by the award and had initially considered declining it. “So many of the things we went through as a nation over the last five years were about all of us rather than one individual,” she said in a statement, adding, “For me this is a way to say thank you — to my family, to my colleagues, and to the people who supported me to take on the most challenging and rewarding role of my life.”

Persons: Jacinda Ardern, —, King Charles III, Ardern, ” Locations: New Zealand, Zealand, British

☆ ‘Best Friends’ Australia and New Zealand Patch Up a Major Difference
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Natasha Frost | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Hundreds of New Zealanders were about to take an oath to become Australian citizens, and cheering them on in their pursuit of dual citizenship was the head of the New Zealand government. Australia was about to reverse a two-decade-old policy and restore rights for the almost 700,000 New Zealanders living in Australia to easily gain citizenship, putting them on par with Australian migrants across the Tasman Sea in New Zealand. Australia and New Zealand often describe each other as their closest international partners. The new center-left government in Australia, led by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has taken steps to address these issues. At the citizenship ceremony on Sunday in Brisbane, Australia, Chris Hipkins, the prime minister of New Zealand, said his presence was a sign of the “bonds that bind us all together.” That sentiment was later echoed by Clare O’Neil, Australia’s home affairs minister: “Our Kiwi cousins are our very best friends in the world.”

Wellington, the pint-size capital of New Zealand, easily invites comparisons. You might think of San Francisco when you see its vertiginous streets and colorful clapboard homes; the city’s obsession with coffee, craft beer and sustainable living has obvious parallels with Seattle; and its blustery weather (it is the world’s windiest city) makes it deserving of Chicago’s nickname. As locals often remind one another, you can’t beat Wellington on a good day, when the water sparkles, the sky is impossibly blue and the coasts, forests and hills are at their most enjoyable. Go between December and March to maximize your chances of a beautiful day in Te Whanganui-a-Tara, the city’s name in the Indigenous Maori language (New Zealand is known as Aotearoa).

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