Scant recognition of host nation on Net sites

WELLINGTON - Sheep outnumber people 15 to one, a hongi is a native welcoming gesture and New Zealand security could not recognise US President Bill Clinton's mother-in-law.

That was what readers of Internet sites for overseas newspapers mainly learned about New Zealand during Apec.

East Timor dominated items and occasionally the articles mentioned that Mr Clinton or another politician had made statements at an Apec meeting.

The Los Angeles Times told its readers New Zealand was "an island nation."

Newsweek's Internet site did mention plans for the leaders' banquet.

"In New Zealand, where sheep outnumber people 15 to one, folks know how to party. Five top chefs have been dispatched across fjords and through the forests to find the best ingredients for a massive feast."

The Los Angeles Times Internet site also had a photograph of Mr Clinton greeting Maori elder Sir Hugh Kawharu, explaining "the gesture is called a hongi, a native welcoming gesture."

A Boston Globe article mentioned how New Zealand security guards mistook Mr Clinton's mother-in-law, Dorothy Rodham, for an onlooker and twice pushed her aside during the President's shopping walkabout.

"The confusion didn't stop Clinton from going on a buying binge," the report said. "At one point he stopped in a store called Out Of New Zealand and bought an ocarina, a small traditional flute made out of clay."

A columnist for the Independent On Sunday could not understand why the New Zealand Herald described Robin Cook at Apec as "Britain's nuggety Foreign Secretary."

"The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a nugget as 'something valuable for its size' ... it also offers 'a lump,' which is considerably nearer the mark," the columnist said.

The most details about Apec were listed in the Boston Globe through Associated Press reports.

Included was a report of Prime Minister Jenny Shipley saying New Zealand would be the first country to celebrate the millennium. - NZPA