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AUCKLAND: Former New Zealand Prime Minister David Lange planned to eat a Chinese
meal in an understated celebration of winning an " alternative Nobel".
Lange was one of the winners of the right Livelihood Awards which he will accept
at a ceremony at the Swedish parliament on December 8.
Lange, who received the Right Livelihood Honourary Award, was recognised "for
his steadfast work over many years for a world free of nuclear weapons".
His government in 1984 passed legislation that banned nuclear-powered and armed
vessels, including aircraft, from New Zealand territory.
It also promoted the South Pacific Nuclear Free Zone Treaty.
The United States reacted to the policy against weapons of mass destruction by
cancelling all defence exercises, cutting intelligence sharing and demoting
Wellington from ally to "friend".
Lange told local radio he was going to have a quiet day.
"I am going to my daughter and her friend out and we are going to go eventually
to an Asian food court and that is the sort of day i will have."
Lange in recent years has had several near brushes with death and is still
seriously ill with a rare plasma disorder, amyloisdosis. - AFP
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