Labour Party MP David Cunliffe won’t confirm whether he will support David Shearer when the Labour Party caucus votes on its leadership in February next year. Speaking this weekend on TV3’s “The Nation” Cunliffe said: “I haven’t given it any thought”. “I’m not prepared to discuss individual remits, whatever they are. “I’m a very strong supporter of the organisational review. …

Businessman Howard Moore  has outed the All Whites for failing to turn-up at a Kea breafast in Shanghai after a night out at the infamous M1nt Club with the local hotties. Moore said on Facebook, that it was “Great to see the All Whites vs China last night here in Shanghai. The All Whites probably deserved to win based on …

New Chinese leader Xi Jinping has acknowledged the Communist party faces problems including  “corruption, taking bribes, being out of touch with the people.” Xi  today secured the Communist Party’s top spot as general secretary and consolidated his power base by also being appointed head of the commission that oversees the military (PLA). Xi’s elevation to the two top Chinese roles …

China Investment Corp – is in talks with New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Co-Operative Group about investing in its shareholder fund  – according to the Wall St Journal. The WSJ reported today that CIC, which manages a chunk of China’s massive foreign-exchange reserves, is considering investing in the Fonterra non-voting units later this month with its initial investment expected to …

The name of the new institute set up by the NZ Government to help firms in the high-tech manufacturing and services sectors will be Callaghan Innovation. Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce said naming the new Advanced Technology Institute after the late Sir Paul Callaghan was recognition of his passion for commercialising scientific research. “Sir Paul was one of New …

Solid Energy has completed the sale of the agribusiness division of Biodiesel New Zealand. The purchaser, Pure Oil New Zealand Ltd, is owned by Southern Packers, Midlands Seed, and a manager and agronomist who previously worked for Biodiesel New Zealand. Solid Energy said in August that as part of its response to the impact on its business of the extremely …

UNDP’s Helen Clark says it is not difficult to draw up an inventory of global institutions and mechanisms which are struggling to reach decisions: The veto power in the UN Security Council can be a block to decisive action. The annual meetings of the Conference of the Parties (COP) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have often struggled …

 Glidepath founder Sir Ken Stevens has been named this year’s Flying Kiwi, in recognition of a lifetime of achievement in export, business and engineering. Flying Kiwis Dennis Chapman, Neville Jordan, Rod Drury, Selwyn Pellett and Paul Hargreaves and guests from the high-tech industry saw Sir Ken inducted into the Tait Communications Hi-Tech Hall of Fame at a lunch at Te …

GREECE & FISCAL TENSIONS IN THE SPOTLIGHT. Yesterday we got news during the NZ trading day that the Greek parliament approved a package of austerity measures, seeing the 2013 budget pass by 167 votes to 128. However, as we warned on Friday, this is unlikely to trigger the next payment of the Troika’s bailout, as European Finance ministers have indicated that …

The long goodbye to Bo Xilai continues as Chongqing Governor Zhang Dejiang, current leader of the southwestern Chinese city, seeks to bury the legacy of its disgraced former top official Bo Xilai. Bo arrived in Chongqing in 2007, pumping money into social housing schemes and advanced infrastructure. It became a bold, alternative mode of growth for China known as the …