“It is with much regret that I need to inform you that I will be leaving APN tomorrow. The Chairman and I and a number of the independent directors have today resigned from the Board of APN. This was not a decision that was made lightly by any of us. Following a series of discussions regarding the need to raise …

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully and Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman say New Zealand will continue to make a small but proportionate military commitment to the international mission in Afghanistan from May 2013, and remains committed to international efforts to improve the security and prosperity of Afghanistan. “The current NATO/ISAF mission is not scheduled to end until December 2014. As previously …

Financial Times: A boardroom battle has broken out at APN News & Media following a decision by the company’s largest shareholder to push for the removal of its chief executive and oppose a rights issue. Shares in the Australasian media group APN were suspended on Friday when Ireland’s Independent News & Media said it wanted the removal of Brett Chenoweth as a director and …

Finance Minister Bill English will present Budget 2013 on Thursday 16 May against a background of continued fiscal restraint. “This will be the National-led Government’s fifth Budget in what have been extremely challenging global economic times,” English  says. “It will continue to implement the Government’s programme to deliver a more competitive and faster-growing economy, more jobs and a return to fiscal …

Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Minister Gerry Brownlee and Christchurch Mayor Bob Parker have announced a joint accord deferring the Christchurch City Council’s Long Term Plan until 2015 to allow an earthquake recovery cost-sharing method to be mutually agreed. Instead the council will undertake a new plan, to be called the Christchurch City Three Year Plan. Brownlee says this new planning process …

ANZ’s Morning Brief  highlights a PR assault is now required to reassure NZ’s trading partners that the chemical DCD poses no health risks. narrative essay “Dairy accounts for around one third of NZ’s exports,” says the ANZ brief. “It is somewhat alarming, therefore, that traces of dicyandiamide, or DCD, have been found in NZ milk and milk powder, as a …

DAIRY PRICE OUTLOOK: GlobalDairyTrade prices registered their third increase in a row overnight signalling further possible upside to Fonterra’s 2012-13 milk price of $5.50 per MS. The details were good with whole milk powder (WMP) prices playing some catch-up to skim milk powder, which have been leading most other dairy markets higher. Overall, WMP powder prices increased by 2.8 percent, with …

Prime Minister John Key will visit Antarctica from 17 to 21 January to highlight New Zealand’s interests and activities in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean. Key will visit New Zealand science and environmental management programmes, view New Zealand’s historic hut conservation projects, and participate in a ceremony celebrating the installation of Maori artwork at Scott Base. “New Zealand has a history of ground-breaking exploration, scientific …

United Kingdom Foreign Secretary William Hague will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully announced today. “I look forward to welcoming Mr Hague to New Zealand for the second time in two years,” McCully says. McCully and Hague will hold formal bilateral talks in Auckland on Tuesday , January 15. “This is an excellent opportunity to address critical foreign …

As the fiscal cliff deadline looms, the White House and Senate Republicans are closing in on a budget compromise, but has the damage already been done to the economy? Sudeep Reddy has details. mobile phone tracking uk