TPP critic Jane Kelsey  has alleged the NZ Government has imposed unprecedented restrictions on registered stakeholders as it hosts the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations in Auckland this week. “We turned up this morning and found we are locked out of the entire Sky City Convention Centre for all 10 days except the so-called stakeholder day on Friday,” according to Professor Jane …

An unnamed bidder for the Harbour City Centre building owned by upscale Wellington retailer Kirkcaldie & Stains has missed a deadline for confirming it was satisfied with due diligence and the agreement could be terminated if an extension isn’t sought. The Harbour City Centre building is valued at $46.55 million, according to the company’s 2012 annual report published last month, …

Glass Earth Gold is raising as much as C$3 million in a private placement in Canada to raise funds to develop its Neavesville and WKP projects in the Hauraki region. The placement follows Glass Earth’s announcement last month that it had gained rights to take over the Neavesville gold and silver prospect from Canadian resource developer Eurasian Minerals. The WKP …

  The New Zealand dollar was little changed against the Australian dollar amid expectations the Reserve Bank of Australia will cut its benchmark interest rate this week while New Zealand’s central bank will keep rates unchanged, narrowing the premium offered across the Tasman. The New Zealand dollar traded at 78.59 Australian cents from 78.65 cents in New York on Friday. …

The agonisingly slow rate of progress in talks to avoid the fiscal cliff in the US with now less than a month to reach an agreement will remain the key focus for investors this holiday season. Progress is difficult to discern, if not absent at this point. Last week President Barack Obama warned of “prolonged negotiations”, while House of Representatives …

Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler will probably keep the official cash rate unchanged at a record low this week because there’s little sign that renewed life in the housing market and Christchurch’s rebuild is stoking inflation yet. Wheeler will leave the OCR unchanged at 2.5 percent on Thursday, according to all 12 economists in a Reuters survey. Looking out over …

Negotiators from 11 countries gather in Auckland today at Sky City Convention Centre for the 15th round of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks. Outside the door are activists of all persuasion – human rights campaigners, anti-free traders, and consumer protection campaigners – who don’t like what is happening what happening behind closed doors. TV3 reports the NZ government has been …

From the struggles of war veterans coping with PTSD to the failed Facebook IPO, here’s a look at some of The Wall Street Journal’s most compelling front-page videos of 2012.

Episode 3 of 4 is scheduled for 11am Sunday December 9 You Tube comment:  “Communism was the main force worldwide that fought for women’s rights and gender equality. Still today, China is one of few countries that gives full access for women to ALL military positions, where labor rate for women is virtually the same as for men (around 90%), …

Today, China is the second largest consumer of oil, just after the United States. The Documentary investigates the new world geopolitics that is emerging around the needs of both the world’s leading superpower and the world’s fastest growing economy to secure future supplies of oil. This is the final part of  The Battle for Oil.