World

The Australian Financial Review gets to the nub of the stoush that saw five of Herald publisher APN’s directors walk overnight after Ireland’s Independent News and Media exercised its shareholding muscle. The article it notable for suggesting INM’s own CEO Vincent Crowley might be a candidate for the new APN CEO role. Crowley – who is Irish – is a …

APN News & Media chairman Peter Hunt has this evening formally announced his resignation and that of CEO and Managing Director Brett Chenoweth and three other directors – John Maasland, Melinda Conrad and John Harvey –  to the ASX. The five resignations take effect from 9am tomorrow morning (Australian Eastern Seaboard time). A further director, Kevin Luscombe, will retire in …

Parliament’s outgoing Speaker Lockwood Smith let the proverbial out of the bag by revealing in his valedictory speech this evening that Simon Tucker is NZ’s High Commissioner-designate to Canada. Tucker – a former MFAT official and Fonterra manager – was until recently a boss at DairyNZ. Smith acknowledged Tucker as one of a trio of talented former staffers who had …

The impact of the detection of chemical residues in dairy products originating from New Zealand found in Chinese market is still spreading as consumers turn to European brands. help writing an essay Peoples Daily – which is the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece reports –  although New Zealand insists dicyandiamide (DCD) is less toxic than table salt, reporters found that many consumers still have doubts about New Zealand milk powder. And urchasing agents are getting extremely busy withEuropean milk powder business. According to Taobao, China’s largest e-commerce platform, in the last seven days, New Zealand milk powder traded indexwere down 24.1 percent. On Jan. 27, the index once declined to zero, which means a marked decline in sales of New Zealand milk powder. Many foreign milk powder sellers are posting the official statement on their home pages, claiming they don’t sell products of the Fonterra Group. A Taobao shopkeeper told reporter, despite having put on New Zealand officials’ statement on the webpage, recently the business has been “down” a lot. After training,the shop now requires customer service staff to be patient to explain to consumers and clear their doubts. At the same time, some milk powder brands from Europe began to expand their market share in China. According to media reports, recently, DM Stores, a large supermarket chain in Germany implemented restrictions for the purchase of infant formula; each customer can only buy up to four boxes each time. At the same time, the Netherlands requires each customer can only buy a jar of milk powder. Affected by the “restriction”, many European milk powder e-shops are considering raising prices. A Taobao shopkeeper advises reporter “to take advantageof the opportunity and buy more. If the restrictions are put into effect for a long time,price will continue to rise.”

Two more candidates for the top World Trade Organisation job tossed their hats into the ring yesterday joining NZ’s Tim Groser and candidates from Costa Rica and Ghana. Groser’s candidacy – first revealed by this journalist in the NZ Herald in August – was expected. After four years as trade minister, Groser has polished his political skills and developed a …

Prime Minister John Key said the Government has nominated Trade Minister Tim Groser for the position of Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. “Nominations have been called for by the end of December, and I can confirm that Mr Groser’s name has been put forward, with the New Zealand Government’s blessing,” says  Key. “Given Tim Groser’s experience in trade, and …

Fonterra’s legal brief told the Commerce Commission five months ago that the Inner Mongolian company was in talks to buy Oceania Dairy. Chapman Tripp’s Grant David spot-lighted the Yili talks when he tried to convince the commission that Fonterra should be allowed to buy NZ Dairies. Fonterra had become aware of further competition in the industry, he noted.  “Over the …

The Public Sector Pension Investment Board –  one of Canada’s largest pension investment managers – has agreed to buy 30 per cent of  Kaingaroa Forest from Harvard University’s endowment fund. Harvard will retain a 28.75% stake in Kaingaroa Forest after completion of the transaction, which remains subject to regulatory approval and other customary closing conditions. As part of the transaction, …

The Kyoto Protocol died in Copenhagen in December 2009. Why, then, are climate change officials, including our own, meeting a third time since then and, instead of finalising burial arrangements, still talking about extending Kyoto to tackle climate change? The answer is simple: the international community of climate change officials is going through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, …

CTU official Bill Rosenberg has raised the spectre of Warner Brothers suing a future NZ Government if it tries to unwind “the Hobbit” law. At the TPP stakeholders day in Auckland this morning, Rosenberg said the CTU’s interest in the trade negotiations is not limited to labour rights. Rosenberg instanced the NZ Government’s decision to change labour laws to ensure …