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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 …

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is in Perth for a summit to deepen defence links between Australia and the United States. The annual summit is the first since President Barack Obama visited Australia a year ago and upset  China by announcing that up to 2500 US Marines would rotate through a joint military training hub in the northern …

China’s vice president, Xi Jinping, is widely expected to take over from President Hu Jintao at the Communist Party congress under way in Beijing. The gathering ushers in a once-in-a-decade leadership change in the country. However, whether Hu will stay on as China’s military leader is still unclear. Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna reports from Beijing.

A scandalous affair has brought down a man referred to by many as one of the greatest generals in US history. But how successful have David Petraeus’ strategies really been in Iraq and Afghanistan? Until a few years ago, few people had heard of Petraeus. But in Washington DC, he has been long revered. His counter-inserguency strategies in Iraq and …

New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Spain is career diplomat Michael Swain. “As a key member of the European Union, Spain is an important partner for New Zealand and there is scope to develop our trade and economic relationships,” Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully says.  “We also share political and security interests with Spain, notably through our involvement in Afghanistan. Michael’s wide …

 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 …

New Zealand and Japan are two countries that most people would not usually consider as having the potential for strong sporting relations, but it’s time to think again. With the 2019 Rugby World Cup being held in Japan and the exchanges of top level athletes, the opportunities for sporting ties between our two nations has never been higher. The 2019 …

  Despite the lack of publicity New Zealand’s relationship with Japan has received of late, Japan remains a crucial partner for our country within Asia. This was the message from the Prime Minister yesterday in his address to the Japan New Zealand Business Council at their annual conference. “At all levels, New Zealand’s relationship with Japan is one of our …