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By David Mahon In Beijing, as evening temperatures hover around zero degrees Celsius, the heating has been turned on two weeks earlier than usual so that Chinese Communist Party officials attending the 18th National Congress will not suffer too much discomfort. Security has been increased. Vehicles from other provinces cannot enter the city without permits and, in an edict only …

Prime Minister John Key will effectively open Tim Groser’s campaign for the top job in international trade at the forthcoming East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh. “Quite a number of leaders have said to me that ‘Yes, we support Tim’,” Key revealed to this columnist when questioned on Groser’s expected pitch to be the next director-general of the World Trade …

The Public Service Association has leveraged the 100th anniversary of the Public Service Act to whine about the loss of 3000 public sector jobs in the past few years. PSA National Secretary Brenda Pilot says there are still tough times ahead for the sector with a further $1 billion to be cut from departmental budgets newzealandinc.com challenges Ms Pilot to …

For the most recent of their hit viral safety videos, Air New Zealand partnered with WETA Workshop for a Hobbit inspired production. Take a look at the results.

BACK TO WORK AFTER HURRICANE SANDY . At least 40 deaths have been confirmed, with millions of lives disrupted from power outages, flooded subways and transit systems. Preliminary estimates place the total loss from the hurricane at between US $30bn-$50bn, which pales into comparison with the US$140bn+ cost from Hurricane Katrina. With the storm now forecast to weaken, life is slowly …

Livestock Improvement Corp has granted an extension to Agria on the Chinese company’s $10 million loan it used to help it take control of PGG Wrightson. “To give Agria time to source additional funds to enable repayment, the payment date for these amounts has been extended,” LIC said in a statement. “The effect of that extension is that an amount …

Most New Zealanders must be very confused about what they are seeing in the US Presidential race.  Aside from those who take the time to seek some balancing of the media views on US politics by tuning into Fox, or reading the Wall Street Journal, there is an incessant anti-Republican bias to most of the news feeds being taken here.  …

The National Party-led government has gained support from an unlikely quarter, with one of US president Barack Obama’s former top economic advisers, Peter Orszag, saying New Zealand is “the only country” implementing a balanced mix of stimulus and austerity policies. “For most countries it’s better to combine deficit reduction that you put in place now but that takes effect over …

A LULL IN THE STORM, OR RECOVERY ON THE WAY? There was a swathe of data overnight from both the US and Europe with most of it either surprising on the upside, or in line with market expectations. However, most of the indicators are still at very low levels begging the question whether it is a lull in the storm, or …

By Stephen Jacobi A recent survey of 1018 New Zealanders found that over 60.5 per cent believed New Zealand needed to do more to connect with global markets. While 85.7 per cent could not name the deal under negotiation with the United States and other Asia Pacific economies, when prompted 51.6 per cent said they had heard of the Trans …