The government will wait for the Supreme Court to rule on the Maori Council appeal against the partial privatisation of state-owned electricity company MightyRiverPower, even though it needed a decision by today to meet its own sales timetable. Prime Minister John Key told his post-Cabinet press conference that the Cabinet could have passed an Order in Council today to proceed …

Bank of New Zealand first-quarter profit sank 56 percent after the local unit of National Australia Bank took bigger impairment charges on its loan book and wrote down the value of financial instruments. Loan growth bolstered underlying earnings. Net profit fell to $126 million in the three months ended Dec. 31 from $289 million a year earlier, according to the …

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 …