State Councillor Liu Yandong will visit New Zealand next week as a guest of the Government – the first visit by a senior Communist Party figure since China’s November leadership transition. State Councillor Liu is a senior leader in China’s 2012-2017 hierarchy. Her portfolios include education, science, screen and television, and culture. Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce says he will …

New Zealand’s largest electricity producer, Meridian Energy, has resumed talks with Rio Tinto Alcan, the majority owner of the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter, over Rio’s request for changes to 18-year contracts for power supply that kick in on Jan. 1. Meridian chief executive Mark Binns told the company’s annual public meeting in Wellington that Rio had recently come back to …

The Teamsters Union’s Mike Nolan has lashed out at Fonterra saying the NZ dairy giant’s “virtual monopoly” must be diminished if the TPP is to go ahead. Nolan – who touched base with the US Dairy Council in Washington DC before coming down to Auckland for the 15th round of TPP negotiations – claimed that there would be $US20 billion …