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China Investment Corp – is in talks with New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra Co-Operative Group about investing in its shareholder fund  – according to the Wall St Journal. The WSJ reported today that CIC, which manages a chunk of China’s massive foreign-exchange reserves, is considering investing in the Fonterra non-voting units later this month with its initial investment expected to …

New Zealand’s manufacturing sector returned to a minor level of expansion in October, although the sector remains in a flat state, according to the latest BNZ – BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI). The seasonally adjusted PMI for October was 50.5 (a PMI reading above 50.0 indicates that manufacturing is generally expanding; below 50.0 that it is declining).  This was 2.0 …

IBM has announced Christchurch has won an IBM Smarter Cities Challenge grant – one of 31 cities globally for 2013. The grant provides Christchurch with access to some of IBM’s top experts to analyse and provide recommendations to drive economic development and sustained growth for the city. Launched in 2011, the IBM Smarter Cities Challenge is a three-year, 100-city, US$50-million competitive grant program …

By Pattrick Smellie New Zealand’s plantation forestry estate represents a major opportunity for New Zealand to become more self-sufficient in transport fuels, says the latest report from the Pure Advantage business lobby group seeking support for a “green growth” push in New Zealand. However, a “crisis of faith” in the forestry industry could stymie the newly emerging potential of forestry – …

Straight from the Whitehouse – Obama faces the press on fiscal cliff, Petraeus and more

Fox News asks the hard questions.

Fox canvasses the impact of General Petraeus effective sacking on the Benghazi hearings.

The name of the new institute set up by the NZ Government to help firms in the high-tech manufacturing and services sectors will be Callaghan Innovation. Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce said naming the new Advanced Technology Institute after the late Sir Paul Callaghan was recognition of his passion for commercialising scientific research. “Sir Paul was one of New …

Solid Energy has completed the sale of the agribusiness division of Biodiesel New Zealand. The purchaser, Pure Oil New Zealand Ltd, is owned by Southern Packers, Midlands Seed, and a manager and agronomist who previously worked for Biodiesel New Zealand. Solid Energy said in August that as part of its response to the impact on its business of the extremely …

Trade Minister Tim Groser will meet with his Australian counterpart at the annual Closer Economic Relations (CER) Forum tomorrow in Canberra. “On both sides of the Tasman there is a high level of political commitment to strengthening and deepening our relationship, and this meeting will be important in helping us progress the single economic market agenda.” Groser says ministers will …