Economic Development Minister, Gerry Brownlee, says a new business initiative is being launched to help capture commercial opportunities in the United States health market.

Taxpayers are entitled to know which companies are benefiting from the nine day fortnight given the Government subsidies involved, says Labour's Social Development Spokesperson Annette King.

Hari huritau ki a koe, hari huritau ki a koe, hari huritau e te Kingi Tuheitia, hari huritau ki a koe.

New Zealanders, tourists and native wildlife are the big winners with the historic addition of the Te Kahui Kaupeka Conservation Park to Canterbury's public land.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully leaves for Singapore today to give the keynote speech at a New Zealand Business Forum, and to meet with senior Singaporean Ministers.

"Singapore is an important bilateral and regional partner for New Zealand," Mr McCully said.

The Green Party is calling on the Government to scrap its 2014 deadline for settling all Treaty of Waitangi claims.

The Government has organised a Hui in Auckland tomorrow to discuss how to resolve Maori claims for redress for injustices inflicted on them by the Crown.

The speech by the Iranian president at the UN conference on racism should be condemned, but his words of hate should not undermine the overall aim of the conference, Labour Party Associate Foreign Affairs spokesperson Grant Robertson says.

The Terms of Reference for the Defence Review to be conducted this year were announced today by Defence Minister Wayne Mapp and Associate Defence Minister Heather Roy.

John Key's recent signals of fiscal prudence in the upcoming Budget are to be praised, said Green Party Co-leader Dr Russel Norman.

 After spending two weeks working in a remote Costa Rican fishing village in late 2007, it made a nice (and drastic) change to check into a fairly plush hotel, high in the mercifully cool mountains. Flicking through the cable channels, trying to find something on TV to watch in English, I stumbled across a North American news channel.