US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago this week to discuss trade, currency and North Korea, among much else. "I have great respect for him. I have great respect for China. I would not be at all surprised if we did something that would be very dramatic and good for both countries, and I hope so," Mr Trump says.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/trumps-beltway-supreme-court-nominee-vote-trump-preps-meet-china-leader-ns-p-201514

Business confidence is holding up. Headline expectations for the economy in the latest quarterly survey of business opinion from the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research show a drop in mood.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/business-mood-remains-buoyant-rh-p-201496

Labour party leader Andrew Little says he will cover all costs that arise from his defamation case with the Scenic Hotel Group founders. Mr Little says he has a “personal view about taking personal responsibility.”

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/little-personally-cover-all-his-legal-fees-jw-201506

Prominent internet lawyer and NetSafe chairman Rick Shera has welcomed a decision by a High Court judge to allow an appeal of a Harmful Digital Communications Act case. An Auckland High Court judge found a woman was harmed after her ex-husband posted explicit images of her on Facebook, under the Harmful Digital Communications Act. The woman and her husband have name suppression.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/high-courts-decision-facebook-blackmail-sets-robust-precedent-cg-p-201516

The economic fortunes of the Tiwai aluminium smelter have improved considerably but the threat of its closure remains a cloud over the electricity sector. The smelter’s owners, Rio Tinto with 80% and Sumitomo owning the rest, can give a year’s notice of closure at any time and the smelter uses about 14% of New Zealand’s electricity.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/tiwai-cloud-over-electricity-sector-lightens-jr-p-201483

Small companies should find it easier to raise the capital they need to grow following recommended changes to the Takeovers Code. The Takeovers Panel has recommended Commerce & Consumer Affairs Minister Jacqui Dean make a number of technical amendments, including raising the threshold at which unlisted companies are required to comply with the Code. It would mean that companies with less than $30 million in total assets and with less than $15 million of revenue would no longer come under the rules.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/lower-burden-small-companies-under-proposed-takeovers-code-changes-fr-p-201475

Former investors in Aorangi Securities and Hubbard Management Funds will share the proceeds from a wind-up of the late Allan Hubbard’s estate, the High Court has ruled. The court order follows a proposal made by the administrators of the estate, who include Robert Linton, Andrew Morris and Mr Hubbard’s widow, Jean Hubbard.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/investors-share-hubbard-estate-proceeds-db-p-201472

A coalition of small rural ISPs called WISPA has confirmed it’s put in a bid for the government’s $150 million Rural Broadband Initiative 2 tender -- $100 million of which will go to improving internet and $50 million to fixing cellphone blackspots in remote areas. The 30 members of WISPA (the Wireless Internet Service Providers Association) are seeking up to $2 million each.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/rbi2ck-201482-p

A new analysis of Australia’s future economic prospects throws doubt on whether it can maintain its growth levels of prosperity and wealth. The findings have shocked many Australians into realising the danger signals.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/opinion/editors-insight-what-ails-australia-and-what-can-be-done-about-it

Financial market watchdogs are increasingly baring their teeth at New Zealand companies, and intervening, law firm Chapman Tripp says. “A number of regulators have been given new powers and increased budgets and are expected to use these to strengthen enforcement,” says Chapman Tripp partner and new chairwoman Victoria Heine.

Read more ($): https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/untested-waters-creates-uncertainty-companies-law-firm-says-cs-p-201478