An appeal in a landmark tax avoidance case has been thrown out this morning in what one commentator called a "complete slam dunk" for Inland Revenue.

An 18-year-old bar worker sacked for taking $12 of unclaimed pokie machine winnings as a tip has been awarded more than $13,000 compensation for being unfairly dismissed.

The Government has grossly underestimated the value of hydro-energy assets to New Zealand citizens, writes Wayne Cartwright.

New Zealand's largest territorial authority has dramatically reversed its financial position, turning an $88 million loss into a $478 million profit.

Drought is likely to shave 0.5 per cent off gross domestic product by the end of the year and take a toll on next year's output as well, says ANZ bank.

The debate about the financial merits of assets sales is a good one, and based purely on the numbers the benefits are marginal, writes Liam Dann.

Talks between the EU and the US on a free trade deal, joining the world's two largest trading blocs, are scheduled to start in the summer.

The jobs of 139 health and safety inspectors will be disestablished and staff made to reapply for the positions.

Bill English says the Government is "considering formalising" proposals to restrict bank lending and other "tools" to control credit growth.

The economy will grow faster this year and next year than we have seen since the recession but the recovery remains brittle, the Institute of Economic Research says.

A Parliamentary committee has recommended a starting wage for youth be passed into law.

The Employment Relations Authority has awarded a man more than $16,000 after he was sacked for refusing to do a job which he thought was illegal.

I'm starting to feel guilty about this long decadent Auckland summer. It could just be my grandmother's Presbyterian streak kicking it.

There are fears that hundreds of jobs are on the line as union bosses go into urgent meetings with several big businesses battling to survive.

Why are only three per cent of Wall Street's top executives women? Surely there are more female graduates than that coming out of university and wanting a piece of it.

If it ever occurred, writes Andrew King, any existing home owner who previously had less than 70 per cent equity in their home would probably lose it to a mortgagee sale.

Wall St extended losses for a second day amid concern the Federal Reserve's stimulus for the US economy might end sooner than expected.

Towns in New Zealand's regional areas should be made more enticing to slow the mammoth population growth expected in Auckland in the next decade, a sociologist says.

More than half of Auckland's residential land is to be rezoned for apartments and intensification to squeeze in a million extra people by 2040.

The G20 group of leading industrial and developing countries was talking tough at the weekend about getting multinational corporations to pay more tax.