New Zealand ranked as the second easiest place in the world to start a new business, Treasurer Bill English said today.

"This finding of the World Economic Forum in its 1999 Global Competitiveness Report has been noted in the latest edition of the Economist magazine.

"The Economist reported that, on a scale where 1 meant difficult and 7 easy, the United States topped the world with a score of 6.06 out of 7, with New Zealand the second easiest country to start a new business with a score just under 6.

"Other top-10 countries, ranked in order after New Zealand and bunched quite close behind in the range of about 4.75 to 5.75, were Iceland, Canada, Finland, Britain, Netherlands, Australia, Norway and Ireland," said Mr English.

Ends

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>