BUSINESS

Queensland approved on Thursday the $16-billion Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail project, the largest coal mine in Australia and possibly in the world. By using open-cut and underground coal mining, Carmichael is expected to produce 60 million tonnes of thermal coal yearly for export.

The ASX 200 ended comfortably higher on Thursday although in broad terms it remained in the holding pattern that has been occupied in recent weeks. More so than recent years, the looming Federal budget hangs above the market as a hurdle. The bottom line will be to assess the extent to which spending is cut and the degree to which households will be impacted by the curtailing of payments. Most controversial of all is the possibility of a deficit levy.

Apple Inc. has reigned supreme in the recent study on tablet satisfaction by research firm J.D. Power.

Analyst Brian White of Cantor Fitzgerald and Hedge Fund Manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital Inc. are both bullish on Apple Stock

Yingluck Shinawatra is no longer Thailand's Prime Minister after a court found her guilty of abusing power that led to a prolonged political crisis that has spurred a number of violent protests.

The radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant that has erupted into the atmosphere and fell into the ocean waters will not trigger any increase in cancer or health problems, a report released by the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation said. What will definitely most kill the people are their overreactions and stress over possible radiation afflictions.

The Australian sharemarket is partly making up for yesterday's slump, driven by a strong lead from Wall Street overnight. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.6 per cent at lunch.

Canada has opened its first ever cannabis marijuana vending machine in Vancouver.

Recently voted as Australia's favourite airline, Qantas is set to squash off 2,200 jobs by June as part of a restructure plan as it announced it will deploy the double-decker Airbus A380 to service the Sydney-Dallas/Fort Worth route.

Janet Yellen has certainly jump started the markets, with the DOW and S&P adding 0.7% and 0.5% overnight respectively.

In US economic data, consumer credit rose by $17.5 billion in March to $3.14 trillion - this was the largest increase since February 2013. Revolving credit -which measures credit card usage - rebounded by $1.1 billion in March.

China's Alibaba Group Holding filed on Wednesday papers for the e-commerce giant to go public in the U.S.

The Australian share market was sold off today following falls on US and European markets on fears some stock market valuations are too high.

Google Maps for mobile is one of the widely used apps ever both by Android and iOS users.

Readers who are planning to buy one of the MacBook Air models should check out the terrific deals that Best Buy has to offer. Apple launched its new set of MacBook Air models that are both powerful and attractively priced. In addition, the prices of older MacBook models have been slashed.

The Government of Saudi Arabia has further intensified its monitoring efforts against cases of the dreaded Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV).

Sydney man, Michael William Hull, was charged with insider trading – ASIC

Bill Gates publicly expressed support if CEO Satya Nadella will decide to spin-off the Xbox division from Microsoft

Financial forecasters are rooting for Bill Gates to be the World’s First Trillionaire

The Australian sharemarket is recording its most substantial losses in close to a month, with a weak lead from the U.S. last night and worse than expected local data not helping. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 1 per cent and is flirting with the key 5400pt mark.

Critics say that Apple Inc.’s stock split is a result of nothing better to do, hence, it will no longer be the top-tech company by 2020

Popular online retailing company Amazon has joined hands with Twitter to allow users to handle their shopping cart directly from the micro-blogging Web site.

The breakdown of high price momentum trading is an interesting thematic that has been developing over the last six to eight weeks.

Unlike Australian Tax Office employees whose too sexy or casual attire good only for the beach has been noticed by no less than their boss, in air carrier Cathay Pacific, it is the other way around.

Australia is still a good place to live despite the expected $30-billion budget deficit that could destabilise the Abbott government as citizens express anger due to the administration's failure to live up to its election promise not to raise taxes.

Apple Inc investors had finally seen the company's shares reach the $600 mark once again. The last time Apple shares crossed the $600 mark was back in November 2012.

Microsoft could be unveiling a compact version of their Surface tablet on an event scheduled for May 20th in New York. The company has not shared any details about the event as such but the event-invite says it is a small gathering for a 'Surface event'.

Users of iPhones and iPads running on Apple's iOS 7 version or higher should be cautious before sending 'sensitive attachments' with the help of their devices. The users with the latest iOS 7.1.1 software version on their devices should also be worried about this issue.

Tuesday's session saw a tussle between buyers and sellers, albeit it was an exchange that took place with the index occupying positive territory over the session. Volumes were conspicuously low with only $3.3bln in shares having changed hands. As the session drew to a close the ASX 200 found some comfort in the RBA statement that accompanied its decision to leave rates on hold, although the substance of the text varied little in the last month. The Reserve Bank left the official cash rate on ...