BUSINESS

While Australian and Indonesian heads of state are talking about signing codes of ethics to resolve the diplomatic row over spying, supermarkets in Australia are mulling a code of conduct in relation to their suppliers.

Two months after, Italy wants to buyback the pristine Budelli Island it has sold to New Zealand Businessman Michael Harte for $4.8 million at an auction.

Officials from the Japan Sport Council has conceded to public rage and announced it has decided to scale back the proposed 70-metre mammoth stadium intended for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

A report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics revealed Australia’s population booming to 46m by 2075.

Air Asia has recently unveiled its special flight deals for several destinations around the world, including Asian and Australian destinations.

Over the first 2.5 hours of trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) has improved, lost ground and traded flat. At lunch, the index is 0.2 per cent weaker, losing ground for the first time in four trading days.

Nokia Australia brings a compelling reason to switch – the Nokia Lumia 1520.

Walmart’s Black Friday 2013 deals will officially start at 6pm on Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2013. Even if it’s named “Black Friday,” it will actually begin on a Thursday. On Nov. 28, there will be two events, one will start at 6pm up to midnight and the other will start from 8pm to midnight. And on Friday, Nov. 29, the sale will start at 8am and will last until Sunday, Dec. 1.

By Tim Price, PFP Wealth ManagementMadness, and sanity"In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.

Updating first generation Google Nexus 10 to Android 4.4 KitKat can be helpful to users. The latest Android 4.4 KitKat is packed full of features promising better Android experience. The latest OS update also provides a better digital assistant (Google Now) and deeper integration. Many sources agree that the 4.4 KitKat update seeks to reduce fragmentation among Android devices.

Housing data is causing green on screens today as US markets warmed to the jump in the Case-Shiller house price index.

In US economic news, the S&P Case-Shiller house price index rose by another 1.03pct in September taking annual house price growth to 13.3pct. Building permits jumped by 6.2pct to 1.034 million in October. The Richmond Fed index bounced from +1 to +13 in November. The Conference Board consumer confidence index fell from 72.4 to 70.4 in November - a 7-month low, but confidence remains in a gradual uptrend.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed unchanged and the S&P was flat at 1802 but the Nasdaq rose 0.6% to 4017.Bridge Street struggled to find any reason for enthusiasm yesterday and it is little wonder with all the downbeat talk about.

By Henry Jennings, Private Client Advisor, BBY Ltd• Another day with limited volume and a quiet tone with only the banks showing any signs of confidence.

There was some tooing and froing from the market early in the day. Sellers got traction in the first hour of trade although by lunch time the index had recovered from its lows of the session and left sellers in its wake.

Microsoft reportedly plans to update Skype's features, including its messaging functions, on which users complain about because they miss messages and sometimes get out-of-sync messages from their Skype contacts.

Man sells testicles for Nissan 370Z while Aussies are hot for the Nissan GT-R Nismo

International apparel chain H&M is set to open in Melbourne's GPO building in March 2014. Along with its debut Down Under is the launch of a capsule collection that will be exclusively available in Australia.

The Australian share market is flat at lunchtime in the East, despite another record high from blue chip stocks on Wall Street overnight. The US Dow Jones Index was slightly firmer while the broader share market was slightly lower and the NASDAQ reached above the 4000 point level during trade for the first time since the year 2000.

Canadians can have the newly released Motorola Moto G smartphone for free if they sign a new two-year contract with Telus or Koodo Mobile. Off contract, the phone costs $200.

A popular brand of baby monitors in New Zealand was recalled due to the deaths of two babies in the United States. Two infants have died of strangulation after getting the wires of the baby monitors entangled around their necks. Angelcare baby monitors are now being investigated by the New Zealand Health Ministry.

Apple Inc.’s Australian Web site has confirmed its Apple Inc. Black Friday Sale 2013 event.

Andrew Hales of the Web site Losing All Hope Was Freedom or LAHWF released a video titled "Paying for People's Groceries," and it has gone viral with 2,298,708 views and 47,419 as of this writing. Hales collaborated with GungHo, a company that makes natural focus supplements with ingredients like Ashwaganda (Withania somnifera), Caffeine, Eleuthero, Niacin - Vitamin B3 and Cognizin® Citicoline. According to GungHo, these ingredients are proven to increase focus, memory recall and brain ...

Labatt Breweries of Canada has signed an agreement with the National Organising Committee and FIFA to sponsor the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015™.

The holding pattern of the last seven days looks like continuing for the rest of week.

In US economic news, pending home sales dipped by 0.6pct in October. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index slipped from 3.6 to 1.9 in November.

By Greg PeelThe US-Russian HEU agreement has now officially come to an end, which means no more Russian Cold War warheads being dismantled and their fuel being sold through the US.

Upbeat European and U.S. economic data caused a considerable increase in the prices of copper and aluminium at the London Metal Exchange (LME). When the open-outcry trading closed on Friday, three-month copper was up 1.1 per cent from the day's $7,094 per metric tonne.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 7 points while the S&P lost 0.1% to 1802 and the Nasdaq added 0.2%.Bridge Street posted a solid jump from the open yesterday but gradually lost interest as the session wore on.