BUSINESS

Workers of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have alleged its operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) have been lying about the true state of meltdown crisis in the facility.

The world's second-largest miner, Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) will push through with its $5 billion plan to expand the Pilbara iron ore mine despite the lower price of iron ore in the international market. The mining giant has planned the expansion in 2011.

With election campaigning in full swing here in Australia and financial markets going nowhere, let's look elsewhere for some relief. We'll take a world tour..

Yesterday we promised to try and figure out the Australian dollar's behaviour using the Grattan Institute's new report on the mining boom. Analyst Jim Minifie's work isn't a bad read because it has lots of pictures. His key points are that Australia can transition quite well into and out of a mining boom, but we've failed to make the most of our latest one.

In the good times generosity abounds. Everyone gets to share in the spoils. Investors, fund managers and financial planners all make money. It is only when the good times stop investors sharpen their focus on the genuine value derived from fees.

A civil lawsuit was filed against Bank of America for misleading investors in an $850 million mortgage-bond deal known as BOAMS 2008-A offered in 2008.

The Palmerstone North Girls' High returned on Friday leftover contaminated whey protein that students used in a science class experiment in April 2013. At least 25 female students drank the milkshake which had whey as additive; fortunately, not one of them got sick of botulism.

The uptrend remains under pressure closing on the pivot for this week. Stock reports show BHP, RIO and TLS in breakout up trends and the banks, WOW, WPL and WES in downtrends.

It's been a big week for market events. There's been something for everyone. Central Banks have loomed large as market drivers, economic news has been plentiful and the company reporting season locally has kept the analysts community sleep deprived. Despite this bounty, that old chestnut; the Fed and its expansive Q.E discussion, has come out trumps as the main influence on market sentiment this week. Suggestions that the US central bank could set sail on the tapering voyage as early as ne...

Tech Web site CNET released on Friday a mock-up image of the upcoming Samsung watch to be called the Samsung Galaxy Gear. The timepiece will have the ability to talk to an Android phone.

The Australian sharemarket is in the red for the fourth time this week, with the All Ordinaries Index down 0.3 per cent or 15.8 pts to 5,031.3. Over the past five days, the market has given back all of last week's 1.5 per cent improvement. At its best, local shares were up 0.2 per cent in early trade.

Pope Francis has issued a new decree effectively expanding the supervisory role of the Financial Information Authority (FIA) over the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), otherwise known as the Vatican Bank, in a serious attempt to thwart and eliminate any money-laundering schemes and activities within its halls.

YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen launched a new app for iOS dubbed as MixBit.

All around the world, the smoldering heat wave continues to break and set records from end to end of the globe.

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra continues to feel the impact of the botulism scare on its global consumers when milk prices dropped during the auction organised by its Co-operative Group on Tuesday. The Fonterra GDT Price Index dipped 2.4 per cent as average selling price stood at $4,847 per tonne even if no product that uses the contaminated whey were included in the bids.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaI joined Twitter. Not because I am curious what this celebrity has to say about her kids, or to read that another one is waiting for a connecting flight, impatiently.

In a bid to tone down the botulism scare caused by the discovery of bacteria in whey produced at its Waikato plant, Fonterra assured New Zealanders that the risk of acquiring botulism is only one in a million.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 27 points or 0.2% while the S&P gained 0.4% to 1697 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Apple iOS' market share plummeted to the advanatge of Windows Phone and Android

The Australian share market had a solid recovery on Thursday, boosted by healthy China trade data, a solid result from Telstra (TLS) and as Australia's unemployment rate remained steady at 5.7 per cent.

Australia's largest phone company, Telstra Corp,, beat analyst expectations with a surge in profits due to the increasing number of users for its 4G network. The growth boosted Telstra's share in the mobile phone market to almost 50 per cent.Telstra's net income rose to 12 per cent at $AU3.8 billion in the fiscal year ended June 30 compared to $AU3.41 billion twelve months earlier. The Melbourne-based company released its latest financial data in a statement on August 8. The pos....

The Alberta Energy Regulator gave on Tuesday its conditional approval application of Athabasca Oil Corp for the Dover Oil Sands Project despite a request by the Fort McKay First Nation for a 20-kilometre no-development setback.

As China steps up measures to combat its growing air pollution from out of proportions, imposing excessive rates on automotive license plates to encourage residents from buying additional units, local Chinese auto makers are unfortunately being driven to extinction.

The spotlight is on the New Zealand dollar as the country's largest dairy exporter was hit by a botulism scare which caused a slump in the Kiwi dollar earlier this week. As New Zealand's premier brand Fonterra was hit by import restrictions of products in China and other countries, the Kiwi dollar had a rare break from its strong momentum and plunged to its year low.

The Australian share market is rebounding from yesterday's falls, thanks to a strong result from Australia's largest telco Telstra (TLS) and as the unemployment rate remained steady at 5.7 per cent in July.

Effective Oct 28, 2013, Canadians heading for pilgrimage, expatriates and even students may now fly direct to Saudi Arabia.

Canadian Blood Services has made a desperate call to all health and able-bodied Canadian to donate blood to avert the looming potential shortage in its national reserves.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportLeaving aside your political leanings, the crucial question for a newsletter like this is ? what election outcome is best for your super fund? I will narrow it down to the stock market effect of a Rudd or Abbott victory, leaving out the alternative inflation con...

Despite the recent collapse of an international cartel that could cause a plunge in prices of crop nutrient potash, BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) is still open to the idea of constructing a $14 billion potash mine in Saskatchewan, Canada.