BUSINESS

At least five people have died and two others now in critical condition after getting infected with a new SARS-like virus in Saudi Arabia.

Travelers who have scheduled airflights this weekend at the Melbourne Airport have been advised to take alternative options as taxi drivers vowed to refuse taking in passengers in light of their protest to the end of the short-fare queues system at the airport.

Apple's FaceTime is expected to improve on iOS 7 running devices having 1080p video quality using the new OmniVision OV2724 chip. At the same time, speculation revolves on Nokia taking camera technology seriously by including Lytro Camera to their next wave of mobile devices. So which one is better?

Chinese President Xi Jinping's call for austerity among his high- and low-ranking officials have unwittingly created an alleged covert underground spending movement.

Finally, both Verizon and AT&T released update their Galaxy Note devices with Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean allowing owners to use Google Now and experience Project Butter smoothness. Aside from the standard Jelly Bean features, the devices gain more app support for Multi-Window feature and Pop-up capabilities.

When in a foreign land, tourists often pose in front of famous landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower or Statue of Liberty as proof that they have the good fortune to travel to these places. And in the era of social media, they would post those photos and videos in Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Tumbler and YouTube.

The Australian dollar has edged slightly higher overnight following the European Central Bank's decision to cut its key interest rate and the release of better US economic data.

By Michael Lombardi, MBA for Profit ConfidentialAs of April 26, more than half of the companies in the S&P 500 issued their corporate earnings for the first quarter of 2013.

With the FOMC and ECB meetings out of the way now, investors will be encouraged to see central banks remaining committed to stimulating the global economy. There has been increasing pressure on the ECB and BoE to join other major central banks in conducting easing measures.

nvestment guru Warren Buffet just opened an account with Twitter with the handle @WarrenBuffet, and he already has more than 188,000 followers in a matter of hours.

Singapore is a tiny city-state, but it looms large in the international aviation industry since its national air carrier and airport topped two separate lists of best airlines and gateways made by Business Insider.

This early, technology pundits are anticipating another platform where rivals Apple and Samsung will fight over - page-turning patent.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 130 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P gained 0.9% to 1597 and the Nasdaq added 1.

n US economic data, claims for unemployment insurance fell by 18,000 to a five-year low of 324,000. The trade deficit fell from $43.63bn to $38.83bn as a 2.8pct fall in imports outpaced a 0.9pct fall in exports. Productivity grew at a 0.7pct annual pace in the first quarter, short of forecasts for a 1.2pct gain.

The Australian share market closed lower for a second session today, as weakness from US markets and a fall in commodity prices impacted sentiment. Investors were also unwilling to take on too much risk ahead of the European Central Bank meeting later tonight.

The world's most patronized social networking site, Facebook, reported an amount of $1.5 billion in revenue for the first quarter of 2013, higher than the $1.1 billion posted in the same quarter last year.

A worse than expected reading on the health of China's manufacturing sector coupled with sluggish US jobs growth are dragging Aussie equities lower at lunch.

QinetiQ North America (QQ) a world leading defense technology and security company providing satellites, drones and software services to the U.S. Special Forces deployed in Afghanistan and Middle East suffers humiliation as intelligence officials confirmed that China was able to steal the U.S. classified documents and pertinent technological information - all this because of QinetiQ's faulty decision-making.

Big numbers don't always translate to greatness, at least in the case of the shipments of tablets by Apple Inc in the first quarter of 2013.

Taiwan did not surprise when it released its data on the economy, showing that GDP slowed in the first quarter on a year-on-year basis.

Often unknown and forgotten unsung heroes have repainted the picture of the world. We can find most unsung heroes in almost every field of human history, including business. Those most unheard heroes have changed it seeking neither applause nor reward, often staying in a shadow, giving room to others.

By Jonathan BarrattAs we mentioned last week when you have a metal that is trading just above its cost of production there is bound to be some form of response.

Developers of CyanogenMod custom ROM finally made Samsung Galaxy S4 compatible with the firmware. CyanogenMod 10.1 features Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS, tweaking & customisation and less bloatware found in the stock ROM of Samsung Galaxy S4.

Australian clothing companies allegedly use cheap labor to produce their garments.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) has just spiced up the raging smartphone war between Samsung Electronics Co. and Apple Inc., with Blackberry sure to be a potential casualty of war, as the Pentagon announced it is currently working to award separate security approvals to the two companies as part of a wider plan to improve its communications network.

By George Leong, B.Comm.What's all of this fuss about earnings helping to drive up the stock market?The first-quarter earnings season has been OK, but not great.

Who says that Facebook is losing its popularity? While some young people may have stayed away from the world's most popular social media site, Facebook continues to dominate with monthly active users now reaching 1.11 billion.

Despite the delays in its production due to parts shortage and the non-repairability due to its unique body case, HTC One emerged again as the best phone, according to tech experts.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 138 points, or 0.9%, while the S&P fell 0.9% to 1582 and the Nasdaq lost 0.9%.