BUSINESS

Finding the exclusive Catholic mass services for gays and lesbians being offered at a Soho London church directly running against the teachings of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, the archbishop who had approved its concept in 2007 has called for the closure of the services.

The Australian sharemarket is improving by 0.6 per cent or 31.4 pts to 5086, adding to five straight weeks of gains. Global markets were mixed on Friday night, however U.S equities (shares) edged higher by a modest 0.1 per cent. Global investors could remain a little cautious today to overcommit due to the President's Day public holiday in North America. U.S shares will be closed on Monday however will return to trade normally on Tuesday.

Androids continue to dominate the global smartphone market, indicating has far this mobile OS has gone since it was rolled out in 2008. Since the Android Market introduced a set of widgets then, the Android has expanded to wider platforms and ecosystems with the latest being the Jellybean and the Lime Key Pie on the horizon.

Schweppes drinkers in New Zealand should be warned that it could also produce pain and blood because of glass fragments found in five flavors - lemonade, tonic water, soda, dry ginger ale and soda lemonade twist. The affected drinks are those in 300 ml clear glass bottles with best before dates between Jan 10, 2014 and Jan 30, 2014.

The confidence is back as several mergers have been announced. And what is more, the acquisition of Heinz was announced. Warren Buffett and Jorge Paulo Lemann decided to go into the ketchup business by acquiring H.J. Heinz Co. for over $23 billion. The acquisition of Heinz is believed to be the biggest takeover in the history of the food industry.

Sony has introduced Xperia Z with precision engineered full HD smartphone. It is considered one of the most durable phones in the market today. It has waterproof and dust-proof casing to protect it from most daily hazards for mobile devices. It also features clearer images viewed from its panels with OptiContrast, stunning video and photo under any lighting condition with 13MP rear shooter camera, and maximum durability versus water and shatters.

At last, the merger of American Airlines and US Airways is said to be announced on the 14th of February.

New Rio Tinto CEO Sam Walsh is gearing up to cut costs as the world's second largest mining company has just informed that it posted a $3 billion full-year loss.

Rolls-Royce witnessed an increase in the full year profits by 24 percent to over £1.4 billion. The increase in the level of output at Boeing CO. and Airbus SAS led to stronger-than-expected profits for Rolls-Royce. Also, the company named Ian Davis as the chairman of the company.

Google is planning to open retail shops in the United States by the end of 2013. Besides the U.S., Google is also planning to open an outlet in Dublin, Ireland, as the tech firm attempts to make its products more reachable to consumers, both in-web as well as physical items.

The HTC 2012 flagship model One XL is receiving an Android 4.2.2 Cyanogen Mod 10.1 Nightly Build. Cyanogen Mod developers are currently developing this custom ROM featuring the latest Jellybean 4.2.2 released by Google recently with all features of the stock ROM itself.

DNA tests confirmed over the weekend that dinners tainted with horse meat had reached schools. The discovery prompted British councils to push for the withdrawal of processed beef dishes from menus following the confirmation that the equine meat hidden in cottage pies was sent to 47 schools.

There is great news for Samsung users owning Galaxy S2 for the international versions is finally receiving an update of Jellybean. The almost-forgotten flagship has received the source code and can be downloaded using Over-the-Air update.

Samsung plans to upend its bitter rival, Apple, by setting an initial production target of 100 million Galaxy S4s, with a goal of shipping out 10 million units to international markets in the immediate months of its market debut, analysts said.

Australian boys on Friday became the first in the world to receive a vaccine against the dreaded cancer-causing human papillomavirus (HPV). A $21 million worth program, boys aged 12-13 will be the priority to get vaccinated with Gardasil, and then the aged 14-15 in coming months as part of a catch-up programme.

The Australian share market opened slightly lower this morning after a mixed night on overseas markets. Overnight European indices were hit by the news that growth in the Eurozone had contracted by 0.6% in the final quarter of 2012. This was not good news after a report earlier in the day showed the Japanese economy also contracted in the December quarter of 2012.

iOS 6.1 has improved many of its security features and still carried over some from the previous generation. Apple has begun entering the corporate environment, providing devices with state-of-the-art protection against hacking, attempting to steal the position where Blackberry used to dominate.

While the world ponders and debates on the real reason behind the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, another rampage has heated up, this time a sale storm where souvenir relics of everything related to the 265th Pope must go and be sold.

A 7-inch Surface tablet or something like Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 are strong possibilities, according to a top Microsoft executive, also pointing out that the Windows 8 kernel is hardwired to support applications running on different device screen sizes – big and small.

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.

The One, that is the HTC One or formerly HTC M7, will hit the United States on March 22 at a starting price of $US200, according to new reports.

Samsung teased its followers and revealed momentarily how exactly the Galaxy Note 8.0 looks like while trying to promote the garnet red Galaxy Note 10.1.

The social networking Web site LinkedIn have reached their two million members mark during the love month. And because of the hard work of the 3,500 LinkedIn employees, the company's CEO, Jeff Weiner, gave them a special gift on Valentine's Day.

Battery life is one of the most important aspects a user should check when purchasing a phone or tablet. Battery life is affected by many factors, and the description written in the box of the product is usually under a condition set by the manufacturer during testing. Though manufacturers do testing of their devices, battery life will change over time and continues to depreciate that will eventually require a replacement. So it is best to take good care of the battery to make it last for as lon...

Most users just buy new Android phones for status to blend in with the tech trend. Only some Android users really know how to maximise their devices by learning and using the capabilities of their smartphones. HTC Droid DNA is one among many smartphones with hidden tricks that anyone can actually do. Here are at least 11 of them.

By Peter Switzer, Switzer Super ReportThe outlook for the Australian share market is still strong, even if some are already saying it's overvalued.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 9 points, while the S&P was flat at 1521 and the Nasdaq was also flat.The ASX 200 made 5000 look very much like "just another number" yesterday after the index surged through the psychological level.

Mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) continues to reap the negative impact of the bad business decisions made by outgoing Chief Executive Tom Albanese, who was forced to resign over losses suffered by the company. On Thursday, Rio reported $3 billion losses for 2012.

Local stocks performed well again today, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closing at its highest level since April 2011 and the ASX200 (XJO) at its best level since September 8, 2008.