BUSINESS

Wegelin & Co., the oldest Swiss private bank, said on Thursday it would shut its doors permanently after pleading to a criminal conspiracy charge in the U.S. and admitting that it had helped wealthy Americans for years avoid tens of millions of dollars in taxes.

Giant Japanese telco NTT Docomo reportedly partnered with Samsung to deliver an Amber Brown Note to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Australian Olympic boxer Damien Hooper got himself embroiled in a tight fix during the weekend after a night of clubbing at a Queensland nightclub.One of the country's finest boxers is now facing charges before a court of law because of a gruesome night of misbehaving.

Today the Australian share market opened higher with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) adding 24 points. The Aussie market received a boost from the better than expected non-farm payrolls, Job report, in the states on Friday. As the start of trade the best performing sectors were Industrials, Banks & Energy. In the mining sector the small & medium size miners did better than large players and the media sector was once again listing small gains.

A month after Australia implemented the nationwide plain tobacco packaging law, the state of New South Wales has leveled up the anti-smoking campaign by prohibiting smoking in public places. The new anti-smoking law became effective on Monday, January 7.

Three new Microsoft Surface tablets are reportedly set to be unveiled later this year, joining the first batch that the software giant had simultaneously launched with the Windows 8 in October 2012.

Majority of teenagers now have access to smartphones which they primarily use for basic phone functions, education, social media, and entertainment. But when entertainment needs goes beyond the usual movie and TV fare, pornography is the first thing in mind. Network carriers have filtered these Web sites but teens have found a way around it through sexting - messages and pics that are sexually explicit.

The New Year of 2013 has entered its second week and for many, this week would be back to business as usual. It is another year to make small, medium or large businesses more productive and efficient for loyal customers. Handling a business can be very stressful and demands a lot of time and effort, but through Android and iOS devices and apps, entrepreneurs and corporate executives can enjoy the advantage of having a secret adviser that can do things even when the assistant or accountant is not...

Google has launched an application that lets people follow and track their New Year's Resolution through an online map and also lets them see what others around the world have promised in 2013. The California Internet giant's 2012 Zeitgeist Web site obtained half a million log entries and more than a third involved "to love" or "be loved" entries. The entries are divided into several categories including love, health, finance, career, education and family.

The statement that Gina Rinehart has oodles of money is a given fact. Two years' worth of financial statements published by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) covering the years 2010 and 2011 said that profits of Hancock Prospecting, owned by Ms Rinehart, rose to $1.2 billion as of mid-2011 from $225 million in June 2009.

2012 December will be long remembered by luxury carmakers, including BMW AG, Mercedes-Benz, Audi and others, as they saw record luxury car sales in the U.S. market. BMW AG indeed preformed so good in the last month of the year as it saw an increase of approximately 39 percent for the period in the U.S., topping Mercedes-Benz in luxury car sales for 2012.

Transocean Ltd. agreed to pay as much as $1.4 billion to settle civil and criminal claims over Gulf oil spill in 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice informed on the 3rd of January. The offshore driller also conceded that its team was partly liable for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon accident in the Gulf of Mexico.

Latest data showed a surprising drop in activity in the UK services sector. The visible decline in the services sector in December is the first decrease in about two years. The fall raises fears that the UK economy might enter triple-dip recession.

Mark Zuckerberg should better watch out. His potential successors are getting younger. One such chap even shares with him the same initials - ZM - which stands for Zachary Marks.

Patrick Dempsey's Global Baristas LLC informed that its bid for Seattle-based Tully's Coffee was accepted. Also Starbucks Corp. and Baristas Coffee Co. took part in a bankruptcy auction. The "McDreamy" Patrick Dempsey's company is to pay approximately $9.15 million for a small coffee chain.

HTC M7 will be unleashed first quarter of 2013 but it remains unclear if the smartphone will be previewed on this week’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas following conflicting reports that the gadget is slated for a Mobile World Congress debut in February.

Some of the excitement surrounding the U.S budget legislation seemed to die off today. The Australian sharemarket lost a little ground today for the first time this year after a strong start to 2013. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) slipped by just 0.4 per cent or 18.5 pts to 4742.9, however improved by over 1.2 per cent this week. Aussie shares are currently trading at 19-month highs, and Wednesday was the best start to a new year in over a decade.

Amidst her personal and legal battles, Gina Rinehart has raked in tremendous windfalls in the past two years that would largely support her stature as the world’s richest woman.

Samsung is allocating significant amounts of energy to Tizen in 2013, confirming reports that the Asian tech giant is planning device releases this year running on the Linux-based mobile operating system.

There's more to a hotel concierge's job in a busy tourist destination spot like Australia's Gold Coast than just booking car rentals or serving as a go-between for guests and the accommodation.

After a weak session on overseas market the Australian share market gave back yesterday's gains. At the open of trade the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) lost over 23 points with weakness in small and medium mining stocks and the energy sector. Markets in both China and Japan reopened for trade today will all market in the region now fully operational after the New Year's break.

The global hunt for that elusive Nexus 4 remains an equally exciting and frustrating prospect for fans wanting to enjoy the stock Android rendition on a powerful but affordable smartphone.

The Aussie’s strong rally since the ‘fiscal cliff’ was averted has come to an abrupt end on the back of the minutes from last month’s Fed meeting which has shown a split in how long the participants want to continue the current money printing programs.

It has been six months since the debut of Nexus 7 at the Google's annual developer conference and it is an attractive device especially for readers. Some users are confused if they still want to squint their eyes just to read through the smartphone and suffer a double $200 price tag or get a mini tablet or a bigger one from Samsung.

While the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) next week in Las Vegas is expected to show more cars and fewer electronic gadgets, techies nevertheless are anticipating the annual event.

The last minute U.S. budget deal may have spared millions of Americans the burden of higher taxes amid a weak economic climate.

With billions of dollars in her name, Gina Rinehart, Australia and the world's richest woman, attracts media attention whether she likes it or not. In 2012, she again hogged the limelight because of her court battles with her three estranged adult children, her views on wealth, corporate skirmishes and her oodles of money.

Japan's population shrank by an estimated 212,000 people in 2012, claimed the nation's Health Ministry on Monday, as concerns continue to mount the nation's rapidly aging population and low birth rates.

Even if the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut the overnight cash rate several times in 2012, bringing it down to a three-year low of 3 per cent, several sectors continue to clamor for more key lending rate reductions in 2013.