BUSINESS

Australia has become a web-centric nation, latest government data showed, with net surfers growing steadily as of June 2012.

Tourism Australia and Dubai-based Emirates will be spending an estimated A$14.3 million over the next three years that will further improve inbound visitation from Europe and New Zealand.

Mary Retallack, a wine grape scientist from Adelaide Hills, was declared on Tuesday the top winner of the 2012 Australian Rural Women's Award. She was recognised for her efforts to help improve the potential of women in the wine industry and rural sector.

Key Microsoft executives took pay cuts in the last financial year for missing corporate goals, according to the latest regulatory filing by the software giant.

Local stocks have retreated from 14 month highs today, following a lacklustre session on US and European markets overnight. Wall Street eased into the red due to a lack of direction with no economic data released, and as investors showed nerves ahead of the start of the reporting season. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 13.6pts or 0.3pct to 4513.

By Greg PeelThere would be few Australians unaware of Breville electric household products. The company was established in 1932 and on my reckoning probably cemented its Vegemite-style iconic status around about the seventies, by which time seemingly every home could boast a Breville toasted sandwic...

To develop a more profitable tourism industry, Ecotourism Australia Chief Executive Kym Cheatham pushed for more focus on high-value visitors instead of just increasing the number of tourists.

Qantas is on an apparent collision course, not against Virgin Australia or Tiger Airways or Middle Easter air carriers, but against the premier of New South Wales (NSW) over the plan to build a second airport in Sydney.

By Alexander Green, Investment U Chief Investment StrategistHere's a brainteaser for you. Does the chart below represent:A.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 110 points, or 0.8%, while the S&P lost 1.0% to 1441 and the Nasdaq dropped 1.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the eighth time in nine sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by 0.5 per cent or 24.6 pts to 4526.6. Last night, European markets slumped by as much as 2 per cent, with shares in Milan amongst the biggest losers. France's CAC40 and Germany's DAX Index both slid by close to 1.5 per cent. The CAC40 and DAX are France and Germany's equivalents to Australia's All Ordinaries Index (XAO).

China's appetite for mining-related investments in Australia may be dwindling, but its appetite for Australian scenic spots has helped the resource-rich nation post a record number of tourist arrivals in August.

We can call the dogfight between Motorola Droid RAZR HD and HTC One X+ as the race of marginal Android players for obvious reasons: the Android business sphere, despite its smartphone dominance, has so far spawned very few profitable actors.

Japan's top three carmakers, Toyota Motor Corp., Nissan Motor Co. and Honda Motor Co., decided to cut production in China by roughly half as a territorial dispute between Chinese and Japanese governments continues. Due to the territorial dispute Japan's carmakers have noted a decrease in sales in the world's largest auto market.

According to a survey held on the 8th of October, the China's services sector recovered in the month of September after being hit by nearly a one year low on the growth in the month of August. These results followed an official assessment that seemed a lot gloomy in the previous week.

The sales of the Toyota Motor Corp. in the country of China have been down by nearly 40 percent in the month of September as compared to the previous year. The sales of some of its rival companies like BMW and Hyundai however soared high in China. This fact of Toyota's China sales fall reveals how badly the two countries have been struck by their ongoing territorial row.

The World Bank cut its economic growth forecast for the East Asia and Pacific region, saying there was a greater risk of deepening slowdown in China and weakening global demand.

Nokia is struggling to regain its old footing and is placing most of its future bets with Microsoft but few analysts believe that the Finnish phone maker will rediscover the narrow road to recovery.

The International Monetary Fund has today cut its growth forecasts for China for this year and next, saying stimulus efforts have so far failed to deliver the expected boost. The downgrade appears to have been factored into local sentiment, with Australian stocks hitting a fresh 14 month high in early trade. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 17.1pts or 0.4pct to 4519.1pts at lunchtime in the East.

The next Nexus phone will appear this month, produced by LG, CNET reports. This will be the first time Google has teamed up with LG and it should help the latter break into the U.S. market. The phone is expected to be heavily influenced by the LG Optimus G.

Much like the battle in the mobile phone space that resulted in three companies - Nokia (NOK), Motorola (GOOG) and one time mobile phone vendor Ericsson (ERIC) - controlling the industry, the smartphone market is now consolidating around its top players. That means market share loss and margin pressure for others.

Several business groups have spoken against the failure of the big 4 to pass in full to borrowers the 25 basis points cut in overnight cash rate the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) made last week. The groups also did not spare the central bank for failing to persuade the lenders to follow its monetary policy.

Business leaders from Australia and Japan urged Canberra not to overlook Tokyo while the Gillard government focuses on the Chinese economy as the world gears for the Asian century.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 26 points, or 0.2%, while the S&P fell 0.4% to 1455, with the Nasdaq down 0.8% (Apple down 2.

By Eva BrocklehurstAccording to the latest Russell Investments quarterly survey of Australian investment managers, we should expect a sustainable turnaround in the Australian share market within 12 months.

The Australian sharemarket ended in the red for the first time in eight sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) easing by just 0.3 per cent or 11.8 pts to 4502. Keep in mind that last week, shares improved by 2.5 per cent, which was the local market's third best performance this year.

More than half-a-million vehicles have been tagged for global recall by Chrysler and Honda, saying defective parts must be replaced or repaired to avert the occurrence of accidents or fire, reports said.

On Friday the US market closed mixed as the early excitement over the better than expected US jobs report started to dwindle away. The NASDAQ closed in the red as Apple and Zynga shares pulled the index lower. Metal prices lost ground and concern over European growth added to the pain.

Another Nokia Lumia will become exclusive for AT&T in US. The Nokia Lumia 920 will run on Windows Phone 8, Microsoft's upcoming software release for PC.