BUSINESS

Giant tobacco firms are attempting to re-invent their products in the face of relentless onslaughts coming from government regulators and health experts, which have been actively pushing to limit the world’s smoking incidence in the past decade, report said.

And Australia's most expensive night out destination award goes to Perth, which, according to TripAdvisor's TripIndex 2012, would charge $430.83 for two people just to spend a night at a four-star hotel, tour the city on a round-trip via taxi, get to enjoy cocktails at a five-star hotel bar and enjoy dinner with wine.

The Australian share market started off stronger this morning up 23 points after a strong close on Wall Street on Friday. The US markets closed higher for the 5th straight week and European markets closed just off recent highs. The volumes traded on the overseas markets were still quite low and are expected to stay that way throughout this week as most major European official departments will remain closed until the 20th of August this year. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) held on to an 17 point ...

With seven gold, 16 silver and 12 bronze medals, Australia, with a deflated ego, accepted its final tenth standing on the medal table at the closing of the 2012 London Olympics on Sunday.

A permanent point man for Facebook in Australia should be appointed soon, the giant social media firm said on Monday following its confirmation that an interim head has been tapped to run the company’s local operations on daily basis.

Google intends to employ new search algorithm that would shore up the appearance of legitimate web content providers to the tech giant’s search pages, boosting what the company said chances by music, movie and software producers to lure more buyers away from bootleg sources.

Manchester United debuted Friday on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and ended up garnering total market value of $US2.3 billion yet beneath the impressive numbers, analysts feared that the hugely popular Red Devils could go the same way that Facebook’s IPO did – fizzling out too soon.

By Richard (Rick) Mills, Ahead of the HerdAs a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best informationOur groundwater is being used up at record rates and claims to ownership are becoming increasingly contentious.

Due to dining and retail establishments push to scrap the penalty rate for Sunday work, unions have launched a counter offensive by launching the Save our Aussie Weekends campaign.

Hong Kong based billionaire Mr. Li Ka-shing, who controls a group of companies, has agreed on buying a UK based Gas Company named Wales and West Utilities. The agreement has been settled for 645 million pounds or 1 billion dollars. This latest acquisition by the tycoon will greatly boost his gas portfolio in Britain.

Yahoo Inc. and Facebook Inc. have finally agreed to settle their heated up patent lawsuits and tie up for a licensing and internet advertising partnership according to reports laid out on Friday.

Dairy farmers from Queensland and New South Wales (NSW) are not taking the sides of either Coles or Woolworths in the two supermarket giants' price war. They instead urged on Sunday the boycott of the two supermarkets' branded milk at the ongoing Ekka, Queensland's largest public event which attracts over 400,000 visitors.

Richard Schulze, the co- founder of Best Buy Co. (BBY), has offered to buy the company and this way make it private. It would be the fourth-largest U.S. retail takeover in the history. Richard Schulze remains the electronics chain's main investor. He has sent a letter to the board with a purchase proposal of $24 to $26 a share, thus he valued the company at $9.5 billion including net debt.

The chairman and CEO of game developer Zynga Corp, Mark Pincus, has unloaded two of his properties in the San Francisco Bay Area worth $10.17 million not because of a lifestyle downgrade due to a recent stock plunge.

The Australian sharemarket lost a little ground for only the second time this week, following some disappointing economic news in China. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) eased by 0.6 pct or 27.3 pts to 4302.8. Almost all sectors fell with the financial sector holding back the market most significantly.

What is it like working with Google? Benefits abound that employees not only enjoy work site freebies such as free foods and health services but also assurances that life after death for Googlers’ family members will not be too difficult.

Following government measures to slow speculation, Hong Kong residential property prices rose only 6.7% (2.39% in real terms) during the year to May 2012, according to the Ratings and Valuation Department (RVD). In June 2012, home sales volumes were 34.9% down on the same period last year.

If official facts and figures are to be believed, the U.S. economy was able to add an additional 163,000 employment opportunities during the month of July, noticeably exceeding the numbers speculated upon by the analysts.

The local share market is trading lower at lunchtime in the East, following a mixed finish on Wall Street and weakness in financial stocks. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 14.1pts or 0.3pct to 4316 at midday in the East.

Square, the mobile payments start-up, would create an alliance with the Starbucks Coffee Company. The partnership will enable mobile payments at the company's 7000 U.S. stores. Starbucks will invest $25 million as a part of Square's Series D financing round. Moreover Howard Schultz, the Starbucks' CEO, will join Square's board of directors.

The tug-of-war over the control for Tiger Brewer which is a group of 24 brewery units in Asia and a profitable soft drinks company should finally come to a head as Fraser and Neave have been brought in to consider a takeover bid by Heineken.

Coca-Cola Co. has announced a reorganization of its operating structure around main units. The remodeling is necessary to better address the changing demands of Coca-Cola's marketplace.

In response to criticisms that Gina Rinehart's Roy Hill project is favouring foreign labour over Australian workers, the firm has initiated measures to hire locals for the construction phase of the iron ore venture.

Google's operating system Android dominates the world, while Apple's iOS maintained its dominance in the U.S. market.

The eurozone's second largest economy, France, is headed for another recession by the third quarter of the year, said the nation's central bank on Wednesday, with the newly-elected Hollande government expected to be forced into deep spending cuts in order to balance the country's books.

Dubai is an international and regional trading hub in the UAE and despite financial woes over the last few years, economic growth looks set to be strong for this glittering desert jewel in 2012.

After a week of continuous heavy downpour which flooded Metro Manila and nearby provinces, the sun finally shone on the Philippines on Thursday.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 10 points or 0.1% while the S&P was flat at 1402 and the Nasdaq rose 0.

The Australian share market was on track to post a fourth consecutive session of gains today, however those gains evaporated late in trade after Chinese industrial output and retail trade figures for July came in lower than expected. By close the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) was lower by 2.8pts or 0.1pct to 4330.1, after reaching an intra-day high of 4350.