BUSINESS

Google Inc. has pulled 22 apps that are masquerading as legitimate versions of popular games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope.

Thousands of migrating birds were killed or injured after seemingly mistaking parking lots, football fields and various other snow-covered areas of southern Utah for bodies of water and dropping to the ground in what a state wildlife specialist called the worst mass bird crash anyone has ever seen.

Latest data released by China's Ministry of Commerce showed foreign direct investment (FDI) in November into the world's second-largest economy tumbled to $8.76 billion, a 9.76 per cent drop from a year ago, and its first in 28 months, spurred by the economic crisis in Europe and weakness in the US.

The Mackay Conservation Group warned of the danger of the new coal terminal being planned in Queensland a day after the state government announced the award of tracks of land to two companies which will develop the ports.

Morningstar has again launched its yearly pick for the top fixed-income managers of the year. The tough criterion will again focus on how these managers delivered outstanding returns based on a sound strategy for the long term and not just on the highest returns made for the fiscal year.

The World Bank (WB) banned on Thursday Australian engineering firm Kellogg Brown & Root (KBR) from participating in its projects for two years. The ban was due to KBR's misconduct in talks over a Vietnamese water supply contract.

By Andrew NelsonAnalysts at Macquarie took a little break from covering Cochlear ((COH)). They paused just long enough to do a full review of the company, of the cochlear implant (CI) marketplace and they also surveyed 389 US-based Audiologists.

Samsung has admitted that it somewhat got free marketing boosts when giant tech firm Apple decided to throw legal hurdles its way that for months barred the South Korean company from selling its flagship products on major markets around the world, including Australia.

Another Australian retailer fell victim to the weak business environment. Menswear chain Fletcher Jones will close one third of its outlets and lay off 61 employees.

Personal car-sharing spreads from California to Oregon and, very soon, to a neighborhood near you. The concept of hiring out your own vehicle has proven wildly popular here and around the globe.

The Reserve Bank's biggest concern at the moment is the eurozone crisis: those fears have driven the rate cuts in November and this month and judging by a speech in Sydney yesterday from Deputy Governor Ric Battellino.

It's a difficult task being the CEO of a big Australian bank: they have to sound concerned, informed and above all authoritative, as we saw with Westpac's Gail Kelly yesterday, and will hear from the NAB's Cameron Clyne later today and from the ANZ's Mike Smith tomorrow.

US import prices rose 0.7pct in November after sliding by 0.5pct in October. The gains marked the largest increase in seven months and was driven by a surge in the cost of petroleum. Imports prices are up 9.9pct in the 12 months to November.

By Rudi Filapek-VandyckThe Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 131.46 points, or 1.10%, to finish the day at 11823.

A Swiss national filed a lawsuit against an Austrian casino operator, claiming that he was defrauded of some $57 million when the latter refused to pay the jackpot that the player won last year.

James Murdoch, News Corp.'s deputy chief operating officer, obtained an e-mail chain in mid-2008 describing prevalent illegal voice-mail interception at the company's now-closed News of the World tabloid, according to a interior communications released Tuesday by a parliamentary commission.

Dumping the current organizational make up Queensland Health was too drastic a move that Premier Anna Bligh has resorted to just because one person committed grave mistakes.

Mining has again fueled positive movements in the Australian economy as the latest survey commissioned by National Australia Bank (NAB) indicated that business conditions in November jumped sufficiently enough for specks of growth to take effect.

Microsoft co-founder Paul G. Allen announced Tuesday that he and aerospace engineer Burt Rutan are building the largest aircraft that can launch a satellite or spacecraft into orbit.

As Facebook gets ready for a much-awaited public offering, the company is eager to flaunt its force by building on its enormous membership: an upwards of 800 million active users around the world, and more or less 200 million in the United States, or two-thirds of the population.

The Queensland government awarded on Wednesday to Adani Mining and Dudgeon Point Project Management (DPPM) land for a new coal port south of MacKay. The planned port would have an export capacity of 180 million tonnes.

More trips would link Singapore to Australian cities. SilkAir will offer direct trips from Darwin to Singapore four days weekly beginning March 26.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is hovering around Parity following a night of slightly disappointing US Data and the FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) rates decision this morning.

The deal between Mozilla Firefox and Google has been a lucrative one but this deal has already expired last month. Through this deal coming to an end, many people are asking if this would really be the end of this business partnership.

Sony has set its sights on being the next big name in smartphones and the first step towards that goal is dropping the "Ericsson" in their brand name.

Strikes hit again the ports of Western Australia (WA) and New South Wales (NSW) which has crippled wharf activities in NSW. In WA, the striking workers have been locked out indefinitely by management.

By David Rodriguez, Quantitative Strategist and Timothy SheaSummary: For most forex traders, the best time of day to trade is Asian hours.

Just when you thought Hewlett Packard's webOS was done for, the little operating system lives to fight another day. HP has promised to make more tablets with the webOS system with the software actually going the open source route like Google's Android.

US advance retail sales rose by a less than expected 0.2pct in November, after an upwardly revised 0.6pct gain in October. In the 12 months to November sales were up a healthy 6.7pct.