BUSINESS

Mexico has been forced to reduce supplies of natural gas to several of its biggest consumers by almost as much as 45 percent in order to keep up with the increasing demand from steelmakers like Arcelor Mittal and Ternium SA to households.

Baidu Inc., which is China's dominant search engine, has informed that it plans to invest approximately 10 billion yuan, or $1.6 billion, in a cloud computing centre. In addition, the company is creating a Baidu's mobile browser to help secure its share in a mobile Internet market.

The fresh Qantas-Emirates code-sharing deal could spell the end of the national carrier’s international career, analysts said, in return for strong semblance of profitability on the domestic front.

Local stocks are moving higher for a second consecutive session in early trade, on the back of positive offshore moves after the European Central Bank announced plans to tackle the Eurozone crisis head on. The ECB agreed to launch a new bond buying program, designed to restrain borrowing costs for embattled nations. The move saw investors willing to take on more risk overnight, sending European shares higher and Wall Street finish at a four year high. At lunchtime in the East, the All Ordinaries...

The three-week strike that has stopped construction activities at different Grollo sites has just ended. The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) lifted its blockade at the Myer Emporium job site, prompting Grocon Chief Executive Daniel Grollo to agree to resume negotiations with the union.

eMedia Asia Limited, the joint venture subsidiary of Global Sources, has come up with a unique application called eeWeibo that is able to sort through millions of Sina Weibo posts to provide significant and real-time mobile content to professionals employed in mainland China's electronics sector.

- Fortescue's expansion deferral impacts on NRW's revenue forecasts- Brokers do not see guidance reduction as material- NRW offers service diversification and a very good yieldBy Greg PeelMining and energy services provider NRW Holdings ((NWH)) has completed discussion with Fortescue Metal...

U.S.-based China Labor Watch (CLW) has upgraded this week its scathing review on Samsung’s labour practices, highlighting what the activist group called as “illegal and inhumane treatment,” of young Chinese workers tasked to assemble a host of Samsung products.

Bank customers scored a major victory on Thursday after the High Court overturned a Federal Court decision and ruled that bank fees they questioned in a class action suit could be considered penalties.

A report released Friday by Insolvency and Trustee Service Australia pointed to single males in the age bracket 40 to 44 as those at the highest risk of declaring bankruptcy.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 244 points or 1.9% while the S&P gained 2.0% to 1432 and the Nasdaq jumped 2.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the second time this week, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) jumping by 0.8 pct or 33.9 pts to 4331.6. Healthcare stocks lost modest ground while all other sectors ended the day higher. The consumer discretionary, mining and energy sectors were the best performers.

It’s official. The Galaxy S3, which debuted in May 2012, is the bestselling Samsung and Android smartphone to date as the South Korean tech giant announce on Thursday that over 20 million units have been scooped up by global consumers so far.

Shares of beleaguered Australian carrier Qantas Airways surged on Thursday after the flying kangaroo announced on the same day it has entered into a 10-year arrangement with Dubai's Emirates that will enable the Australian airline fly to London via Dubai.

A new global Web index launched by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has found that Australian ranked eighth best in utilising the Internet to improve people's lives, both socially and politically. Sweden ranked first, followed by the U.S. in second and the UK in third.

A Japanese firm said on Wednesday that it has developed the world’s smallest ceramic capacitor, which is “so small you can barely see it.”

The China Development Bank (CDB), one of the nation's three policy banks known primarily for making big loans to other state-owned entities, has begun lending large amounts of cash to private firms around Asia, reported the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, while other banks cut back on lending amid the present economic climate.

U.S. fast food giant McDonald's will open its first ever vegetarian-only restaurant in India by the middle of next year,

Local stocks are rising in early trade, with investors seemingly more willing to take on risk ahead of tonight's European Central Bank meeting in Brussels. A fall in the unemployment rate to 5.1pct is also helping sentiment. At 12.15pm AEST, the All Ords is up 37.9pts or 0.9pct to 4335.6.

Consumer advocate Choice is pushing for better country of original labelling after a review found that the two supermarket giants in Australia have less locally made products on its shelves.

The Australian dollar still remains under pressure, trading under 1.0200 as iron ore prices continue to weaken.

By Loriano Mancini, Angelo Ranaldo and Jan WrampelmeyerThe foreign exchange market facilitates international trade and investment and is central to the global financial system.

The Australian Capital Territory announced on Wednesday the construction of the country's largest solar power plant. Fotowatio Renewable Ventures (FRV) will build and operate a 20-megawatt facility in a 50-hectare solar farm in Tuggeranong.

Risk assets were mixed through Europe and US trade ahead of the ECB press conference later today. The euro spiked on reports that the ECB will undertake an unlimited and sterilised buying of sovereign debt with maturities of up to three years, but would refrain from setting yield caps. EUR/USD advanced to a high of 1.2625 and remains sidelined above 1.26.

The US Redbook weekly chain store sales index was up 2.5pct on a year ago, ahead of the 1.5pct annual gain in the previous week. US productivity grew at a 2.2pct annual pace in the June quarter while labour costs rose at a 1.5pct annual rate.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 11 points or 0.1%, while the S&P fell 0.1% to 1403 and the Nasdaq lost 0.

Local stocks closed in the red for a second consecutive session today, with losses generally broad-based. Disappointing US manufacturing data released overnight weighed on global sentiment, while the upcoming European Central Bank meeting has also added an air of caution; giving investors in Europe a reason to sell. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed down 27.9pts or 0.6pct to 4297.7 after hitting an intra-day low of 4281.5.

Some 40,000 teachers took part in what could be Victoria state's biggest teachers' strike that forced 400 schools to close and left thousands of school kids to stay home these past days.

More risks are out there on the net as mobile computing continues to explode, according to a new report by internet security specialist McAfee Labs, with malware authors now training their attention to Android and iOS, currently the dominant platform in the mobile web universe.