BUSINESS

China's clampdown on its rare earths production has alarmed trading partners led by Japan, which intends to take up the issue at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Hawaii.

Still reeling from the phone hacking scandal that shook his global news empire this year, Rupert Murdoch found himself sobbing for long-time Australian News Ltd CEO John Hartigan, who announced his departure earlier this week.

Australian budget carrier Jetstar made aviation history on Wednesday by allowing its passengers from Auckland to Melbourne to use iPads made available by the air carrier during their flight.

Australian consumers appear to continue their migration to online shopping but most players in the retail industry seem to continue miss the significant surge because they have yet to implement the necessary adjustments on their websites.

Thai firm Mitr Phol Sugar Corporation offered on Wednesday A$4.45 per share cash price for stocks of Australian sugar producer MSF to hike its stake in the company. Mitr Phol currently owns 22 per cent of MSF. The offers values MSF at A$313 million

Solar power is perhaps one of the most expensive renewable energy technologies today, but developments are underway to make it cheaper and more economical. Researchers at Argonne National Laboratories and Penn State are saying that luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) could eliminate the cost barrier.

Housing finance edged up in September, but a housing group has claimed the result masks weak demand for new homes.

Now watch attitudes towards the state of the Chinese economy change after a sharp fall in monthly consumer and producer inflation in October.

Google Inc. executive chairman Eric Schmidt refuted Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs' allegations that the Android copied the iPhone iOS saying the former was developed first before the latter.

Rising global food prices could mean two things for the Australian farmer – higher production cost and a significant boost on possible incomes, which according to Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) assistant governor Philip Lowe should spur growth in the agricultural sector over the near term.

Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 may be far from becoming the much-awaited ‘iPad killer’, as many tech experts would assert, but Apple left nothing to chances when the tech titan recently successfully blocked the device’s commercial release in a number of countries, including Australia.

- Supply side of oil market faces challenges- One forecast for peak oil just above 2010 level- Barclays suggests oil price focus is US$90-100 per barrel at present- JP Morgan's forecasts above this levelBy Chris ShawThis week the International Energy Agency (IEA) is due to publish its long-term...

- Chinese steel demand softening shorter-term- Long-term outlook remains positive- Steel margins should also climb from current levelsBy Chris ShawA recent softening in Chinese steel demand can be put down to three factors in the view of ANZ Banking Group.

A $30 million athlete facility being built in London uses wood sources from protected Tasmanian forests, according to results of a six-month probe. The wood is used for the flooring of the sports hall.

Android vendors need not fear patent infringement lawsuits from Apple as Google Inc., maker of the most popular mobile operating system in the world, promised to support them if they face legal actions from the iPhone maker.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing finance figures for September 2011 show in trend terms that the number of finance commitments increased for the fifth consecutive month; the September increase was 1.2 percent.

By Greg PeelEvery March and September leading global investment manager PIMCO conducts a survey of institutional clients to gauge their level of optimism or pessimism with respect to global economic growth and inflation.

ExxonMobil Corp., the world's largest integrated oil and gas firm, would have to shell out $134 million to clean up the oil spill in Yellowstone River, Montana last July.

Kathleen Brooks, Research Director UK EMEA, FOREX.comThe silence from the EU's high command as Italian bond yields come under sustained attack is deafening.

By Greg PeelThe Dow fell 389 points or 3.2% while the S&P dropped 3.7% to 1229 and the Nasdaq lost 3.9%.

The leading US product critic, Consumer Reports takes a better look on iPhone 4S and found out that it's still not as good as its Android competitions.

HP's popular defunct TouchPad tablet is returning but only for developers with a coupon for the tablet.Hewlett Packard is selling the TouchPad to developers with the coupon for the 32Gb TouchPad. In the site, HP thanked developers for their interest in the TouchPad but announced that they have more coupon requests than they have devices.

Apple may have won a temporary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab but don't expect retailers or determined buyers to take the ban lying down. Australian electronics retail websites like MobiCity and Dmavo are still selling the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 despite the injunction and Apple's threats to sue.

Barnes and Noble has asked the U.S. Department of Justice to look into Microsoft's patent licensing agreements with electronic devices running on Google's Android OS as anti-competitive.

Apple has updated its Apple Store mobile app with a new feature that turns your iPhone into a wallet. EasyPay, built into the latest version of the Apple Store mobile app allows users to use their phones to buy Apple products and items from select partners without interacting with Apple employees in the retail store

Nintendo intelligently managed to secure their sales for the holiday season with the release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for Wii.

The Melbourne Cup RBA rate cut has already filtered through to a massive increase in customer enquiries, a WA broker has said.

Next year is unlikely to see the heralded return of credit demand, Commonwealth Bank has indicated.

First homebuyers are dominating mortgage enquiries, a broker has claimed.