BUSINESS

McCain Foods today condemned the strike action by its food production and maintenance workers after rejecting a 3.5% pay increase a year over three years and other terms and conditions.

China has accused the United States of provoking a confrontation that is both costly and unnecessary as Chinese officials called on the U.S. Congress to reconsider its plan of passing a legislation that would dictate on Beijing to allow the appreciation of Yuan.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the International Energy Agency (IEA) has called on governments to phase out subsidies on production and consumption of fossil fuels as subsidies paid by governments and taxpayers reached about half a trillion US dollars last year.

Hamilton Reach, the latest project from diversified property group Australand, has struck a chord with buyers with more than 40% of the first release sold since its launch in April this year.

HTC smartphones have a "massive" security flaw that can make HTC Android phones easy for outside users to access private customer information.

Australian lenders continue to slash fixed home loan rates amid the Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to keep the official cash rate steady at 4.75 per cent, where it has sat since November last year.

They dream that the iPhone 5 is dubbed a failure at the event in Oct. 4. When they wake up, they'll be scratching their heads on why, no matter what they do, they just couldn't beat the iPhone.

The Australian share market closed 0.6 per cent lower, with investors starting to hope that the central bank would cut interest rates for the first time in a year next month. The local bourse opened almost one per cent down on a weak lead from Wall Street overnight. By the close on Tuesday both major local indices had made back some of their early losses, with the benchmark S&P/ASX200 index down 24.9 points, or 0.64 per cent, at 3,872.1 and the broader All Ordinaries index dropped 25.1 points, o...

European and Asian stockmarkets fell sharply yesterday on rising concerns of a Greek sovereign default, and additional worries over China's financial health.

The global stockmarket continues to have a bad case of multiple personality, worrying about Greece and the eurozone imploding one day, and then reversing those fears the next.

Japan is buying stakes in coal mining firms in a bid to shift to coal-fired power following the March 11 tsunami and nuclear disaster.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s decision to leave interest rates on hold may be a sigh of relief for people with a mortgage, but it makes no headway in terms of making housing more affordable, said Australia’s housing sector.

Thanks to coal and ore, Australia's trade surplus in August improved remarkably and showed signs of continued recovery amid the summer floods that forced many mines to close and massive concerns of a global slowdown.

By Greg PeelThe minutes of the September RBA monetary policy meeting told us that the current setting "left the board well placed to respond to evolving global and domestic economic conditions".

Australian retailers on Tuesday expressed concerns with the Reserve Bank of Australia’s cash rate decision to maintain the cash rate at 4.75%.

More than a year after the plane crash that killed majority owner Ken Talbot, Sundance Resources is set to be taken over by Hanlong Mining Investment Ltd, a subsidiary of giant Chinese resource firm Sichuan Hanlong Group, with the suitor aiming to raise its present 18 percent stakes on the iron ore miner.

Another tough week is ahead of us. Central bank meetings here, in Japan, Europe and the UK, jobs data in the US, manufacturing surveys here and around the globe (except China) and of course the continuing fears about the stability of the eurozone and the markets.

In what is perhaps the most significant breaking news we've heard on the GMO front in a long time, an effort has just been announced in California that seeks to gather enough signatures to put an historical initiative on the ballot which would require the labeling of GMOs in foods.

I've decided that every time I read an article, study or blog post that talks about how people don't have meaningful access to flexibility, how managers don't support flexibility, and/or how flexibility policies don't match the actual practice in the business (this week here and here), I'm going to re-publish the following article on my blog.

Moderate gains were achieved in the manufacturing and construction sectors in the U.S. notwithstanding the persistent problems in unemployment and the rising concern regarding the ongoing debt crisis in Europe.

More regulations are facing tobacco companies as the Australian government studies measures to curb sale of cigarette and tobacco products across the country.

By Rudi Filapek-Vandyck, Editor FNArenaI joined Twitter. Not because I am curious what this celebrity has to say about her kids, or to read that another one is waiting for a connecting flight, impatiently.

MIDDAY REPORT (12.30pm AEDT)The Australian sharemarket is continuing to fall after a tough start to the new trading week yesterday. The ASX 200 index (XJO) is down 0.4 pct or 17.1 pts to 3879.9 while the broader All Ordinaries index (XAO) is 0.5 pct or 18.9 pts lower to 3941.8.

High-tech devices such as iPhones, iPads and camcorders topped the list of gifts that were given to New South Wales public officials. Next to the gadgets, also high on the list of bribe items masked as gifts were beach holidays, football tickets and gift vouchers.

It appears Apple is convinced that Samsung Electronics will not be able to market its Galaxy 10.1 tablet in Australia as the U.S. tech firm rejected Tuesday overtures by its South Korean rival for a settlement of their legal dispute.

- NAB expects slow US growth rather than recession- More significant QE measures unlikely in such an outcome- Australian growth should be solid in 2H11- This suggests no near-term rate cuts by RBABy Chris ShawNational Australia Bank head of research Peter Jolly has just returned from a two week trip...

Despite a continuing insider trading investigation, the pending takeover of Australia's Sundance Resources Ltd. by Hanlong Mining of China is almost as good as a done deal, lacking only signatures.

Economists said Tuesday that despite the stronger-than-expected international trade and building approvals figures for August, the Reserve Bank of Australia is unlikely to change the current cash rate.

The declaration made by Greek government officials that it will miss its fiscal deficit this year and probably be mired in recession for the rest of next year has triggered another cause for concern among Asia-Pacific economies.