BUSINESS

Defying the softening market demand for iron ore, BHP Billiton announced on Wednesday a 24 percent hike on its iron ore output while admitting at the same time that the company’s copper production has retreated significantly in the face of a protracted labor problem.

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the second time this week, with the All Ordinaries index up 0.8 pct or 34.5 pts to 4284.00. Almost all sectors are up with the exception of the gold space which is tracking lower due to weaker gold prices overnight.

Angry Birds maker Rovio revealed at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco on Tuesday that the popular video game will add a new bird while preparations for a movie version is underway.

Web browser maker Opera Software has developed a new mobile web browser that can load pages faster on devices running on the Android operating system.

- JP Morgan revises oil price expectations- Solid fundamentals to support tin prices- China under-reporting steel production- Iron ore price correction underwayBy Chris ShawWhile the global economic outlook worsens and even with Libya expected to make a rapid return to oil production, JP Morgan cont...

- Beach Energy has announced shale reserves of 300tcf in the Cooper- Broker interest is piqued, but not obsessive- Prices, costs, technology and the long timeframe are all hurdlesBy Greg PeelThree hundred trillion cubic feet.

Hungry Jack’s is replacing its slogan from ‘The Burgers are Better Hungry Jack’s’ to ‘Hungry Jack’s makes it better’ as the fast-food giant aims to expands its menu and increase its health focus.

Following a strategic review, Rio Tinto said 13 assets will be divested at an appropriate point in the future, and some of these will be managed separately in the meantime.

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation forged a settlement agreement with nternational oil and gas firm BP regarding claims related to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010 .

Commercial spaceflight company Virgin Galactic has officially opened its spaceport in New Mexico, USA to serve as the jump-off point of space tourists 12 months from now.

The bus drivers union agreed on Tuesday night to an Industrial Relations Commission order to lift a ban on gas-powered buses in Sydney. The explosion of a gas-powered bus prompted public bus drivers to raise their protest by refusing to get on the road, resulting in huge inconvenience among Sydney passengers at peak hour Tuesday.

It will soon cost readers of "The Australian", $2.95 weekly to access the newspaper's online content through computers, smartphones and tablets.

Apple Inc. later today will report its fourth-quarter earnings that would for the nth time exceed analysts' estimates and further grow its mountain of cash.

AFTERNOON REPORT (4.30pm AEDT)Local stocks managed to erase all of yesterday's gains during Tuesday's session, with fear and caution again at the forefront of investors' minds. Overnight, sentiment wasn't helped by negative commentary from Germany's Finance Minister who warned it was unrealistic to expect a definitive solution to the European debt crisis at this weekend's European Union summit.

Making its debut this week, Chime.In, Uber Media's new social networking site combines Twitter's sharing ability, Reddit voting and it actual pays users for their posts.

Solar panel manufacturer SunPower Corp. today launched a solar photovoltaic tracking system that concentrates the sun's power seven times to achieve the lowest levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale solar power plants.

Barely a week after being unveiled the Apple iOS 5 app Find My Friends is already instrumental in breaking up a marriage after a suspicious husband caught his wife cheating using the app.

Apple's new iPhone 4s has reportedly sold over 4 million units three days after its launch but that record-breaking figure doesn't mean that everyone is enjoying Apple's latest smartphone. Although early reviews have been positive there have been several notable problems with the iPhone 4s. Here's a brief rundown on the top five iPhone 4s issues.

Ground breaking new technology for the capture of carbon dioxide from power stations will be tested by Process Group at Hazelwood Power Station following a grant from Brown Coal Innovation Australia (BCIA).

Global provider of data centre solutions Digital Realty Trust announced today that the two data center developments it is building in Western Sydney are expected to have a positive economic impact on the region, estimated at almost a quarter billion dollars.

Bahamas Electricity Corporation and Ocean Thermal Energy Corporation have moved toward the construction of two ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) plants.

China's September power output continued on double-digits for an eighth consecutive month even as the world's second-largest economy reported a slowed down economic activity.

Australia's wheat inventories may surge to between 8 million and 10 million metric tonnes by Sept. 30 from as much as 7.3 million tonnes a year ago as coal-mining companies' fight for rail capacity led to transport bottlenecks in the eastern states.

Copper fell hard on Tuesday after China reported its economy grew at its slowest pace in two years and as German Chancellor Angela Merkel extinguished hopes that a plan will be announced next week geared to contain the eurozone's debt crisis and prevent a possible Greek default.

Qantas announced on Tuesday it will ground a further two wide-body Boeing 767 aircraft as ongoing industrial action from its engineers continues to cause a backlog of maintenance on the Qantas fleet.

Shareholders of Telstra have agreed and voted in favor of the $11 billion deal with the Australian government, allowing Telstra's fixed-line dominance be used by the NBN Company.

Qantas blamed on Tuesday the engineers' strike for the grounding of two more aircraft, which led to the cancellation of 80 more domestic flights over the next month.

Melbourne came top over an improved Sydney this year for innovation, in the 5th Annual Innovation Cities Asia Index, which measures cities as innovation economies.

MIDDAY REPORT (12pm AEDT)The Australian sharemarket is down 1.6 pct or 71.5 pts to 4266.4, effectively wiping out all of yesterday's impressive gains. Markets tumbled overnight due to concerns that the European debt solution might fall short of expectations.