BUSINESS

By Greg PeelDiversified mining giant Rio Tinto ((RIO)) made a bid for Canadian junior Hathor Exploration last week which significantly gazumped an earlier bid by Canada's uranium leader Cameco.

By Richard (Rick) MillsAs a general rule the most successful man in life is the man who has the best information"How soon will the Chinese natural resource demand decrease? The Chinese population is significantly larger than every individual country's population in the world (except India).

China's fate is to be the 'swing' economy of concern for investors when fears start waning about Europe or the US, as they have over the last couple of weeks.

EU leaders are holding another set of talks following the Brussels summit hopefully to design a comprehensive package for Greece that will pull it out of the doldrums.

Microsoft will collect license fees from more than 50 percent of Android devices.

Now stepping up as the latest frontrunners in Google's ongoing war with Apple, Motorola's Droid Razr and Samsung's Galaxy Nexus are both high end smartphones that are both capable of taking on Apple's latest iPhone 4s. While both devices are being compared to the iPhone 4s, they are still competing against one another in the smartphone market. How exactly do they stack up against each other?

Nokia is expected to show the fruit of its partnership with Windows later this week by showcasing three new smartphones running on the Windows 7 OS.

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 104 points or 0.9% while the S&P gained 1.3% to 1254 and the Nasdaq rocketed 2.

By Rudi Filapek-VandyckOn October 17th I launched a quiz and the question to be answered was: what do the following ten stocks all have in common?- Campbell Brothers ((CPB))- Domino's Pizza ((DMP))- ARB Corp ((ARP))- Blackmores ((BKL))- Reckon ((RKN))- Ramsay Healthcare ((RHC))- Mc Millan Shake...

Tourism Australia and Jetstar entered into a $10-million partnership in an attempt to boost the country's visitor arrivals, particularly those from Japan.

The local share market started the trading week on a very positive note, although volumes were low. Investor sentiment was boosted by impressive gains in US and European share markets on Friday, while strong Chinese manufacturing data added to the overall buying mood. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 110.2pts or 2.6pct to 4313.6 while the S&P/ASX 200 Index (XJO) gained 113pts or 2.7pct to 4255.

This year's Financial News has listed the world's top 10 most expensive streets. From Hong Kong to Fifth Avenue residents are splashing out a jaw-dropping $78,000 a square meter for these prestigious addresses.

Wesfarmers-owned Coles supermarket is set to lift the amount of milk it sources from Western Australian dairy farmers by 33 percent, with its three major new dairy contracts.

As saving for a home deposit becomes an even greater challenge with higher living costs, some borrowers are exploring unconventional ways to help them save sooner, according to Mortgage Choice, one of Australia's largest independently owned mortgage broker.

Resource-related projects are expected to significantly boost the engineering and commercial construction sectors over the 2011/12 and 2012/13 financial years, according to Australia's leading construction companies.

Once more the coming week will resemble the preceding couple of weeks for financial markets.

Do you want the good news or the bad about Greece and Europe and this week's talks?

The Australian sharemarket has kicked off the new trading week in positive fashion, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 1.9 pct or 78.8 pts to 4282.2. All sectors are currently improving with the mining and energy sectors the best improvers in percentage terms.

An Australian teenager's money laundering scam has reached $200,000 because of alleged failure by banks to stop the credit card scheme despite efforts by the teen's mother.

Florida-based asset management firm Stonehenge Capital Management (SCM) announced Monday that its new direction-neutral hedge fund strategy called Forward Curve Realignment (FCR) resulted in strong returns one month after its launching.

Qantas's prolonged labor problem is affecting not only the air carrier's bottom line, but also the financial viability of Australia's tourism industry.

- Oil market continues to tighten- Global inventories down and supply issues remain- Tight market should support prices- Barclays forecasting average of US$115 per barrel in 2012By Chris ShawA main theme for Barclays Capital in recent months has been a widening divergence between macro-based and phy...

European leaders are nearing agreement on a plan that would see the region's banks raise around EUR100 billion in fresh capital, said three people familiar with marathon talks taking place Sunday.

- Solid production report from Western Areas- Exploration, low costs an high grade assets make the stock attractive- Positive view offset by weaker nickel price outlook- Brokers remain divided in ratingsBy Chris ShawSeptember quarter production for nickel play Western Areas ((WSA)) was largely as th...

Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics appear, involved in a contentious battle in the courtroom and in the mobile devices market, will be engaged in another showdown: mini tablets.

Leaked pictures have surfaced on the internet of a prototype Nokia Windows Phone called the Nokia Sabre which is set to launch next week.

In two separate interviews Google Android chief Andy Rubin and Microsoft Windows Phone President Andy Lees both had negative things to say about Apple's digital assistant Siri.

The name of Research in Motion's (RIM) upcoming operating system, BBX, is taken and a New Mexico company using BBx prefix to its products has sent a notice to the BlackBerry maker not to use it to avoid confusing the public.

China's Citic Group and its subsidiary Citic Resources Holdings have agreed to accept the $5 billion takeover offer of Peabody Energy and ArcelorMittal for Macarthur Coal Ltd.