BUSINESS

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.

A day after G20 leaders wrapped up negotiations in Paris and came out with a five-point plan that could resolve their economic problems; Germany’s top officials announced that the Oct. 23 summit in Brussels may not produce positive results that most EU nations are expecting.

Australia's central bank has hinted that benchmark cash rates in the country may go down after months of being held at 4.75 percent.

- Fortescue quarterly production report well received- Management confident in maintaining annual production rate of 55Mtpa- Brokers continue to see value at current levels- Buy ratings retainedBy Chris ShawThe September quarter production report from Fortescue Metals ((FMG)) has been well received ...

By Greg Peel"Conditions in global financial markets had continued to be very unsettled, with uncertainty increasing about both the prospects for resolution of the sovereign debt and banking problems in Europe and the outlook for global economic growth.

Google Inc. has announced it will close down social networking site Google Buzz in the next few weeks to concentrate on building up its successor Google+.

Adapting to new technologies such as having an online presence was the way how small businesses in Australia coped with the hard times.

Analysts and mines experts had predicted prices of iron ore, Australia's most lucrative export commodity, could fall as low as $140 per tonne in the coming months.

- ANZ suggests commodities are oversold- Barclays revises its sector order of preference- Issues in oil and steel markets- Price stability needed for palladium's fundamentals to dominateBy Chris ShawHaving reviewed September quarter performance and market conditions ANZ Banking Group's Oct...