BUSINESS

- Tui has proven AWE's jewel in the crown- Tui's reserves have been downgraded by 50%- AWE now has a lot riding on shaleBy Greg PeelOne might be forgiven for assuming the Australian energy sector has provided substantial shareholder returns over the past five years, what with the price of ...

The iPhone 5 will be out this fall, that is, if it will be launched simultaneously with the iOS 5.

Research In Motion Ltd., the maker of the BlackBerry smartphones, said it will terminate 2,000 jobs, or almost 11% of its workforce, amid losing market share to Apple Inc.'s iPhone and smartphones running on Google's Android operating system.

SanDisk Corp. has introduced SanDisk Ultra, a new line of solid-state drives for old laptops and desktop computers. SanDisk is marketing the new SSD's -- which it says is more cost effective than purchasing a new computer -- directly to retail consumers instead of PC makers.

Should Australia have tighter privacy laws to avoid a similar phone hacking scandal involving the media? Treading on press freedom and creating policies to protect individual privacy are delicate issues that government authorities and law makers are assessing amidst the phone hacking issue in the United Kingdom involving News Corp owned by Rupert Murdoch, serving as a test case for media organizations in the country.

Banks in Australia will be put to a test by the contagion of a looming global financial crises spiraling from Europe to the United States now facing a politically charged debt crisis.

Major Australian bank Westpac (ASX: WBC) says it is progressively restoring payments following a disruption to normal payment operations overnight.

Group buying in Australia is relatively new, being only introduced in 2010 but, it has become the fastest growing sector in the online retail market. In its initial year group buying websites in Australia have already generated 63 million dollars in sales, according to a study in telsyte.com.

By Greg PeelIndustry consultant TradeTech noted the week before last that buying in the spot uranium market had become "highly discretionary" and that participants were expecting flat to weaker prices in the near term.

Chris Paine just called with good news. His film "Revenge of the Electric Car" - the successor to the big hit, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" - is slated to open widely (or certainly wider than it has so far) on Oct. 22. If you haven't seen the original, you need to remedy the situation.

AFTERNOON REPORT (12pm AEST)The local share market is trading higher at lunchtime in the East, despite a negative offshore lead on continued worries over the US debt crisis. US President Barack Obama has addressed his nation within the last hour, telling Americans Democrats and Republicans have still not agreed on a solution to stop the government from defaulting on its debt repayments ahead of the August 2nd deadline. However, local stocks, which were heavily oversold yesterday, are today ...

By Richard (Rick) MillsAhead of the HerdAs a general rule, the most successful man in life is the man who has the best informationThe Earth's climate has been continuously changing throughout its history.

An innovative, Australian-first electronic logbook system that is set to modernize and transform company tax reporting is about to launch into the Australian market.

Markets are shaky as the American political classes show the rest of the world their irresponsibility and inability to see the bigger picture, especially the so-called Tea Party newcomers in the U.S. House of Representatives.

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed down 88 points or 0.7% while the S&P lost 0.6% to 1337 and the Nasdaq was down 0.

Consumers are given better access to lower-priced internet service, according to Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, Senator Stephen Conroy citing one of the key benefits of the National Broadband Network (NBN) network.

- Regis Resources again beat expectations for quarterly production- Garden Well mine to lift output to 300koz from FY13- Quality assets, potential mine life expansion make the company an acquisition target- RBS downgrades to Hold on valuation groundsBy Chris ShawEmerging gold producer Regis Resource...

U.S. stocks fell Monday, as the deadlock in Washington's debt negotiations left investors uncertain whether the U.S. can avoid a default or a credit downgrade

Australian share closed sharply lower on concerns the US government may default if an agreement cannot be reached on raising its debt ceiling.

The Dallas Fed Manufacturing Index contracted at a slower pace in July. Business activity improved from -17.5 to -2 in July. Across the sub indices new orders, production and employment all recorded healthy gains.

Inflation and interest rates will grab the headlines in Australia this week with the all important June quarter consumer price index figures due out on Wednesday.

The first major listed retailer has blinked and moved to rationalise its business as the sector continues to be impacted by the consumer slowdown, higher savings rate and the stronger Australian dollar.

Unilever has released a statement encouraging political leaders to take "ambitious steps" to tackle climate change, and rejecting media suggestions that it will oppose the Government's carbon tax.

Costco, the US retail giant, has opened its first stores Sydney and Canberra.

Australians enjoy an unemployment rate of 4.9%, but not all of the remaining 95.1% are necessarily up to scratch.

Reports on the Apple store that isn't has prompted Chinese officials to launch an investigation in the city of Kunming on the electronics store.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has cleared Coles in milk price wars, saying there is no evidence that the supermarket giant has acted in breach of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA).

Inflation and interest rates will grab the headlines in Australia this week with the all important June quarter consumer price index figures due out on Wednesday.

The coming week here and offshore will be dominated by Australian inflation, Japanese production data, the first estimate of US second quarter economic growth, and the early forecast for the UK economy, not to mention the continuing US second quarter profit season, and the start of the Australian June 30 reporting rush.