COMPANIES

Westpac Banking Corporation reported on Thursday first-half net profit of $3.07 billion for the six months to March 31. While it is a 25 per cent decline compared to the same period a year ago, the slump was mainly due to a one-off tax consolidation following Westpac's purchase of St George.

Samsung muscled its way again on top of the global smartphone market by capturing 29.1 per cent of the pie in the first quarter of the current year and effectively overtaking its chief rival, Apple.

South Australian Transport Services Minister Chloe Fox announced on Wednesday that the state has imposed about $218,000 fines on three Adelaide bus contractors because their buses are always late.

Australians continued to enjoy their passion for travel to domestic and foreign destinations which resulted in air carriers, Qantas and Virgin Australia, enjoying high passenger numbers for the month of March.

1st Fleet, an Australian trucking company that operates in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, locked out about 1,000 workers and ceased trading overnight without any warning on Wednesday night.

Chinese food safety regulators have shut down production at a Coca-Cola beverage plant in Shanxi province after discovering small amounts of chlorine in some of the products following a routine maintenance check.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc, the world's largest private employer, has been ordered to pay $4.8 million in back wages and damages to more than 4,500 of their employees across the United States.

Woodside Petroleum agreed on Tuesday to sell its 14.7 per cent stake in the Browse gas fields to its Japanese partners for $2 billion. However, the sale to Mitsubishi and Mitsui would likely place a question mark if Mitsubishi and Mitsui would build the liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant at James Price Point.

Mark Zuckerberg remains the only Facebook originals involve in the day-to-day operations of the social networking giant - all the others have gone setting up their own tech babies following the attachment of numerous zeroes on their names.

Samsung finally confirmed some of the rumored specifications about the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S III. So far, the company has remained silent regarding the countless number of rumors about this smartphone but for the past weeks, Samsung has taken time to confirm some of the details about the Samsung Galaxy S III.

Outside of the vast Apple universe, an Asian tech firm known as Samsung Electronics continue to make significant headways, reporting on Friday that it made more than $US5 billion in operating profit for the first three months of 2012.

An Australian Federal Court of Appeal, ruling en banc, found on Friday Optus liable in violating the exclusive rights of Telstra Corporation in broadcasting the near-live games of Australia's premier football and rugby leagues.

The strike of West Australian farmers against Coles' pricing policy of a $1 reduction per litre of milk was averted by a meeting of the producers with the supermarket giant this week.

The Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) expressed on Friday its opposition to plans for the relaxation of fatigue standards for train drivers in New South Wales from the current 12-hour maximum.

Rio Tinto and Chinalco's listed subsidiary, Chalco, have completed the formation of their joint venture (JV) to develop and operate the Simandou iron ore project in Guinea, following the completion of all Chinese regulatory approvals. As a result, a consortium led by Chalco has made an earn-in payment of US$1.35 billion, in line with an agreement reached with Rio Tinto in March 2010.

Apple must train its sight to the East, experts said, if it wishes to sustain its record-breaking results and deflect predictions that the tech titan would falter sooner or later minus the introduction of innovative products, which marked the reign of Steve Jobs.

Atlas Iron and QR National launched on Thursday the $3.5-billion Pilbara railway through the start of a feasibility study to build the 600-kilometre multi-user rail link to transport iron ore from the east and southeast Pilbara to shipment facilities at Port Hedland.

Justice finally caught up with the U.S. subsidiary of Lend Lease Construction, an Australian firm, over a 10-year overbilling fraud. A U.S. court in Brooklyn fined the company $58 million in fines and restitution to victims.

HTC, the Taiwanese-based smartphone manufacturer recently announced the release of the newest Android smartphone called HTC One S and many experts are stating that this is one of the best Android smartphones released by the company.

There are countless rumors circulating the web nowadays and this time, it focuses on the supposed release of Apple's iPhone Nano alongside the new iPhone or iPhone 5.

Flag carrier Qantas is on an apparent collision course with the New South Wales (NSW) government insofar as the construction of a second Sydney airport is concerned.

A new announcement from Samsung, the Korean-based smartphone manufacturer revealed that the company will be unveiling the Samsung Galaxy S III. The information was first revealed through Samsung's official Twitter account stating: "Destination: tgeltaayehxnx".

Sony, the Japanese-based firm has announced its plans to release an online photo sharing service called "PlayMemories Online". The release date is targeted to be around next week.

Rumors of a mini iPad from Apple are circulating the Internet nowadays and it seems like the news and rumors for the mini iPad would not go away anytime soon.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) Chief Executive Ian Narev announced on Thursday the bank plans to expand further to Asia, considered the world's fastest-growing region.

In a bid to get a larger cut of the supermarket pie, grocery giant Coles revamped its flybuys loyalty programme that offers faster rewards or cash discounts and no expiry dates.

The number of participants to Australia's largest class-action suit rose to 170,000 after 6,000 Bankwest customers joined on Thursday the lawsuit. With the inclusion of the 6,600 the pool of fees in the legal dispute went up to more than $220 million.

Due to its declaration of a force majeure in the early part of April, mining giant BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) had been using its stockpile of coking coal to meet export commitments. This is amidst the company's struggle to maintain operations affected negatively by a prolonged labour dispute and bad weather.

Intel finally decided to enter the smartphone market through their newest smartphone product called the Xolo X900. The Xolo X900 is the product of the collaboration between Intel and Lava International Ltd., a mobile device maker. The Xolo X900 will be available in India this week.