COMPANIES

Australian mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) will roll out the first automated train in 2014. The company will spend $518 million that will run the world's first driverless long-distance, heavy-haul rail network.

Apple Inc. is reportedly working on an 8-inch version of its best-selling iPad tablet in an effort to broaden its market share.

The candidate who wanted Detroit to go bankrupt is now trying to win votes in Michigan — as the auto industry's recovery is front-page news. Santorum? He's got the same problem.

The Fair Labor Association has given an initial assessment of the working conditions on Apple's Foxconn manufacturing plants and found that the working conditions are far better than other manufacturing plants in the region.

Low-cost carrier Air Australia has been placed into administration Friday morning, a development so sudden that thousands of passengers previously booked with the budget airline were left scrambling for alternative flights.

Handheld gaming is facing an uncertain future right now. Casual gamers are flocking to smartphones and tablets for simple touchscreen games foregoing traditional portable devices for the more versatile phones and tables. Sony and Nintendo have been feeling the brunt of this new attitude when their portable game devices have failed to make a mark in the market. Nintendo's 3DS had slow sales that forced the company to slash prices just to move units.

HTC is reportedly launching its own music streaming service with Beats Electronics in an effort to turn the company's flagging fortunes around.

Another large company in Australia may axe hundreds of jobs. Employees of the two Caltex refineries at Kurnell in Sydney and Lytton in Brisbane have expressed fear of losing work after the oil firm wrote down $1.5 billion value of its refining assets as it continues to conduct a review of refining future in Australia.

Mining activities on seven Queensland coal mine sites owned and operated by BHP Billiton virtually ground to a halt on Wednesday as workers stopped toiling to commence what could become the nation's biggest industrial disruption in years.

A chronicle news reporter recently featured a behind-the-scenes look in MetalDetector.com, the first online retailer of Metal Detectors. MetalDetector.com is located at Southborough, Massachusetts and has been around for 30 years. It is currently being managed by brothers Michael and Daniel Berznweig.

Networking specialist Cisco has decided to mount a challenge on Microsoft's takeover of Skype, lodging an appeal before the European Commission earlier this week.

Australian reaps more benefits from the ongoing resources boom despite its two-speed effect on the domestic economy.

Initial assessment by the chief of the independent labour group reviewing Apple contractors' factories in China portrayed a serene and sane working environment for thousands of Chinese workers tasked to assemble Apple gadgets.

The labor dispute that has plagued Qantas for months has taken its toll on the air carrier's bottomline. The flag carrier reported on Thursday an 83 per cent decline on its half year net profit which plummeted to $42 million compared to a year ago.

Global mining giant Xstrata reportedly plans to offer part of its stakes on the Australian coal mining project in Wandoan, Queensland, which the Swiss company co-owns with Japanese firms Itochu and Sumitomo.

Facebook users have another reason to celebrate as one of the most-loved games in the world; Angry Birds is now available in the social networking site.

The research firm, Gartner, Inc. recently disclosed that the Australian Business Intelligence (BI) software revenue will grow to at least 11.7% thus reaching an estimated amount of AU$496.4 million in the year 2012. The predicted revenue includes all BI platforms, analytic applications, and corporate performance management (CPM) software.

Apple, Inc.’s (NYSE:AAPL) latest tablet could face customs ban from Chinese authorities after a local firm filed for trademark dispute in the country to stop the exportation and importation of the said device.

U.S. stocks were on pace for their steepest fall of the year, as questions about the latest Greek bailout added to concerns about industrial stocks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 111 points, or 0.9%, to 12768, in late Wednesday afternoon, after rising for five out of the past six days.

There's no stopping the Apple Inc. express. Apple, the world's top tech company by market value, passed by nemesis and supplier Samsung Electronics to become the world's biggest smartphone vendor in the fourth quarter of 2011.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ordered on Tuesday giant telco Telstra Corporation to reduce the wholesale pricing of its asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) service.

The Adani Group, an Indian conglomerate, is planning to build a new open-cut and underground mine in Queensland. The Carmichael Coal Mine, touted to be the largest in the Australian state, would be mostly on the Moray Downs cattle station about 100 kilometres north of Emerald.

Australian cities are some of the most expensive places in the world, according to the latest Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Worldwide Cost of Living 2012 report. The roster, released on Wednesday, ranked Sydney as the 7th and Melbourne the 8 th most expensive global cities.

Kia Motors has released official sketches of its all-new luxury sedan, which the carmaker says will define new standards for design and flair in the large car segment.

The Australian stock market on Wednesday will try to put away the lacklustre sentiments generated by the U.S. and European indices overnight with a focus on a few earnings reports due to be released today.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 is definitely one of this season's phones to watch and to help you with the gamut of news articles and rumors circulating the Internet here are some of the more prevalent speculation about the Galaxy S3

From MORRISON SECURITIES PTY. LTD: U.S. stocks fell Tuesday as investors considered weaker-than-expected retail sales data and watched for progress in Europe over Greece's debt.

There are so much opportunity offered by Chinese reverse mergers or "reverse takeovers (RTOs)," MR Capital Management founder and fund director Mohannad Al-Rashoudi says in a statement.

As Apple shares zoomed up and breached the $500 mark on Monday, company officials revealed at the same time that independent inspectors from the Fair Labor Association (FLA) have begun their probe on Apple assembly facilities in China.