COMPANIES

The owner of the Rivers Australia chain will appear in court on Wednesday in connection with the charges of indecent assault filed against him by a former employee.

The Queensland government approved a 25-year mining lease for the Mt Carlton gold-silver-copper project of Evolution Mining (ASX: EVN).

The holiday shopping season is projected to generate some $10 billion of total sale for the retail industry and big chunk of that pie would be enjoyed by Australian retailers, reports said.

Australians will have another alternative budget carrier from Asia by mid-2012 as Scoot operates a 402-seat daily flight between Sydney and Singapore. Scoot will offer 40 per cent lower fare than traditional airlines and targets young and adventurous travelers who want to go around the region at lower cost.

Qantas unions have secured the support of the Labor Party to strengthen the Qantas Sales Act. The party backed the motion filed by Transport Workers Union (TWU) Federal Secretary Tony Sheldon to keep majority ownership, operation and governance of Qantas in Australia.

The Map Group announced on Monday plans to merge the international and domestic terminals in Sydney Airport by 2019.

Australian coal miners, Whitehaven Coal (ASX: WHC) and Aston Resources (ASX: AZT), are talking about a corporate merger, Whitehaven disclosed on Monday.

A federal court judge in San Jose, California has ruled against Apple's petition to temporarily ban the sales of Samsung smartphones and tablets in the U.S. allowing the Korean products in market shelves until the start of the patent infringement trial on July 30, 2012.

From Craig James, Commsec Chief EconomistUS non-farm payrolls (employment) rose by 120,000 in November, in line with market expectations. Private payrolls rose by 140,000, the jobless rate fell from 9.0pct to a 2-1/2 year low of 8.6pct and average earnings fell by 0.1pct.

From Morrison Securities: U.S. stocks finished barely changed in Friday's session to cap a strong week after the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped and European leaders and central bankers redoubled efforts to tackle the sovereign-debt crisis.

Cisco Systems is planning to release a larger and smaller version of its enterprise-centric Cius tablet.

Three hackers claim they have successfully gained root access to Research in Motion's PlayBook tablet to run unauthorized applications.

Google's Android system may have updated its Google Maps feature to work indoors but Nokia is raising the bar by having their indoor maps in 3D.

A Chinese airliner took off from Osaka's international airport without clearance from air traffic controllers sparking an investigation by civil aviation authorities from the two countries.

Qantas unions blamed mismanagement of the national air carrier for its $200 million loss for the second half of the financial year. The unions said Qantas should not blame the strikes for the loss, which Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce pinpointed as one of the reasons behind the red ink.

Asia Iron Australia broke ground on Friday on its Extension Hill Magnetite Project in the mid West. The project is expected to yield 10 million tonnes per annum of high-grade iron ore magnetite over 40 years.

Buoyed by the favorable ruling handed down by the Federal Court this week and an avalanche of anticipation from Aussies yearning to own the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung said on Thursday that it is rushing to ship the devices into Australia.

Mackay Conservation Group is opposing the planned expansion of the Abbot Point coal port north of Townsville in Queensland. The group is against the increase in number of coal terminals to nine from the current three because of the impact of the expansion on waterways and communities within a 500-kilometre radius of the port.

British American Tobacco (BAT) asked Australia's High Court on Thursday to declare a plain cigarette packaging law as unconstitutional and invalid for violating its trademark.

The ongoing trade dispute between giant aircraft manufacturers, Europe's Airbus and America's Boeing, could soon end as European Union officials declared on Thursday that all conditions relating to the resolution of the matter have been met.

Employees of Fremantle walked off their jobs on Friday dawn as scheduled as part of their move to improve working conditions and seek a 6 per cent salary increase over the next three years.

Standard & Poor's downgraded on Thursday the credit rating of five large Australian banks. However, rival Moody's Investors Service maintained the stable outlook of the big four banks.

Researchers from North Carolina State University have discovered a number of vulnerabilities in smartphones running Google's Android operating system that allows hackers to record phone conversations and even wipe data without the user's permission.

From Morrison Securities: U.S. stocks were little changed in afternoon trading Thursday, a day after a blowout rally, as headlines from Europe kept traders on the defensive but strength in the technology sector limited losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 6 points, or 0.1%, to 12049 recently, shaving off a sliver of the previous session's 490-point surge.

Google Map is one of the applications used in Android mobile phones. It allows the owner to view directions and places and even provides traffic advisories, removing the need to bring a compass or a paper map.

Industrial disputes filed by employees and workers in Australia rose to 66 during the September period resulting in more working days lost and industries paralyzed, according to the Australia Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

The Senate Committee of Rural Affairs and Transport recommended on Wednesday the suspension of all new coal seam gas (CSG) projects in areas where it would tap into the Great Artesian Basin. The 12 recommendations are based on the potential of CSG ventures to contaminate underground water.

The two West Australia power firms signed supply contracts on Wednesday with gas suppliers. The deal would boost gas security for residents.

The mining sector is going digital to avoid or minimise the incidence and scale of the impact of dust mines on the environment.