COMPANIES

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

Samsung Electronics won the favor of the Australian Federal Court on Wednesday, giving its go signal to the South Korean firm to proceed with the sale of it Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia minus any worries of any wrangling from Apple.

A federal court has lifted the sales ban on Samsung's Galaxy tablet but the legal battle is not yet over as Apple is taking the case to the High Court.

The Federal Court ruled on Wednesday in favour of Metcash in its $215-billion purchase of Franklins supermarkets. The decision was a humiliating defeat for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) which opposed the takeover.

BCD Resources announced on Wednesday the closure of its 134-year-old Beaconsfield gold mine in Tasmania by June 2012. BCD Chief Executive Peter Thompson explained the planned shuttering to exhaustion of gold resources.

Research in Motion announced on Tuesday that it will launch a new security software that will bring the same security and management features found in the company's BlackBerry smartphones to Android and iOS phones and tablets.

Fair Work Australia (FWA) may likely have another tough labor dispute to handle soon following the collapse of talks between Fremantle Port workers and management. The port workers have announced a 48-hour strike beginning at dawn of Friday.

Manufacturing activity remained flat in November according to the latest Australian Industry Group - PwC Australian Performance of Manufacturing Index (Australian PMI®). The Australian PMI® was broadly unchanged, up just 0.4 points to 47.8, to remain below the 50 points level separating expansion from contraction.

Australian Internet service company Melbourne IT (ASX: MLB) has clinched its first Philippine client to mark the start of its foray in the Southeast Asian country.

Minmetals Resources Limited (HKSE:1208) ("MMR") has appointed mining industry stalwart Anthony Larkin as an independent non-executive director of the company to further strengthen the board's project risk assessment capabilities.

Korea's Samsung had won the first legal battle against Apple Inc. as an Australian court overturns the decision disallowing the sale of the Galaxy tablet in the country on Wednesday.

In line with global trends for more environment-friendly vehicles, the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) picked on Wednesday the Ford Falcon EcoLPi as one of the best cars in the country.

Information disorder affects 40 per cent of Australian and New Zealand organizations, a report by Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) released on Wednesday said.

A deal secured by Optus with NBN Co has assured the telco of just compensation in the event the National Broadband Network project of Prime Minister Julia Gillard becomes a casualty of political wrangling in Canberra.

France's Council of State, which hears cases against decisions of the national government, has annulled the 2007 and 2008 rules of the agriculture ministry suspending the planting of genetically modified corn in the country.

The present retail environment is generally dismal, according to Harvey Norman chair Gerry Harvey, as he predicted that the Holiday season will not be too rosy for Australian sellers despite high volume of merchandise movements they’re witnessing so far.

Australian miners have sustained their investment expenditures on mining projects in the current year, according to the latest report issued by the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics (BREE).

The 74,000 employees of French IT firm Atos will no longer email each other to cut the time they spend in handling emails.

Australia Post Chief Executive Ahmed Fahour knows how to turn a problem into an opportunity. He showed his success on Tuesday when the agency he heads opened its 24/7 operations that relies heavily on delivery and pick up of parcels ordered online by Aussies.

Giant Australian miner BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) plans to leave the diamond mining business and instead focus on long-life and expandable assets. The company said it is considering selling its diamond interests in Canada's Ekati mine and Chidliak exploration venture.

Qantas passengers again faced delays even if the unions and the air carrier's labor dispute is under arbitration with Fair Work Australia. The culprit this time was computer outage.

It's still a feature phone world out there. Despite rising demand for smartphones in the U.S. and Europe the rest of world is still clamoring for feature phones.

An Apple iPhone spontaneously burst into flame in a flight from Lismore to Sydney last Friday.

Toyota has rediscovered its love for the fancy cars as the Japanese automaker unveiled on Sunday its latest foray in the world of sports racing, the new sporty compact ‘86’.

Qantas Airways has launched a probe on the alleged scandalous ‘encounter’ between one of its pilots and a female passenger during a long-haul flight that originated from London and landed in Sydney Friday night.

Many techies love to customize the ROMs of their Android devices, which allow various ways to modify smartphones, including the manipulation of startup devices, increase of speed and better battery usage.

The expansion and diversification of its operations had led to record revenue growth for Australian environmental services company, CO2 Group Limited (ASX: COZ). On Monday, CO2 reported revenues of $35 million for financial year 2011 and full year net profit after tax of $1.5 million.

Doubt is being cast over the fairness in choosing the new seven wonders of the world as the organiser's costly requirements to win the slots meant that only natural places in countries that can afford the expenses are more likely to win the highly commercialized global contest.

Large Australian mining companies warned of the impact of worsening European debt crisis on their financial operations, particularly availability of credit.