COMPANIES

Flag carrier Qantas has warned passengers of possible travel difficulties because of the baggage handler and ground staff strike scheduled for Friday. The airline estimated about 8,000 passengers would be affected as the job walk-off would lead to the cancellation of two flights and delays by up to one hour of 39 flights.

AFTERNOON REPORT (4.30pm AEST)The recent rally on the Australian share market came to an abrupt end today, although the losses weren't overly significant or surprising. US and European markets closed in the red overnight, as investors looked to square their books ahead of the end of the month and end of the September quarter. A lack of concrete and decisive action from European leaders also frustrated investors. The Australian market, which has gained around 4.5pct over the past couple o...

Apple is reportedly considering killing the iPod line. With the press invite for the iPhone5 out it seems the hardy iPod Shuffle and iPod Classic have been left out of the big hoopla once more.

Qantas warns that more than 8000 domestic and international passengers will have their flights disrupted tomorrow as customs and quarantine staff at Sydney's international airport are set to stage a protest on Friday.

Australia's competition regulator has approved a transpacific alliance between Qantas Airways and American Airlanes, the regulators said on Thursday.

Leighton Holdings subsidiary John Holland has been selected as the preferred tenderer for the construction of the $400 million proposed Connors River Dam to Moranbah Pipeline in Central Queensland.

More and more Australian banks are reducing rates on their fixed-rate loans as the expectations of a rate rise by the Reserve Bank of Australia weaken.

It's all systems go as Qantas and American Airlines have been given the approval by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to enforce their joint business agreement on Pacific flights.

Apple is cutting orders to vendors for its iPad tablet computers that could lead to slower sales for supply-chain vendors, according to a report from JP Morgan Chase and Co.

All those promises of a lean, better and toned legs flew off the shelves as fast as Reebok might need to rework its advertising campaign, as the shoe maker has conceded to pay consumers $25 million in refunds.

A global tax on financial transactions is not appropriate for Australia because local banks did not fail during the global financial crisis (GFC), Australia’s banking sector said today.

Fast food chain Hungry Jack will begin introducing sides of vegetables to go with its regular meals starting next month in a move to bolster its health credentials.

The blaze at Shell SIngapore Refinery, the company's largest plant worldwide, highlights how precarious Sydney supply really was should Shell proceed with its plans to discontinue Clyde as a refinery or disallow its use by third parties, the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union said on Thursday.

Arch West was the man behind the crispy and tangy Doritos, which last year alone generated worldwide sales of up to $5 billion.

A separate but successive customs, quarantine, baggage handlers and ground staff strike is expected to cause havoc in major Australian airports for three days.

Myer Melbourne was named this week as the world's best new department store in the 2011 Oracle World Retail Awards.

Diesel oil spilled into the Brisbane River near the commercial business district. The spill, near Eagle St Pier, was reported at 5:30 a.m. and is estimated to have spread 150 to 200 metres along the river's northern bank.

Australia is the 7th best country in the world to mine, a global survey released on Thursday said. It was a big jump from Australia's 26th place in 2010 in ResourceStocks magazine's annual World Risk Survey.

According to an advance copy of the Woolworths's annual report, the about to retire CEO Michael Luscombe took a $2.6 million pay cut in the 2011 financial year, but still managed to sound confident about the retailer's outlook, despite its toughest year for more than a decade.

Agricultural chemicals group, Nufarm says it's aiming to boost earnings in 2012 after another difficult year in 2011.

All good things have to come to an end and unfortunately the S&P 500 could not make it four out of four successive gains. US equities saw selling right up until the close, with the bears easily winning the session. The NASDAQ was the worst performer, losing 2.2% while the S&P fell 2.1% and the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 1.6%.

The Australian sharemarket rose almost one per cent in the second day of gains, as markets recovered from last week's massive losses on hopes of a solution to Europe's debt crisis. However, the market investors remained unsure whether a solution to the crisis could be found amid conflicting media reports. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index had risen 34.9 points, or 0.87 per cent, to close at 4,039.5, while the broader All Ordinaries index rose 34.2 points, or 0.84 per cent, to 4,097.7.

In the recently published 2011 IT Industry Competitive Index report, South Korea ranks 19th place with 60.8 points.

(4.30pm AEST)Investor confidence remained strong today, with the local market managing to hold onto and add to yesterday's 3.5pct gain. Markets around the Asian region were generally firmer, after the Greek parliament approved a contentious property tax law which is crucial to its austerity plan and its commitments to secure bail-out funds. The local share market lost a little steam in afternoon trade but closed higher by 0.8pct, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) adding 34.2pts to 4097....

South Korea's ruling Grand National Party seeks to ameliorate relations with neighbor North Korea through economic cooperation and humanitarian assistance, The Korea Times reported.

Energy giant BP on Wednesday has called on the NSW government to reconsider its decision to extend its policy on mandating both biodiesel and ethanol-blended petrol in NSW.

Facebook has denied it monitors users who have logged out of the service. Australian hacker Nik Cubrilovic this week accused Facebook of using to cookies to track users even after they've logged out of the site.

Just in time for the Christmas buying and spending season, Toshiba announced on Tuesday plans to offer a whole new range of affordable laptops and netbooks in October. A Toshiba laptop will be readily available to suit anybody's needs and budget. Prices range from $300 to $630.

Don't expect the iPhone 5 to be something different from iPhone 4. Chances are they are just the same device with a few upgrades in hardware and updates on the iOS. Consider it a smaller iPad 2 without the iPhone 4's antenna issues.