COMPANIES

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.

Apple and Samsung could soon end their ongoing legal tussles in a settlement as a San Franciso Federal Court ordered the tech rivals to possibly come up with a solution that would dissolve their differences, reports said.

The Australian government has commenced on Tuesday the defence of its cigarette plain-packaging law, which experts said could be adopted by other nations as an effective model for their anti-smoking campaigns.

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra has justified adding permeate in its blue-topped milk, saying it is meant to standardise protein levels and not to cut costs to maintain a competitive price as recent news reports have hinted.

Miner Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) is the official medals provider of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The firm announced on Tuesday that the 4,700 medals it will supply the games would be crafted from metals sourced from Rio's Kennecott Utah Copper Mines and Oyu Tolgoi Mine.

There have been numerous reports before stating that Apple has plans of launching a "mini iPad" in the market. These rumors are resurfacing again as NetEase; a Chinese web portal revealed that Apple is indeed working on a new iPad.

Samsung, the Korean-based phone manufacturer recently revealed the company's plan to launch a Windows Phone 8 in October, 2012.

Tesla, the electric vehicle maker behind the Tesla Roadster, Model S and Model X, is doing all it can to achieve its current business plan of reaching profitability in 2013.

Holden inked on Monday a deal with a General Motors affiliate under which Holden will develop at its Port Melbourne facility vehicles for China. However, it excludes manufacturing.

Westpac's strategies to boost revenue will be put to a test during the first quarter as the bank seeks a larger market share, particularly deposits, small-to-medium business loans and wealth management. The results of said strategies will be disclosed by CEO Gail Kelly in May as she reports the company's first-half profit amidst a weaker banking environment.

The Chinese-built Ford Focus will join three new SUVs at Ford's stand at the upcoming Beijing motor show exhibiting the brand's aggressive strategy to crack the largest car market in the world.

uVent.com.au founder Anthony Mittelmark recently launched a Web site that would serve as a meeting ground for Australian consumers with complaints and local companies. Within one week, the portal received about 11,000 complaints which indicate how angry and frustrated Aussie consumers are.

Two Australian banks cut their interest rates on Monday, ahead of a possible overnight cash rate reduction by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in May and amid ANZ Bank's unpopular decision to hike fixed mortgage and small business loan rates by 0.06 per cent on Friday.

Asus, the Taiwanese-based company announced that the company's Asus Transformer Pad 300 will be released in the market on April 22, 2012. Pre-order for this tablet has already started and this release date would also mean that it will be directly competing against the official debut of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2.

Samsung has finally ended months of speculation about the Samsung Galaxy S III. The Korean-based firm finally sent out invitations stating "come and meet the next Galaxy". The invitation is for the May 3 event called "Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012" that will take place in London.

To address the high cost of aviation fuel, flag carrier Qantas is experimenting with the use of refined cooking oil to power its jets.

Number one social networking site Facebook and Ten Network are talking about an alliance that would involve sharing of content, audiences and advertising income, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.