COMPANIES

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has soften her tone and argued with new semantics to push for the carbon tax.

Samsung's ongoing feud with Apple took another turn this week as the South Korean firm asked the US International Trade Commission to ban Apple from importing the latest iPhone and iPad devices. The complaint was filed Wednesday amid a growing patent dispute.

An independent team studying the environmental impact of Australia's Lynas Corp.'s proposed rare earths facility in Malaysia said more safety measures need be in place.

Months of preparation for Hewlett-Packard’s tablet foray end on Friday as the company officially unleashed the TouchPad, with up to a hundred Best Buy outlets initially offering the device that retails at starting price of $499.

A union appeal has put the decision to halve the minimum shift length for high school retail workers on hold for now.

Employer confidence is remaining upbeat, with just under a third of employers planning to grow staff numbers during the next quarter, according to a new report.

Kraft Foods is encouraging the Indian government to develop a comprehensive cocoa production development policy, claiming domestic supplies are too poor and scant to fuel its growing needs.

Homeloans has begun piloting a new 'Elite Broker Circle' offering, which the non-bank has said will provide premium service for selected brokers.

A recent study of more than 600 Australian owners and decision makers of small to medium enterprises found that almost four in 10 businesses believe that they are performing better now compared to this time 12 months ago.

Key Media, publishers of Human Capital magazine, is pleased to announce it will hold the Australian HR Awards in October 2011.

Australian workers are more confident than their global counterparts about finding work, according to a new report.

A number of changes are due to take place tomorrow (1 July) which will affect employers, including changes to the national minimum wage and paid parental leave scheme.

Virgin America is maintaining its reputation as the darling airline of the tech sector, and today it announced a new partnership with Google that will give travelers the option to test Google's Chromebooks in their flight beginning tomorrow.

From IG Markets Analyst Ben Potter:On Wall Street overnight, stock finished the quarter and end of the first half in bullish fashion, logging its fourth consecutive gain as Greece passed a second crucial vote on the implementation of the latest austerity package and a much stronger-than-expected Chicago PMI number.

A review of more than 17,000 health insurance policies by consumer group Choice has found families could save more than $1500 by switching to a better value fund.

In Choice’s annual review of health insurance policies, undertaken to find the best value cover on the market, each of the major health funds and many of the smaller providers were assessed. When choosing Health Insurance, consumer group Choice advises to:

Nokia has signalled its intent to catch up with the exploding smartphone industry and in achieving that, the giant phone maker tapped Microsoft Corporation to provide the Windows Phone 7 OS to the new breed of handsets that the company will start issuing next year.

The proposed mining tax will successfully pass the parliamentary scrutiny and keep its present form, according to Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who believes that firm backings from independent MPs will seal the measures’ good fortunes.

From the more than half-a-billion money it poured in 2005 to snatch the then hotshot social networking site MySpace, Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp. has decided to jettison the website from its portfolio and sell the company to advertising firm Specific Media for a measly $35 million.

Unilever CEO Paul Polman last week outlined the manufacturer's strategic shift towards emerging markets to take advantage of their rapidly-growing populations.

The legal war between American giant tech firm Apple and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics reached another level as Samsung filed a patents infringement suit against its competitor and business partner on Thursday.

Small business support for the Australian Government has fallen to a 15-year low, according to the Sensis Business Index released today. SMEs have become much less supportive of the Federal Government’s policies, with the indicator declining sharply during the quarter to be the lowest level since February 1996.

Nokia's ten year reign on top of the Australian phone market is now over thanks to Apple and Android phones.

Speculations of his imminent departure from the giant telco proved true today as Telstra Corporation chief financial officer, John Stanhope, revealed on Wednesday that he is retiring after more than four decades of service to the company.

Financial comparison website RateCity is warning Australian borrowers to carefully review enticing home loan interest rate promotions, following several new promotions and home loans hitting the market this month.

Despite the nuclear meltdown scare spawned by Japan’s near-uranium leak, Rio Tinto said on Wednesday that it remains committed to stay in the uranium mining operations even as the global resource giant has admitted that growth in the sector could some snag over the next 10 years.

Small businesses in Australia should brace for more pain this coming financial year, the ANZ warns in its latest report released on Wednesday as the power of a stronger dollar and the lure of the Internet marketing on Australian consumers will continue to weigh down on sales.

Mobile phone calls to Lifeline made from anywhere in Australia will no-longer be charged starting 1 July under a new deal made between the three major phone carriers.

Australia's small, non-bank lenders have begun applying small increases in its upfront home loan fees and discharge fees in response to the loan exit fee ban.