Australia's economic growth for the three months to 31 March came in at 0.6%, just below expectations of 0.7% growth. The annual rate of expansion slowed to 2.5%, the slowest growth rate since June 2011.
As high as food and gasoline and other basic commodities are across the U.S. these days, they would cost much, much more were the American dollar not the world's reserve currency. Economists have known that for decades.
Just as the world gets to slowly accept same-sex marriages, a reversal of roles seem to be happening. If a same-sex couple gets rejected of a request, a thin dividing line ensues of differing personal and professional beliefs.
If you're the faint-hearted type, this is not for you. But for thrill-seeker adventurers, this video on YouTube of a Saudi daredevil man texting while above the hood of a speeding car could give them the much needed adrenaline rush.
With about 1.6 million Americans having experienced violent phone thefts in 2012, law enforcement officials have taken two steps forward to combat the situation.
Not only do they get to live normal lives, but children of gay parents and same-sex couples are actually healthier, happier and thrive more than children of straight heterosexual couples, according to a study by the Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families.
Because it failed to comply with the kingdom's regulatory requirements and laws, Saudi Arabia has banned the use of the web-based communication application Viber in the country, at the same time threatening others face the same risk if they don't adhere to the country's rules.
Medical authorities in Saudi Arabia are racing against the clock to implement measures to control the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) into a feared, potential pandemic in light of the forthcoming annual Mecca Hajj pilgrimage season on October 13-18.
One point for Samsung Electronics as it won against its biggest competitor Apple Inc on patents. The long-running case against patent infringements and market selling has created a stiff competition between the two electronic giants – the odds were in favor of Samsung this time.
Kia Rondo, a seven-seater minivan hits Australia. Rondo starts selling at $29,990. The latest model from the Kia faces challenges from previous attempts to enter the market and launch a well loved and selling car. The revamped edition seeks to replace previous features that made it difficult for previous models to sell.
A second airport may be what the country needs to contribute to economic growth, says a business group based in Sydney. Existing plans are in place to increase the annual number of passengers to 74 million by 2033.
In the movie Big Trouble in Little China there's a classic line by the 'hero' of the show, Jack Burton. The group he's leading is in a panic as they're getting away from the bad guys. But Jack reassures them in a swaggering drawl... 'Everybody relax, I'm here.'
So, the monthly interest rate hype has come and gone for, well, another month. Boss Stevens, of course, left interest rates on hold yesterday, at 2.75%. If anything the absence of a cut saved us from the hysteria about how it will be good for consumption/housing/building/retail and whatever else presumably benefits from more credit creation and less saving.
The Reserve Bank of Australia Board meets today to discuss possible cuts on interest rates amidst slow growth in the manufacturing industry and rise in inflation rate. Majority of economists think that the bank should put interest rates on hold.
It has been an annual practice for 24/7 Wall St. to identify brands in the United States in danger of disappearing. For this year, car and tech companies are not exempted. Wall Street’s latest list of brands on the brink of extinction shows the stiff and cruel competition amongst industries – falling behind financing, innovation and efficiency can cost even some of the most well loved brands.
The weak performance from the manufacturing sector, falling job advertisements and slight inflation may just what the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) needs to cut interest rates even lower.
Well if you didn't know that the mining boom had peaked, yesterday made it official. Capital spending fell 4.7% in the March quarter, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The huge pipeline of resources investment has tapered off. If this is the case, one of the key supports of a strong Aussie dollar - big foreign capital flows for resource projects (especially LNG) - has been kicked out.
Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of tech giant Apple Inc alongside Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, has described recent criticism of the company's taxes practices as "extremely warranted" and have called for big corporations to be treated the same as the "little guy", during a business conference in Northern Ireland on Thursday.
Effective this month, Philippine Airlines (PAL) will be adding three flights into Australia, including Darwin, Perth, and Brisbane, bringing to five its total number of Philippine-Australia routes.
India embittered some analysts as the officials informed that the country saw its growth slump to the slowest pace in a decade. The government's measures did not work and the Asia's third economy visibly slowed down, adding to the alarming news on the India's economic conditions.
Clothing retail giant H&M has promised to invest more on healthy or plus size models for its advertising campaigns. The company admitted that they previously focused on too-thin models becoming irresponsible in the process. For a change, the company’s newest advertising campaigns will be about healthier bodies.
The International Monetary Fund has lowered the growth forecast for China for the second time in just six weeks, saying it expects growth to reach "around 7.75 percent" this year. The Washington-based institution also warned that Beijing needs to make a "decisive push" to launch new market-oriented reforms and raised concerns about a rapid expansion of credit in the world's second largest economy.
The OECD, in its newest report, did not present a colorful picture of the eurozone as it cut growth outlook for the 17-state bloc. The Paris-based organization underlined that the harsh economic conditions in Europe pose a threat to the global economy, thus the European Central Bank should take steps aimed at fostering growth.
The shortage of products in Venezuela has turned for the worse. Aside from running out of toilet paper, the country's Catholics may also no longer have the wine and the host when they attend Mass.
It may come as no surprise that the IMF decided to downgrade its growth outlook for China. The revision was driven by weak global economic conditions and unsatisfactory results recorded in China as well. Indeed, the IMF is concerned about the economic recovery in China and it believes that the country's authorities should introduce essential reforms aimed at bringing a sustainable recovery.
The Australian dollar dipped to a 19-month low on Wednesday up to 95.28 U.S. cents late afternoon after the release of strong American economic data. The rate was the currency's weakest since Oct 5, 2011.
The world's only known working anti-viral flu drug Tamiflu has been rendered ineffective against the bird-flu strain H7N9 virus. Essentially, the virus has mutated. It won't be long before global pandemonium erupts unless a new effective drug is created and immediately made available to humans.
Nena Hallasgo has been in Taiwan for seven years and the whole time she has been working in the country, the 43-year-old native of Cagayan de Oro City has never experienced more sleepless nights these days than she had ever before. The sleepless nights resulted from the fatal shooting of a Taiwanese fisherman by the Philippine Coast Guard. The fear, emanating from the shooting incident, has resonated to hundreds and thousands of other OFWs currently based in Taiwan.
China's imports of Thai rice or grains is expected to surge in the following weeks after the recent discovery of cadmium metal contamination in the grains marketed by Hunan, China's largest rice-producing province.
Chinese citizens may already be getting rich enough to afford international overseas trips and visits, but wealth is by no means a safeguard to conduct misbehaviour in other lands. Ding Jinhao, a lucky Chinese teener who had the opportunity to visit and personally see for himself the famed centuries-old Luxor Temple, has gotten the ire of Chinese netizens after he desecrated and vandalized the Egyptian artwork a few years back.
