POLITICS & POLICY

Bell FX Currency Outlook: It was a fairly quiet session for currencies overnight with the AUD slowly drifting back towards the USD0.9550 level.

Treasurer Wayne Swan rolled out on Tuesday his own app, the Fix-o-Gram which allows his constituents in the marginal Brisbane seat of Lilley to send him photos of potholes, traffic jams or other local problems to alert him.

In a Customer Privacy statement released by Apple, the company detailed what data they allow and do not allow for government to access.

Phone-making giant BlackBerry defends its security after the recent espionage expose.

On, Tuesday, the federal opposition has asked to a parliamentary review on the proposed reforms to the controversial 457 visa scheme. The changes are scheduled for deliberation in the parliament's lower house later in the day,

A sting operation for online child predators carried by police operatives in the lead up to this weekend's recently concluded Father's Day celebration had yielded 41 arrests, including 1 female. The operation spanned several counties throughout the San Francisco Bay Area and central Florida.

China may have become finally aggressive in combating its pollution-riddled air and environment, but it would take at least 18 years for the zooming super-power to realise the fruits of its labor and be finally able to eat it too.

Trial for Cleveland suspect Ariel Castro subjects victim Amanda berry, Michelle Knight and Gina de Jesus to more emotional pain

Kevin Rudd makes it known that he wants the support of top government officials before he bids for premiership.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard should expect tougher days ahead of the Sept 14 election since a growing number of Australian Labor Party members are pushing former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to break his promise and challenge Ms Gillard's leadership of the party.

Amid news that the National Security Agency, or NSA, has data-mined the information of millions of Americans with the help of telecom Verizon and has built the capacity to gather all electronically transmitted data on every single American at any time, comes news from the reporter who initially broke the story that we are merely seeing the tip of the anti-privacy iceberg.

Police had no plans of stopping its attacks on Istanbul protesters as it detain more than 100 people

Russian President Vladimir Putin raised the issue about the US supplying weaponries to organ-eating Syrian rebels

A Papua New Guinea father of four has been beheaded by his own daughter whom he had allegedly raped. However, members of the local community have sworn to protect the 18-year-old woman at all costs, claiming her father deserved to die after all.

China is already set to launch its first carbon trading market this week. Reports said it will be officially opened on Tuesday. Shenzhen, a Special Economic Zone, will be China's first carbon emissions trading market.

Advocates for the welfare of children are urging legislators in New Zealand to revise the country's rape law, citing women are also very much possible sexual predators after reports exploded over the weekend of a pre-teen boy fathering a child from a 36-year old woman.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar traded in a narrow range on Friday night after the volatile moves of the past week as markets look forward this week to clues on the stimulus programs of both the US Federal Reserve and RBA.

Nielsen poll reports Australia Labor Party polls falling three points, while Coalition is up three points.

China's increasing display of aggression in its bid to strengthen territorial claims in the Asia-Pacific region has reached the halls of the U.S. Senate. On Monday, a resolution was filed by some US senators condemning acts of aggression particularly committed by China. The resolution seeks to find an amicable resolution to the territorial disputes in the region.

The challenge for Australian Labor Party leader and Prime Minister Julia Gillard to stand down persists even if Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has pledged his support for Ms Gillard.

The Philippine National Security Council appealed for additional defence funding on Thursday as 18 Chinese maritime vessels were reported intruding Philippine territory.

Lawmakers from New York City and New York State are already working on laws to regulate away a problem and ban a potential crisis that hasn't not existed yet. This early, lawmakers from both areas have presented bills to keep off 3D printed guns off the streets of New York.

The Immigration Amendment Bill has passed its third reading in the parliament legalising the mass detention of asylum seekers reaching the shores of New Zealand. Covered by the law are those arriving in groups of at least 30 people, and they will be issued a single warrant for six months detention.

The government is determined to make Australia the leading digital economy in 2020. Senator and Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy delivered the government’s long-term vision for Australia.

Coles Supermarkets, an Australian supermarket chain owned by Wesfarmers, is now inside the hot, fiery oven. On Wednesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) lodged a legal action before the Federal Courts versus the food retailer against its misleading claims over the bread that it sells in the store.

The European Union has lodged a complaint against China before the World Trade Organization (WTO) against the rising Asian power's tariffs imposed on imported stainless steel pipes.

PRISM is not only in the US but Australia as well. A new secret communications facility courtesy of the Defence Department is designed to manage the deluge of intelligence data the United States shares with Australia.

A man, who so believed his constitutional right had been violated when the prostitute he ordered came in physically unappealing to his taste, had just been slapped with a warning by the police, but only after he barraged Britain's hotline 999 with his complaint.

News Corp's CEO Rupert Murdoch seeks to divorce his third wife Wendi Deng. He also wants joint child custody with Deng.