POLITICS & POLICY

Labor has called on deputy opposition leader Julie Bishop to step down or be sacked, accusing her of lying on the circumstances of her communications with self-confessed fraudster Ralph Blewitt.

Tourism Australia has lost some A$44 million funding support from Qantas Airways Ltd. over allegations the tourism group's chairman is involved in a demolition job scheme to oust the airline company's chief executive.

NASA scientists captured images of near-Earth Asteroid 2007 PA8 with the Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, California between October 31 and November 13, 2012. NASA described the asteroid in the released images as an irregularly shaped and stretched-out object with ridges and craters.

Australians know that election time is near when politicians promise the sun, the moon and the stars in a bid to win votes. This especially is the case for MPs who used to enjoy popularity with voters until the political scenario changed in favour of their perceived rivals.

Prices of the safe haven yellow precious metal jumped 0.2 per cent to $1,751.80 an ounce after finance ministers in the heavily fiscal-affected eurozone and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to reduced Greece's long-term debt.

China has become the preferred partner of most Australian universities when it comes to boosting knowledge linkages for student and staff exchange as well as collaborative research.

Australia has two years to prepare and work on strengthening policies and mechanisms to ensure it won't plunge into a recession.

A proposal to apply audio recording in cabs in Queensland has been lodged for public opinion by the state government.

A rare bovine disease, called Bovine Johne's Disease (BJD), has been detected among a number of cattle herd in Central Queensland. But an agriculture lobby group had maintained the beef from the concerned state remains safe to eat as BJD cannot affect humans.

For the next 40 years, the management of South Australia's lottery and Keno services will be managed by Tatts Group after the gaming giant shelled out $427 million to acquire its licence from the SA state government.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is little changed in quiet trade as markets play a waiting game on developments out of Washington and Brussels.

The federal government of Australia is set to release a draft bill that when legalised will forced companies to reveal the net salaries of its top execs as well as require its top guys to return wrongly paid bonuses.

Some 10,000 protesters opposed to the presence of the rare earths processing plant by Australian miner Lynas Corp in Kuantan, Malaysia had ended their 13-day protest march in Kuala Lumpur, arriving in the Malaysian capital on Sunday.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard jumped the gun on the opposition and her critics, denying them an effective platform by holding a press conference on Monday hours before Coalition MPs are expected to grill her on Parliament’s Question Time.

Good news ahead for Australian business retailers. Despite the hard, cash-strapped times, Australians are still bound to splurge on the festive season, and would be willing to dish out at least $475 from their pockets on presents alone.

China’s combat capabilities jumped a notch higher as its first sea-operational aircraft carrier, Liaoning, saw the first landing of a Chinese made combat plane, cementing the nation’s reputation as a rising military power in the Asia-Pacific region.

A number of business retailers have cautioned Australians to double check their Christmas lights for defective wires and unusual sparks.

Wanting to have a well-diversified portfolio, Australia's Future Fund has scooped up assets in infrastructure amounting to A$2 billion (US$2.08 billion).

The Australian state of Queensland's AA1 credit rating has been downgraded from stable to negative by international ratings agency Moody's Investors Service, and is unlikely to revert any time soon to its former AAA rating.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is trading half way between USD 1.0400 and 1.0500 following rallies on global stock markets at the end of last week.

The chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel has raised uncertainties over the reaching of an accord in the next European Union budget that is to be held in a meeting in Brussels.

AFTERNOON REPORT (5pm AEDT)Local stocks closed flat today, following yesterday's impressive rally, and with Wall Street closed overnight for Thanksgiving. It's expected to be another quiet session in the US tonight, with no economic data scheduled for release. European markets rose overnight on improving Chinese manufacturing data, while markets around the Asian region were generally higher today.

Today, technology giant Apple will be hosting a 24-hour in-shop and online sale for gadget consumers in Australia. The iPod Touch, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air including the Retina models are all offered with a lower price but the well-known iPhone is not listed on the discounted items.

An island off the South Pacific has been discovered to be a hoax or non-existent by a group of Australian scientists, despite being visible on marine charts and world maps, even on Google Earth.

At least 100,000 jobs will be made available in Western Australia in the next 10 years as the state surges on with growth in its minerals and energy sector.

With US markets closed overnight for the Thanksgiving holiday, all eyes were on Europe where EU leaders began a two-day meeting to discuss and set the Euro bloc's next seven-year budget.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened slightly firmer this morning but trading ranges overnight have been very tight due to the US Thanksgiving holiday.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott envisions a government with sound fiscal policies and more focused in engaging with its immediate neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region, that is if he becomes Australia’s next leader.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. is mulling to acquire the aluminum holdings of BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group to boost production requirements in anticipation of a 6.5 per cent growth in demand.