POLITICS & POLICY

After cutting the overnight cash rate for two successive months in May and June, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) retained the key lending rate on Tuesday to 3.5 per cent.

Too much of a good thing could also very well be a bad thing. While it is great that Australia's workers are empowered and can readily bargain their labour and wage demands, this very freedom could actually turn off potential investors and kill the economy of the tiny island-nation.

Sophie Mirabella was "in shock" and "unaware" that GetUp! director needed medical attention when he collapsed during a live panel talks on TV, a spokesperson said. How many people could react like Greg Combet in such a scenario?

Craig Emerson has been a trending topic on Twitter for hours now, thanks to an infamous video of him, which has now gone viral on the internet. The video, an interview with ABC News on carbon tax, shows the Minister for Trade and Competition breaking into a song while defending a serious topic of discussion among Aussies today.

Following a slightly stronger start to the trading session, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is currently unchanged. The energy sector was the best performer yesterday after oil prices shot up by 9.5 pct. Today, the oil and gas producers are holding the market back most significantly.

Russian steelmaker OAO Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works (MMK) has withdrawn from a A$554 million or $567 million bid to acquire Australian iron ore developer Flinders Mines after a minority shareholder challenged the plan in a legal complaint. Shares of Flinders Mines immediately took a beating, dropping more than seven per cent in early trade.

Australia suffered its first combat death this year in war-torn Afghanistan as the Defence Department confirmed on Tuesday the demise of a veteran Digger, who was serving his seventh tour in the 10-year conflict.

On the second day of the implementation of the controversial carbon tax, the Labor-led government of Australia scored three points against the Opposition after three major Aussie companies aired their support for the measure.

The local share market rallied today, on the back of positive sentiment out of the US and Eurozone. Investors around the globe appear to have welcomed the outcomes of the European Union summit last week, which essentially saw leaders agree to use bailout funds to assist troubled banks directly, rather than having the borrowed funds added to government debt. Local investors continued their buying spree today, with stocks finishing in the black for a fourth consecutive session. The All Ordinaries ...

The Alpha Mine & Rail project in Queensland, a collaboration project of Georgina Hope Rinehart, one of the richest women in the world, and India's GVK Group, may be able to secure a green clearance as early as August 2012.

Detained Aussie lawyer Melinda Taylor will be home soon as the International Criminal Court (ICC) confirmed on Monday that its detained legal team in Zintan will be freed later tonight.

As the string of controversies rocking the national leadership of the beleaguered Health Services Union (HSU) migrated to the cyber world, national secretary Kathy Jackson maintained that she was a victim of 'dark forces' within the labour group.

Today starts a new financial year and stock market investors would be happy to see the end of the 2011 2012 financial yea, as the Australian stocks market fell over 11% last year.

Australia need not only expedite new construction as well as expansion of varied mining infrastructure pipeline projects such as road, rail and port projects, but also ensure to manage them well in the light of expected surge in the demand of commodities.

Japan has restarted on Sunday the first of its more than 50 suspended nuclear power plants in Oi, western Japan, a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster and two months of totally no nuclear power generation.

China's official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) continued to decelerate in June, falling to 50.2 from 50.4 in May, the Beijing-based National Bureau of Statistics and China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing released in a joint statement over the weekend.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard firmly believes that 'common sense' among Australians will prevail in the end as her government officially ushered in yesterday fixed-price carbon tax, again renewing a fiery debate on the program's economic and social impacts.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened this morning firmly above 1.0200 after a breakthrough in the EU summit in Brussels late last week. European bailout funds will be directly lent to Spanish banks (rather than to the Spanish government).

Due to the fourfold rise in parking rates since 2001, Brisbane is now the most expensive place to park throughout Australia for one hour, particularly at its commercial business district. However, Sydney still retained the title of overall most expensive parking city.

The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index posted its biggest daily gain of the year, an exclamation mark on stocks' best June in more than a decade, as investors cheered European leaders' progress on the region's debt problems.

Like what it has done to the Australian Parliament, the carbon tax has also divided Aussies as groups both opposed and favoured the $23 per tonne carbon price which started to be collected Sunday, July 1.

The Australian sharemarket recording an amazing recovery this afternoon to post its best daily improvement in around two weeks. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 1.2 pct or 49.9 pts to 4135.5 today. Prior to lunch, local shares were down by 0.2 pct and by early afternoon the market had jumped significantly thanks to positive signs from the European Leaders Summit in Belgium.

A question if due process was followed was the basis in the Western Australian government's halt of the release of the Environmental Protection Authority's (EPA) approval of the $40-billion James Price Point gas project.

A New Zealand High Court ruled on Friday that authorities who raided Megaupload owner Kim Dotcom's mansion earlier this year wielded deficient search warrants, stripping the whole operation conducted by NZ police teams and agents from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of any legal protection.

Julian Assange will remain under the protection of the Ecuadorian Embassy in London despite efforts by the British police to lure him out via an official summon sent to the beleaguered WikiLeaks founder.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened weaker this morning with markets skittish as European leaders commenced their two day summit in Brussels.

Major benchmarks trimmed earlier sharp declines in the final hour of trading to finish modestly lower, as optimism for possible aid to debt-strapped European countries pared losses that followed another weak round of U.S. economic data and a Supreme Court health-care decision

The Australian market ended largely flat today after rising for much of the session. It was also a very quiet day ahead of an important meeting in Europe which takes place tonight. This week has actually been one of the quietest so far this year.

As the D day for the carbon tax fast approaches with less than one week to its implementation, the debate between pro- and anti-carbon tax groups as well as strategies to back or oppose the measure are becoming more intense.