Despite it being constantly tinkered by the Australian federal government, the country's retirement savings and income system has been ranked by the 2012 Mercer Global Pension Index as one of the world's highest and best managed.
Federal Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has issued on Monday the rollout map of the $37-billion national broadband network (NBN), providing a panoramic view of the high-speed telecommunication infrastructure’s nationwide reach.
It appears that Prime Minister Julia Gillard has scored considerable ‘political gains’ over Opposition Leader Tony Abbott short of a week after she labelled the latter as sexist and misogynist in a fiery parliamentary speech that went viral worldwide.
What exactly went wrong in Germany? Thomas Jefferson had been dead for 150 years when Adolf Hitler came to power. But he would have recognized the broad outlines of the problem.
We've just got some random thoughts today due to our inability to think clearly on any one topic. It seems like everywhere we turn, a sledgehammer of absurdity hits us right in the face.
The state government of West Australia on Monday has launched the Community Protection Website, a portal which contains a list of names as well as photographs of the most dangerous and high-risk sexual offenders living within and nearby WA.
Afghanistan had a surprise visitor in Prime Minister Julia Gillard over the weekend and she was there, media reports said, to boost the morale of Diggers serving in the 11-year Afghan Mission.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average squeezed out a modest advance to wrap up a tough week for the stock market, as worries about bank profits balanced off against a jump in consumer sentiment. The blue-chip Dow finished with a gain of 2.46 points, or 0.02%, to 13328.85 Friday, after rising by as many as 75 points in early trading.
Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened steady as concerns about growth prospects continue to plague Europe and the global economy.
The joke is on Labor now as reports emerged that cabinet ministers only rushed to condemn the offensive remarks targeting Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his chief aide Peta Credlin that day after the incident.
What do Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott, Origin Energy chief operating officer Karen Moses, Kraft Foods chief Rebecca Dee-Bradbury, philanthropists Layne Beachley, Carol Schwartz and Debbie Dadon, and Reconciliation Australia chief executive Leah Armstrong have in common? These strong-willed and leadership-capable women have been included in the first ever conducted 100 Women of Influence awards by the Australian Financial Review newspaper and Westpac Bank.
Shell in Court over Nigeria Spill Case
One hundred years ago this day, Tasmania encountered its worst mining disaster when 42 miners died underground in the Mt Lyell mining tragedy. Today, the town stood still to commemorate the centenary of the ill-fated event.
The United States will likely launch pre-emptive strikes on perceived cyber threats, U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said on Thursday, underscoring the emerging shift of international conflict to the digital arena.
Shares of debt ridden Australian retailer Billabong International, already floating in oblivion, sank deeper on Friday after its lone bidder TPG International LLC decided with finality to call off its takeover bid of the surfwear maker.
Australia faced up to terrorist challenge 10 years ago and the nation remains “strong and resilient,” in pursuing the ongoing global campaign to neutralise efforts by terror groups to sow fear and chaos.
Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is still range trading, currently around the 1.0200's and likely to remain supported today.
First Australia then the United States, now China’s Huawei Technologies must contend anew with fresh regulatory hurdle that likely would come from another key market – Canada.
Key Labor figures condemned on Thursday a joke that poked fun on Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and his top aide, Peta Credlin, declaring in unison that the remarks were “sexist, offensive and inappropriate.”
Israeli military officials are looking into the unidentified flying object (UFO) that entered into the country’s civilian air traffic. What could it be?
U.S. stocks slumped, sending the Dow industrials toward a second straight triple-digit drop as outlooks from industrial, commodity and energy heavyweights added to concerns about a global economic slowdown. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 131 points, or 1%, to 13343 in late afternoon trading, a day after posting its biggest daily decline in nearly six weeks.
The Sunday Times of London reports that the 54-year-old governor of Australia's Reserve Bank is an outside shot to replace Sir Mervyn King as the next governor of the Bank of England. Stevens would become the most powerful colonist in the British civil service.
Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has edged slightly higher despite a second consecutive poor night on global stock markets.
For the nth time, Lynas Corp.'s plans to operate what could rival China's rare earths industry has been hindered as a Malaysian High Court on Wednesday failed to come up with a final decision on the Australian miner's controversial temporary operating license (TOL), effectively delaying again the miner's start of operations of its rare earths processing plant.
Megaupload’s Kim Dotcom is a victim of Hollywood-induced persecution, with significant aids coming from the United States and New Zealand governments, the U.S defence lawyer of the Internet tycoon said earlier this week.
Toro Energy Limited and its highly-contested Wiluna uranium mine project in the Mid-West region has received an environmental clearance from the Western Australia state government.
The highly controversial $6.4-billion coal mine project between India's GVK Power & Infrastructure, and Hancock Coal owned by Gina Rinehart, the world's richest woman, in Queensland state has been given environmental approval by the federal government of Australia.
Stocks fell after a weaker-than-forecast economic-growth forecast from the International Monetary Fund stirred worries about corporate earnings ahead of Alcoa's quarterly report, due after Tuesday's closing bell. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 82 points, or 0.6%, to 13501, a drop that coincided with the five-year anniversary of the market's all-time high.
The official International Monetary Fund (IMF) global economic forecast is out and the broad outlook is that economies are still on edge and sluggishly weak.
Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar remains under selling pressure this morning, following downgrades to global growth forecasts, as well as concerns ahead of forthcoming quarterly earnings season in the US.
