POLITICS & POLICY

As expected, Prime Minister Julia Gillard announced on Monday her cabinet revamp after Thursday's leadership challenge dare made by senior Labor Minister Simon Crean.

Westfield Group has divested half of its controlling shares in six malls in Florida, United States for US$700 million as part of its continuing strategy efforts to reallocate shopping center interests. The sell-off was made to U.S. real estate firm O'Connor Capital Partners.

El Pais, a Spanish newspaper has retracted a column that compared German Chancellor Angela Merkel with German dictator Adolf Hitler. The column was written by economist Juan Torres Lopez of the University of Seville and published on its Web site and Audalusia printed regional edition.

The proposed tax on bank deposits in Cyprus has taken its toll with the reported bombing of a Bank of Cyprus branch in Limassol. Reports said that an improvised explosive device caused the blast which destroyed the window of the lender and created a small fire.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: It was a quiet night of trading on Friday as financial markets await the result of ongoing discussions in Cyprus.

Expect bloodbath in the Gillard cabinet following the leadership challenge dare made by senior Labor Minister Simon Crean. Reports said that Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader and Prime Minister Julia Gillard will announce on Monday a cabinet revamp following recent developments in the party.

Web site Tech Crunch reported on Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Defense is allegedly planning to purchase 650,000 units of iOS devices, in effect ditching the newly released BlackBerry 10 over cost considerations.

The worst you can get from a government is tyranny. Tyranny comes in many forms, such as excessive taxation, reckless foreign wars, and persistent legislative attacks on individual liberty by psychopathic political meddlers.

Combined forces led by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and local state police of Victoria have arrested 27 people in a year-long bust operation that involved a South East Asian drug syndicate based in Melbourne and Sydney.

At least 20 people were injured, two of whom are in critical condition, after tornadoes and powerful storms slashed through Victoria's northeast on Thursday night. It also toppled trees and ripped off roofs and shattered glasses from windows of dozens of homes and businesses.

The always entertaining Eurosceptic politician Nigel Farage summed up how Europeans should interpret the Cyprus deposit theft : 'Get your money out while you can!'

After throwing the Australian Labor Party (ALP) on Thursday in chaos by calling for settling of the party's leadership issue, Labor senior minister Simon Crean is paying a heavy price.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Despite the tension currently existent in currency markets, exchange rates failed to move much overnight.

Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, whose supporters were pushing him to challenge current Prime Minister Julia Gillard for the top Australian Labor Party (ALP) post has blinked. He backed out of the leadership ballot on Thursday afternoon.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard surprised Parliament on Thursday by announcing a caucus leadership ballot at 4:30 p.m. during question hour.

Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, is mulling to hold an international public offering (IPO).

China's growing dominance on a lot of things has been seen to also extend to the global online market by 2020, according to McKinsey & Co, a global management consulting firm.

The United Nations identified the important date March 21 as the “World Down Syndrome Day” (WDSD) with the aim to increase public awareness on the hereditary condition and to support the rights and well-being of the Down syndrome patients. A performance from the Down syndrome dancers will be held today at the Federation Square in Melbourne, Australia.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Despite quite reasonable movements in core currencies overnight, the AUD is largely unchanged this morning.

Mining companies Rio Tinto and Xstrata have announced job cuts in their respective coal divisions spurred by weak prices in the global market, rising administrative and operation costs as well as the high Australian dollar.

Failure to provide a safe working environment has cost global miner BHP Billiton some $130,000 as a Perth court ordered it to pay the amount to the family of a worker who died in July 2008 at its Port Hedland iron ore operations in Western Australia.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has fallen after the Cyprus Parliament rejected a bank deposit tax designed to save the country from bankruptcy.

Shares of Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp surged by as much as 2 per cent as of 1315 AEDT on Tuesday over its latest win versus the protesters who are against the presence of its processing facility in Malaysia.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has recovered in overnight trade as markets digest the situation in Cyprus and look forward to today's release of RBA minutes from its March 5 board meeting.

Owing to its growing population and urbanization, China's requirement for key steelmaking ingredient iron ore will continue to keep improving until the next decade, Murilo Ferreira, Vale's Chief Executive, said on Monday.

As an old adage goes, one cannot serve two masters. One has to be abandoned while one has to be pursued. And in the case of Australia, it's either it chooses to push through with the coal-related development projects in Queensland or push through saving and protecting the Great Barrier Reef. Bottomline, only one objective may be pursued.

On the 14th of March, California authorities issued an initial project which included a prime proposal to reform the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in an effort to secure water supply across the state.

On Friday night the US markets finally ended their stellar run. The Dow closed down 25 points to 14514, ending its north-moving prints at eight consecutive record highs, and ten consecutive northward moves - its longest winning streak since 1996. The S&P again found itself unable to reach its 2007 all-time high of 1576 (intraday), and closed within four points of its highest ever close of 1565, as US sentiment waned.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Volatility has increased in the FX markets this morning after the surprise announcement over the weekend Cyprus bank depositors must assist in the bailout of their banking system.