POLITICS & POLICY

A second former student at Sydney University confirmed on Friday the infamous campus bullying by then losing candidate Tony Abbott on election winner Barbara Ramjan.

Supposed better days ahead for iron ore miners may have to take a longer backseat as prices of the key steelmaking ingredient once again plummeted to below $100 per tonne.

Jitters of a looming recession and escalating slowdown in mining could all the more be fueled as available jobs in Australia's mining industry has fallen, a first in three years.

He was a bully, he was a misogynist and he kept the company of a ‘goon squad’ that was ready to pick a fight for the then university politician and now Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Australia's largest department store chain, Myer Holdings Ltd, reported that its full year net profit sank 12.7 per cent to $139.365 million compared from a year ago as it continues to sail through tough conditions in the retailing environment.

Key independent MP Tony Windsor dashed hopes of rushing the super trawler bill in Parliament. If pushed into voting for the measure introduced just this week, Mr Windsor told ABC on Thursday that he would vote against the bill.

Australia lost a good friend when U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens was killed Tuesday during what appeared as spontaneous ‘mob attack’, Foreign Minister Bob Carr said on Thursday.

U.S. stocks inched up to a new high on Wednesday as investors got their first look at the new Apple iPhone and turned their attention to Thursday's Federal Reserve policy statement.

Former university mates of Opposition leader Tony Abbott are not surprised of his aggressive behaviour in Parliament today, particularly against women and gays. A fellow female student at Sydney University, who won over Mr Abbott as president of the Students Representative Council, was quoted in a political essay of her unpleasant experience then with the losing candidate.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is steady this morning after an overseas session that was positive following the German Constitutional Court (GCC) allowing the ratification of the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) to pass conditionally.

While seeking tougher laws to battle Twitter trolls which he experienced, NRL star Robbie Farah himself made a similar offending tweet in 2011 to Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

New Zealanders are now having second thoughts of jumping over to Australia to find work as dreams of an improved life could very well be nipped in the bud by the resource-rich nation's slowing mining activities.

Yes, prices of the safe haven yellow metal gold could possibly hit $2,000 per ounce, or more, in the shorter term as the precious metals gets scarce and rare to access on dwindling global production.

The Malaysian Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MoSTI) have declared to continue holding public fora in and outside the area where the rare earths processing plant of Australian miner Lynas Corp is located despite the temporary operating license (TOL) already having been released to the latter.

New South Wales' Division of Local Government has classified carbon credits to be in the same league as financial products, in effect saying carbon trading is as risky for local councils to trade in.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has risen through USD1.0400 with currency markets sensing the FOMC will announce a third round of quantitative easing tomorrow night amidst news Moody's may consider downgrading America's credit rating.

The federal government is planning to ban the super trawler, Abel Tasman, from fishing in Australian waters for two years under new laws proposed the last minute by Environment Minister Tony Burke.

As with any other proposition lies the advantage and disadvantage of it.Queensland, in a bid to hit its target of a A$1.6 billion ($1.66 billion) in extra revenue as well as reclaim its AAA credit rating, announced on Tuesday plans to raise the royalty on coal beginning October.

South Korea and Greenland have forged on a deal that will aid the exploitation of rare earths as well as other strategic metals.

India will soon foray into rare earths mining as it targets to open by December its 10,000 tonnes capacity monazite processing plant in the eastern state of Odisha.

Spot prices of iron ore jumped like crazy on Monday after Beijing announced over the weekend it would embark on an AU$150 billion ($US157 billion) infrastructure building plan to boost domestic spending, giving iron ore miners hope for better days ahead.

Prices of wheat in the global market could further escalate in the coming months as Australia, the world's No. 2 wheat exporter, had announced cuts in its wheat production forecast for the 2012/13 crop marketing year.

Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Sunday that global uncertainties remain a serious concern for Australia’s economic policy managers but insisted that the robust domestic economy serves as a firm firewall against the challenges ahead.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is relatively unchanged this morning following a night of lacklustre trade in the currency markets.

The Court of Appeals of Malaysia had upheld a decision by a High Court judge wherein the latter ruled that the opposing residents to the presence of the rare earths processing plant of Australian miner Lynas Corp in Kuantan should first appeal to the proper venue before bringing the matter to the High Chambers.

After its earth-shaking announcement in August that it is scraping its $30 billion expansion plans into the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine mega project in South Australia, BHP Billiton has consequently dropped related purchases of exploration rights surrounding the area of the dam.

Coal miners in resource-rich nation Australia, in the midst of a mining slowdown, have slashed down 900 jobs just this week alone.

Facebook and other social media sites are likely to jeopardise the operations of Aussie Diggers in Afghanistan, according to a new government review that assessed the impact of popular social networking websites to the country’s Afghan Mission.

Setting aside a longstanding territorial dispute, Japan and Russia have forged ahead to continue building a $7 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Vladivostok spurred by Asia's growing demand for the chilled fuel.