POLITICS & POLICY

After months of searching for a potential taker, BHP Billiton has finally divested from its diamond business for a bargain price of $500 million to diamond-miner and jewelry-retailer Harry Winston Diamond Mines Ltd.

Home Depot led a rally in stocks tied to consumers' discretionary spending, leading U.S. stock benchmarks higher and fueled optimism about the U.S. housing market.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has risen on improved sentiment regarding Greece's debt situation.

The visibility of the total solar eclipse in Cairns, Queensland in Australia had been a much anticipated event for "umbraphiles," or those who travel across the world to chase eclipses. Click on the accompanying slideshow to see some 10 of the best solar eclipse photos uploaded to Instagram during and right after the eclipse.

In view of the continuous decline in Coalition leader Tony Abbott's approval rating from Australian voters, the Liberals have urged him to change tactics. They believe he should focus on promoting his vision for the country rather than merely criticising the federal government led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Julia Gillard is surging and Tony Abbott is dipping. This, essentially, is the picture painted by the latest Newspoll survey, the results of which were published on Tuesday by The Australian.

Global miner BHP Billiton is facing a two-week work stoppage at its Illawarra Coal Appin Mine unit as some 50 supervisors demand for an 18 per cent increase in their pay.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the world's largest bank in terms of profitability, market capitalisation and customer deposits, has recently opened its first Melbourne branch.

Extreme urgency has been stamped on Australia to iron out a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Korea before the years ends as the country's beef industry could stand to lose some $13 million in 2013 as the tariff disparity with competing US beef widens in international markets.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Aussie opens marginally higher in a quiet overnight session. In Australia, a lack of domestic data and the US Veterans Day holiday saw minor moves across markets overnight.

The silver bullet that could probably end Coalition leader Tony Abbott's ambition to be Australian's next prime minister was likely fired several weeks ago when different powerful females accused him of misogyny. The impact of that silver bullet is now being felt as the latest Newspoll result said that Mr Abbott's voter support has plummeted at its lowest level in three years. The survey said 63 per cent of respondents are not satisfied with Mr Abbott's performance while only 27 per ...

Stocks drifted higher in light trading volume on a bond-trading holiday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 28 points, or 0.2%, to 12844 in afternoon trading. Its rise of 61 points from the session's low of 12783 follows the worst weekly performance for the blue-chip benchmark in more than five months, and the Dow's third-straight weekly decline.

Australian military troops are eyeing to participate in the Philippines' annual "Balikatan" or "shoulder-to-shoulder" training exercises with the US forces, the former's Department of National Defense (DND) announced over the weekend.

Christmas could come in cheery for Australia's state of South Australia as grain harvest in the region is predicted to rake in some $1.8 billion next month.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard is embracing the digital age, declaring on Monday that her government will ramp up efforts to increase telecommuting in Australia, which is in line with the $37 billion national broadband network (NBN) rollout.

U.S President Barack Obama is headhunting following clear indications that prominent members of his cabinet would opt out for a second run at the White House in the wake of their boss’ rousing victory last week.

China is unfairly portrayed as the epicentre of global piracy, a top Chinese official said on Sunday, insisting that there was a misconception and Western media firms are to blame.

As you know, what this country needs is real stimulus...not phoney stimulus. It needs to put more resources in the hands of the productive sector of the economy...not more money in the hands of the zombies.

With only two days left before the big event, a Cairns supplier of solar eclipse glasses is stocking up on his wares as he sees business to go pleasantly haywire on Wednesday.

People who wish to see the amazing two-minute solar eclipse have started gathering on the far north of Queensland. On November 14, shortly after dawn at 6:30am, the Australian sky will grow darker as the moon passes in front of the sun. Without any weather disturbance, the sky-gazers will witness a black disk in the sky with the sun’s shining halo surrounding it.

The Coalition’s defense spokesman dismissed the suggestions of his colleagues that Australia should think about acquiring nuclear submarines in replacement of the Collins-class subs. Senator David Johnston responded to reports about the senior coalition MPs claim that buying or leasing Virginia-class attack submarines, armed with conventional weapons including cruise missiles, would be backed-up by the Obama administration.

Are you a solar eclipse watcher fanatic who wants to see this year's celestial phenomenon in Australia but unfortunately can't fly to Down Under because of varied seasons? There's still good news for you because Slooh Space Camera will broadcast a free, real-time feed of the stunning total solar eclipse live from Cairns, Australia.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is trading close to the 1.0400 level after a fairly tight trading range on Friday night as markets evaluate the likelihood there will be some agreement before the "fiscal cliff" in the US is reached in January 2013.

Blue-chip stocks ended flat after a seesaw trading day Friday but were lower for the week, as investors hit the brakes on the selloff that followed the presidential election and turned their attention to the outlook for fiscal negotiations. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 4.07 points higher, less than 0.1%, to 12815.39, but posted its biggest weekly loss since the week ended Oct. 12.

Climate Change Minister Greg Combet declared that Australia’s pledge to the second period of the Kyoto Protocol is not a blank check. Australia is set to sign on the second Kyoto Protocol commitment period with the order that developed and still developing countries exert effort towards a new global climate change agreement by 2015.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton remains keen on stepping down from her post despite efforts by re-elected President Barack Obama to keep the high-profile cabinet official as a member of his second-term team.

Young Pakistani Malala Yousufzai could soon be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize if the British government heeded calls for the fearless education advocate to be elevated among laureates of the prestigious award.

A total solar eclipse is expected to briefly envelope Cairns in darkness on Wednesday. Total eclipse chasers around the world will be gathering in this Far North Queensland city in Australia for the grand astronomical event.

A day after it was finally cleared to move forward its Malaysian rare earths processing plant, Australian miner Lynas Corp. is now rushing to gather at least $200 million to jumpstart the facility.