POLITICS & POLICY

It's that merry season again where people splurge and shop for gifts either to give to others or to oneself. And as the number of Australians set to go online shopping will double this year, according to security technology company McAfee, it would be best to keep a mind or two whenever the urge to use that smartphone and tablet comes up to shop online.

The revolving door spins anew as Japan will once again search for a new prime minister following the dissolution of the Diet’s (the Japanese parliament) lower house on Friday.

Mike Smith, chief executive of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., remained Australia's top paid banker as he netted a $10 million annual pay for the 2012 financial year.

Good news and bad news. RailCorp will be split-up into two operators effective July 1, 2013 is the good news. The bad news is 700 jobs will be affected by the separation.

Effective Friday night of Nov 16, a vast portion of the oceans surrounding Australia, 2.3 million square kilometres to be exact, will become part of the country's marine reserves.

Ford Australia, as part of an announcement made in July, has pushed through on Friday its workforce reduction, in which more than 200 workers from its Victorian plants in Geelong and Broadmeadows eventually lost their jobs.

U.S. STOCK MARKETSU.S. blue chips pared their declines Thursday afternoon but remained in the red, hurt by middling economic data and global political uncertainty. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 42 points, or 0.3%, to 12529.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is lower after reports of large currency sales by the Reserve Bank of Australia and weak global market performances.

South Australia failed on Wednesday to decriminalise prostitution due to the lack of one vote. The state Parliament's lower house vote 20-19 in favour of retaining the present law on sex trade.

On November 17, the Leonid meteor shower will be visible under the dark skies with estimated 10-15 meteors per hour during its peak at 3 a.m. EST. Viewers should pick a nice spot in order to witness the rare event as the meteor shower shoot across the skies of Florissant, Waukee and Chicago.

The privatisation sell off of the power stations in New South Wales have been approved to go, with the state government expecting the scheme would generate $3 billion enough to finance transport, school and hospital projects across the state.

Australia and New Zealand have extended the duration trial of the criminal history information sharing scheme, which benefits employers in Queensland and New Zealand, to until July 2013.

Australia's largest listed grain trader, GrainCorp Ltd., announced on Thursday it has junked the A$2.7 billion ($2.8 billion) takeover approach by U.S.-based Archer Daniel Midlands Co. (ADM), saying the cash offer of $11.75 per share "materially undervalues" the company.

U.S. stocks stumbled toward a fresh three-month low as growing political concerns in the U.S. and European economic weakness offset gains in some technology shares. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 110 points, or 0.9%, to 12647 in afternoon trading Wednesday. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index lost nine points, or 0.7%, to 1365, and the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite shed 15 points, or 0.5%, to 2869.

Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp. has announced that the second legal action filed by the Save Malaysia Stop Lynas group against its processing plant facility in Malaysia had been shelved off by the Kuantan High Court. But for some reason, shares of the rare earths miner continued to tumble on Thursday.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Australian Dollar takes a tumble as risk appetite wanes and followed the lead of equity markets overnight.

Historians through the years have argued that the Civil War decided, once and for all, the issue of whether states could secede from the union, but that hasn't stopped a growing number of Americans from entertaining the notion these days.

As Australia and the United States refocus their priorities toward Asia, Washington will move a powerful radar to Australia from Antigua and a space telescope under a bilateral space deal between the two nations.

The U.S. appears supportive of the security policies outlined by the Australian government, including its recent decision to slash billions in defence budget spending, which is part of the Gillard government’s ongoing efforts to realise a surplus in early 2013.

As expected, activists in Malaysia opposed to the presence of Lynas Corp.'s rare earths processing plant continued to rally on their disagreement, filing for yet again a second application to prevent the Australian miner from using its temporary operating license to fire up the plant in Kuantan.

China's Shanghai Zhongfu Group could be awarded rights to rights to develop the second stage of the Ord East Kimberley Expansion project in Western Australia, The Australian said in unconfirmed reports on Wednesday.

Millions of Crown of Thorns starfish have been found looming around in the central portion of the Great Barrier Reef, threatening to wipe out potential growing and multiplying presence of beautiful corals.

To say it was a sight to behold was more than an understatement. Chasers of the Australian total solar eclipse were merely speechless of the natural phenomenon that occurred on Wednesday.

In Cairns and Port Douglas, thousands of spectators who lined up the shores applauded and burst into tears after experiencing darkness for two minutes with the extraordinary total solar eclipse.

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.