POLITICS & POLICY

Consumers and kibitzers can't wait for the day to finish and for the clock to strike 7pm in a mad dash to Australia's first nationwide online sale,Click Frenzy. But financial experts warned the frenzied clicking could do more damage than good to one's finances later on.

After pleading guilty to earlier allegations on illegal betting on rival horses two years, Australian champion jockey Damien Oliver has finally received his verdict that suspends him from participating in any racing contests for 10 months.

Former party leaders Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull have insisted that current leadership set ups both in Labor and Liberal-National Coalition are not issues with them, seemingly contented at the moment to abide by the prevailing caucus flow.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average staged a triple-digit advance Monday, as investors rooted for signs of a compromise in Washington on the impending fiscal cliff. The Dow industrials climbed 160 points, or 1.3%, to 12748 in afternoon trading. Friday, it had risen 46 points to snap a four-session losing streak, although the blue-chip benchmark has lost ground for four consecutive weeks

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has rallied on positive sentiment overnight amidst hopes the US will avoid their "fiscal cliff".

Organizers and some 200 retail participants into the first cyber flash sale Click Frenzy are all agog making last minute detailed preparations in anticipation of an online mob going bargain hunting on Tuesday evening beginning 7pm AEDT.

Since the GFC investors have become accustomed to political inertia at pivotal moments when bipartisanship or farsighted initiatives are required. The matter of the 'Fiscal Cliff' is another inflection point in this regard. When pressed, most commentators would agree that the situation will be resolved to avert a crisis

Australian seismologists have developed and released a new National Earthquake Hazard Map of Australia, which identified the areas of Moe in Victoria, York and Kirwan in Western Australia as well as Tenant Creek in the Northern Territory the country's most susceptible to the natural occurrence.

A new study suggests of earth’s mercury further rising by four degrees at the turn of the current, which according to the World Bank would lead to catastrophic events mostly affecting low-lying countries and their poverty-stricken inhabitants.

The state government of West Australia has finally given the green approval to the proposed $30 billion Browse gas project of Woodside Petroleum, despite green groups denouncing the project as an "environmental disaster" waiting in the offing.

Shares of debt riddled Billabong International jumped 13 per cent to 84 cents per share in early trading on Monday after the Australian surf wear retailer announced that the head of its Americas unit had offered to help stage a buyout of the company.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has maintained her popularity over her Coalition foe, Tony Abbott, by clocking 51 per cent as the nation’s preferred prime minister, the latest Fairfax Media-Newspoll survey showed on Monday.

Stocks posted their biggest daily gain Friday since the U.S. presidential election, after lawmakers said budget talks with the White House were "constructive." The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 45.93 points, or 0.4%, to 12588.31, reversing a morning slide of as much as 71 points.

Risk assets lost ground in Friday's European session, only to recover in US trade on optimism that fiscal cliff negotiations are progressing after US politicians met at the White House. Further Greece concerns and disappointing US industrial production numbers had seen risk sold off in European and early US trade.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is trading back in the mid 1.0300's this morning as talks in the US concerning the "fiscal cliff" offered some encouragement that a compromise will be reached between Republicans and Democrats.

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.