POLITICS & POLICY

If the question of who would be Australia's next prime minister was asked a year ago, the answer would have been obvious.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is trading at USD 1.0380 this morning. The major news was the White House / Senate 'deal', and this saw the NZD rally yet interestingly, the AUD underperformed relative to the NZD, GBP and CAD.

Like any other political figure, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard is a top target for parodies, ranging from her dancing 2012's monster hit Gangnam style to a TV programme that was based on her character.

While 2013 will be a crucial year for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard because the election result will determine if she will remain in her post or be replaced by Opposition leader Tony Abbott, 2012 was certainly a banner year for the leader of the Australian Labor Party and the country's first female prime minister.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard stressed on national unity while Opposition Leader Tony Abbott impressed upon Australians that the Coalition’s economy-centric 2013 agenda is “the positive choice.” The two leaders delivered their respective New Year’s messages Monday morning.

Days before 2012 ended, Time Magazine recognised U.S. President Barack Obama as the year's Person of the Year, indicating the global recognition of his reelection and confidence in his leadership despite the difficult year 2012 was for the United States.

Asian markets have responded to the late turnaround seen on Wall Street to post some healthy gains going into the weekend. With US President Barack Obama having reportedly cut his holiday short and returning to Washington to meet US leaders for last ditch talks, there is growing optimism that a deal can be knocked before the deadline.

Scientists from Australia have started laying down development works on what could become the world's largest and most capable radio-telescope which would see the federal government injecting at least $19 million just to put the project into reality.

Chevron Australia has unlocked more gas discoveries in the Carnarvon Basin, off Western Australia, bringing its total discovery haul to 19 just in the area alone.

Taiwan, one of the countries laying territorial claims over the islands of the South China Sea, has laid down plans to start exploring for oil and natural gas resources in the waters around Taiping Island in 2013.

A study of the activity in the South China Sea reefs had shown the coral reefs in the area greatly deteriorated at the expense of the economic growth activities in mainland China.

Financial and materials shares led U.S. stocks lower as the Senate's top Democrat warned a budget deal looks unlikely and a reading on consumer confidence tumbled. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 131 points, or 1%, to 12984 in mid-afternoon trading, dipping below 13000 for the first time since Dec. 5.

Retail therapy may be slow and down, but credit card transactions during the 2012 Boxing Day Sales nonetheless have increased by as much as 30 per cent for the National Australia Bank, it said on Thursday.

China's biggest rare earths producer, Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech, declared middle of this week it will continue to extend its self-imposed production suspension of firing, smelting and separating of rare earths to another month, spurred by the continued dropping prices of the precious commodities in the world market.

Mark Zuckerberg’s sister and Facebook co-founder, Randi, expressed her disappointment when a personal family photo she posted exclusively for her friends was shared to the public in another social networking site “Twitter.”

Warren Richard Rodwell, an Australian national kidnapped by the Philippine extremist Group Abu Sayyaf in 2011, has resurfaced in a video to say that he is still alive. However, he also said he has lost faith in the system of his government and whatever rescue efforts, if at all, are being made for his release.

It won't be long, but the tradition of the mad dash for the Boxing Day Sales could become a thing of the past. For one, counterpart Web sites of retailers that participated in the annual discounted selling spree had laid down their wares much earlier as Australians get all the more hooked on online shopping.

After a fairly steady Asian session, risk assets declined through European and US trade ahead of the Christmas break. Market participants also remained concerned about the fiscal cliff negotiations, which we expect to get further leads on when Republicans reconvene later today.

For the first time, Prince Harry has reportedly killed a Taliban chief in Afghanistan. The Royal Prince, who is an Apache pilot, released a missile strike to eradicate the terrorist leader in the late of October.

Beleaguered Australian retailer Billabong International Ltd. has opened its financial books to a new takeover suitor group led by former Billabong director and president of its American business, Paul Naude, and his backers, Sycamore Partners Management and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The consortium offered a takeover approach of $1.10 cash per Billabong share or roughly $526.8 million.

The world, especially those who live along the coastal areas, either evacuate this early or arm themselves with better and definitive actions concerning their homes and sources of livelihood as a recent study released over the weekend showed the ice sheet off the western part of Antartica is warming faster than earlier projected, and that sea water level forebodingly rising is not only a threat but could be the inevitable scenario in the very near future.

Scientists from the West Australian Department of Fisheries are looking into the odds that the rising high temperature of the sea waters in the state are what caused sharks to swim near the shore and eventually attack humans.

Both Australian retailers and shoppers alike are gearing up for a busy and frenzy Boxing Day post-Christmas sales middle of this week.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has opened a full cent lower this morning from Friday's levels as the hopes of reaching a compromise on the fiscal cliff issue in the US before the end of the year were dashed.

Exports of rare earths by the world's stronghold of the precious gem, China, will remain relatively unchanged for 2013.

The northern part of Queensland state in Australia could be in for a possible tsunami threat after a group of researchers discovered a collapsing sea floor at the Great Barrier Reef.

It was more than a spike in sales that they could have projected, at the expense of those killed during last Friday's Sandy Hook shooting massacre. Manufacturers of bulletproof backpacks specially designed to cater to children's sizes and needs have reported booming sales as parents continue to get anxious over the welfare of their children a week after a 20-year-old alleged mentally deranged man opened fire and killed 26 people in Connecticut, United States.

Dropping the budget surplus vow was “betrayal of public trust,” as insisted by the Coalition but Treasurer Wayne Swan maintained that embracing economic reality is the best way to handle the domestic setting.

Shopping towards this year's Christmas countdown has proven to be beneficial, as economy-wide spending spiked in November by as much as 2.2 per cent.