POLITICS & POLICY

The Australian Labor Party may have kicked out embattled MP Craig Thomson from its caucus and the Coalition is not touching the former Health Services Union (HSU) official with a ten-foot pole. However, Zoe Arnold believes Mr Thomson is innocent of the charges against the legislator, including using HSU credit cards for the services of prostitutes.

The fight is over between the Australian government and former Guantanamo Bay prisoner David Hicks because the office of the public prosecution director dropped off the case against the self-confessed al Qaeda trainee.

Hacking activist group Anonymous admitted on Tuesday that it was responsible for the attacks that took down at least 10 websites being maintained by the Queensland state government over the weekend.

Australian iron ore miner Northern Iron has just received a revised and improved takeover bid from Indian conglomerate Aditya Birla Group, which has prompted investors of the miner to rejoice over the latest development.

The cash handouts delivered by Labor starting this July failed to hit the mark as the party continues to lag behind the Coalition in the latest Newspoll survey, its primary vote sinking deeper at 28 per cent.

More information is the key for the federal government of Australia to reverse the voter dislike for the carbon tax, a study by the Climate Institute said.

The Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday has created a panel that will effectively kick off the investigation into the mounting rare earths debate lodged by the U.S., European Union and Japan against China.

Stirred up by the ongoing scuffle among the four economic leaders U.S., European Union, Japan and China plus the persisting reality that alternative suppliers are hard to come by, the two Koreas are mulling a joint development cooperation to mine rare earth metals in the North.

Shares in troubled surfwear retailer Billabong International jumped by more than 20 per cent on Tuesday after news that US private equity firm TPG had presented a second takeover offer bid of $695 million.

Oil and gas giant Chevron Corp. has hit another pay dirt when its exploration well made another natural gas discovery in the Gorgon area off the coast of Western Australia.

U.S. stocks pared triple-digit losses after stumbling Monday as worries about Europe's fiscal health flared back up, pushing U.S. Treasury yields to new lows and boosting the dollar earlier.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Overnight the AUD fell below USD1.0300; currently trading at USD1.0260, as concerns regarding the stability of Europe once again plague the markets.

With the reality that it hosts seven of the world's 10 major liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, it is no remote idea that Australia could very well become the world's LNG hub by 2020.

A New York City-based non-governmental organization found that most of the world's polluted places or those exposed to dangerous levels of toxic chemic are found in Asia, with the Soviet Union having the most and experiencing the worst ill effects.

The Gillard Government remains adamant that it will realise a budget surplus by 2013 despite a new report that suggested a likely cooling down of the Australian economy in the immediate aftermath of the ongoing mining boom.

It may just be a simple corporate realignment of priorities, but Australia's mining unions are worried that the programmed job cuts by global miner Rio Tinto PLC could create a ripple effect in the country's mining sector.

It may just be a simple corporate realignment of priorities, but Australia's mining unions are worried that the programmed job cuts by global miner Rio Tinto PLC could create a ripple effect in the country's mining sector.

Australia's grocery giant Woolworths Ltd. on Monday reported a positive jump in its full-year sales figures, lifted by a corresponding leap in its fourth quarter sales.

A Labor win in Melbourne and the national police clearing her office of any involvement over the leaked Kevin Rudd video clip were definitely good kicks to start a new week for Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

India's JSW Energy, a subsidiary of the JSW Group, is eyeing possible coal mine acquisitions overseas, including Australia, as part of efforts to maintain operations despite a prevailing domestic coal supply shortage.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar has retreated from its recent highs over 1.0400 to begin trading this week in the mid 1.0300's as news from Europe continued to dominate the financial headlines.

With her current shareholding and involvement in Network Ten and Fairfax Media, Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman, would pass a proposed new media regulatory regime, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy said on Sunday.

Risk assets had a tough session on Friday on deepening Spanish debt concerns. Safe-haven assets performed well with gains for the US dollar, Japanese yen and gold.

Without flexing a muscle, Kevin Rudd hits the news again and his increasing media mileage lately seems to translate into higher support within Labor caucus, which could signal his return as party leader and prime minister.

Australian regulators simply handed down a huge financial windfall to SingTel Optus in green lighting the telco's $800-million deal with NBN Co, which will soon lead to the progressive retirement of Optus' hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC) network in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney.

It won't be long before the Chinese yuan, or renminbi, becomes Asia's regional currency, what with the number of trade transactions using China's currency as preferred mode of financial settlement.

It was a very painful, not to mention, a very steep price to pay. Australia has now become a laughing stock that after awarding a $34 million subsidy for Ford Australia and expecting 300 jobs in return, the complete opposite happened when the automaker announced its 440 job cuts earlier this week.

Global Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto PLC will be conducting a manpower downsizing at its Clermont mine in Queensland, Australia, set off by a double whammy rising domestic costs and continued lower world prices in the Asian market.

Debt-riddled Australian media company Nine Entertainment Co had gotten another potential bidder, this time for a A$3 billion ($3.1 billion) buyout by one of the world's largest private equity groups, TPG.