POLITICS & POLICY

More Queensland public workers' jobs are at stake after the state government defined what a frontline job is. To enjoy job stability, public servants in the state must spend at least 75 per cent of their working hours in direct interaction with the public in person or by phone.

BlueScope Steel, Australia's largest steelmaker, on Monday announced it is poised to create a $1.4 billion joint venture with Japan's Nippon Steel Corp., after agreeing to sell half of its coated products operations also to the latter for $US540 million.

Shareholders of Newcrest Mining Ltd are in for good news after the gold miner reported on Monday achieving a $1.12 billion profit for the year to June 30, its second year in a row.

Industry kibitzers are abuzz with combined anxiety, excitement and speculation after a report over the weekend revealed that Westfield Group (WDC) and its offshoot Westfield Retail Trust have divorced from AMP Capital after 50 years of blended bliss enveloping shopping centres with a combined $6 billion worth.

As the number of asylum seekers ballooned to more than 600 in August alone, a political solution on the matter remains elusive as the Coalition reiterated on Monday its opposition to the Malaysian component of the border protection stand off.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar continued its firm tone this morning on the expectation there will be more bank stimulus in the US, ECB & China.

Stocks rallied into Friday's close, with the S&P 500 capping its longest streak of gains since late 2010, as investors shrugged off an unexpected drop in China's trade surplus. The Dow Jones Industrial average rose 42.76 points, or 0.3%, to 13207.95

The wife of a prominent Chinese politician, former Politburo member Bo Xilai, has admitted that she conspired with an aide to poison a British businessman in November 2011 for fear that the latter was a threat to her son, a report by China’s foremost news agency said on Thursday.

The Australian High Court affirmed the conviction of a man earlier sent to jail for authoring an e-book self-help manual that details steps on alleged terror activities such as bomb making and assassination.

The 457 work visas programme extended to foreign skilled workers are not in any way meant to fill jobs meant for the Australians, a new study revealed.

Apart from the trading platform it launched to monitor prices of rare earths in the global market, China has proposed to institute a national pricing system for the precious metals that is target for implementation in September.

Ironic that for its name, Iron Ore Holdings seem to be more interested acquiring coking coal related assets than those in the iron ore business.

A Chinese firm has signed into a cooperation deal to jointly develop a gold mine and two iron ore mines in North Korea.

Gindalbie Metals, the company that discovered the Lodestone iron ore deposit, has put up for sale the 1.5 billion tonne magnetite resource, a report by Deal Journal Australia said.

Stocks closed little changed, with the S&P 500 ending slightly higher in mixed trading for its fifth straight gain, the longest streak since March. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index added 0.58 point, or less than 0.1%, to 1402.80. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 10.45 points, or 0.1%, to 13165.19, and the Nasdaq Composite Index added 7.39 points, or 0.25%, to 3018.64.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: A quiet night of trade and subdued risk appetite capped gains for the Australian Dollar overnight.

The Australian Navy rescued on Thursday 211 asylum seekers on Christmas Island. The vessel crew initially contacted the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on late Wednesday night due to engine problem.

In a script deal worth $150 million, Regis Resources has acquired one of the largest gold discoveries in New South Wales over the past decade, the McPhillamys gold project.

Japan, with only two working nuclear power plants, has discharged a record high amount of carbon dioxide in the year ended March 31 as it relied on crude and fuel oil to support its energy requirements.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has reaffirmed commitment by the government of slicing the country’s corporate tax to further encourage investment inflows, promote higher production and prompt wage growth.

The Coalition can continue blaming the carbon tax for the spiralling cost of electricity in Australia but Prime Minister Julia Gillard is bent on employing federal weight to prod state authorities into definite actions that would bring down households’ energy burden.

Australia's job unemployment rate has improved in July, inching up to 5.2 per cent from 5.3 per cent in June, defying analysts' projections of 5.4 per cent. The improvement corresponded to a total of 14,000 new jobs in July, versus projections of 10,000.

An estimated sixty percent of the Philippine capital is still submerged in floodwaters as a result of incessant monsoon downpour lasting over a week. The government and several aid agencies are rushing to help those badly affected by the unstoppable Habagat (wet season monsoon).

Hacking activist group Anonymous vowed to exact revenge on the Ukrainian government for its ongoing efforts to crackdown on the global operation of popular torrent file sharing site Demonoid.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is in the headlines again, this time for its Wednesday announcement of a $1.6 billion quarterly loss in its fiscal fourth quarter following the writedown of its global publishing empire.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The AUD had a relatively quiet offshore session last night and remains relatively range bound this morning.

China has formally unveiled on Wednesday a physical trading platform for rare earth metals.

The shortage of skilled manpower in Australia's iron ore sector has been seen to improve.

India's largest power producer, NTPC Ltd., (NTPC), will be carrying this month an international $1 billion bond sale to help support the company's capacity expansion plans in light of the electricity crisis that hit country last week.