POLITICS & POLICY

Australia's mining boom, with its consequent manpower shortage, has forced the country to make more permanent residents of the Indian and Chinese migrants that came in the year to June, 2012, the government said on Thursday.

Victoria could be facing its biggest teachers' strike in September, a first in history.The Australian Education Union (AEU) has submitted an application with Fair Work Australia on Thursday for a protected action ballot to allow its 7,000 non-teaching support staff to join state school teachers for a 24-hour work stoppage planned for the first week of September.

Investors pushed stocks sharply higher Wednesday, erasing all of July's losses, as investors reacted to strong corporate earnings and continued hopes for central-bank intervention. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 103.16 points, or 0.81%, to 12908.70, while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index tacked on 9.11 points, or 0.67%, to 1372.78--bringing that index to within a hair of a fresh two-month high.

Australia: The AUD made a decisive push towards USD1.0400 overnight and is still holding fairly strong around USD1.0360 following a lead from offshore equity markets, a rise in commodity prices and a lack of negative developments out of Europe boosting investor optimism.

Fresnillo PLC, a Mexican precious metals miner, on Wednesday announced it remained confident of achieving the gold and silver production targets it has set for 2012, after second quarter output showed favorable results.

Ms Gillard said on Wednesday she was surprised that there "is a new low in negativity even for Mr Abbott."

While the proposed $33-billion expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine project will surely add greatly to the coffers of Roxby Downs, making it self-sufficient in the long-term, the same could not be said as far as adequate housing accommodations is concerned.

That rare earths mining firms operating in Australia as well as in the U.S., Canada and other African nations will scramble to meet the impending supply import demand of China for the precious elements is no remote possibility.

Global tech retailers sell their products in Australia with unjustifiable higher price tags when compared to other key markets, according to consumer advocate group Choice.

Downstream industries highly dependent on rare earths elements are now seeking substitutes by way of sythetically producing the material.

A heavy rare earths bearing mineral eudialyte, which could later on produce the rare earths elements yttrium and zirconium, has been positively confirmed discovered outside of Matamec's Kipawa heavy rare earth deposit in Quebec, Canada.

Overnight European market closed slightly lower after a weak business confidence report out of Germany. In the U.S. the stock markets moved higher, while gold and metal prices sold off. Overnight the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. economy was weak but the FED did not plan on to take any further action at present to boost the economy.

A newly launched discussion paper on food security recommended that Australia be open to more foreign investors in its agriculture sector to ensure the long-term viability of domestic supply and boost food export.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar remains stronger this morning having outperformed both the EUR and NZD in the process.

Stocks shook off the Fed chief's dour view of the state of U.S. growth, reversing early losses on hopes central bankers might be forced to come to the economy's aid. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 78.33 points, or 0.6%, to 12805.54.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the third straight day today, something which hasn't happened since the end of last month. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 0.8 pct or 32.1 pts to 4175.3. Despite the gains, investors continued to be uninterested in markets, with yet another quiet session when it comes to the number and value of shares exchanging hands.

China, in yet another endeavor to loop-thread and consolidate its patchy rare earths mining sector, has decreased in half the approval and release of mining rights it can award to producers and mining firms.

After a decade-long battle, media giant News Ltd has finally scored a win against the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to its over more than A$2 billion ($2 billion) in tax deductions.

Victoria is facing more job cuts in the following months as automaker Ford Motors Co. on Tuesday announced it will slash more than 440 jobs at its Geelong and Broadmeadows production plants.

Is Julia Gillard facing a revolt anew? The prime minister herself dismissed the restiveness within Labor, firmly declaring that whatever challenges there were in the party had been resolved when Kevin Rudd was vanquished earlier this year.

Industrial and consumer shares led stocks lower Monday, as U.S. retail sales disappointed and investors braced for a busy week of earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 49.88 points, or 0.4%, to 12727.21, the seventh decline in eight sessions. The retreat followed a 204-point rally by blue chips Friday. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index eased 3.14 points, or 0.2%, to 1353.64.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is slightly stronger this morning after the USD lost ground following some weaker than expected Retail Sales data in the US, as well as a downgrade in global growth forecasts by the IMF.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the second consecutive trading session, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 0.6 pct or 24.9 pts to 4143.2. This is the first time this month that shares have recorded two straight days of gains. Despite the improvement, today was yet another extremely quiet day for local markets (one of the quietest sessions of the year). This was partly due to a public holiday in Japan. The Tokyo Stock Exchange is considered to be the world's fourth largest stock ex...

Another Australian business entity has been put up on sale, this time its largest integrated poultry producer, Inghams Enterprises, after weathering the corporate storms for 94 years as a private company.

Ben Linden, a 24-year-old musician and cabinet maker from Perth, is the fifth fatality of a shark attack in a WA beach in ten months. A jet-ski rider who tried to pull Linden’s body said he saw the massive shark. The shark tried to knock him off his jet ski as he tried to recover Linden's body.

Mongolia, a nation known for its vast yet largely untapped natural reserves, has earned yet another interested miner from Australia for its oil and natural gas supplies.

While a new report released on Monday acknowledges that the carbon trading scheme is needed for Australia to meet long-term targets that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it is not sufficient to cut the cost of clean technologies to generate sufficient electricity and replace coal.

Shares of Whitehaven Coal Ltd. responded positively to news of a A$5.3 billion ($5.4 billion) takeover bid by a consortium led by Australian billionaire Nathan Tinkler.

The Sri Lankan government has arrested more than 200 boat people that said to be on their way to Australia over the weekend.