POLITICS & POLICY

Shares of Newcrest Mining Ltd., one of Australia's largest gold producer and a global top 10 gold mining company, have jumped during early Tuesday trading despite reporting poor gold output in the last full financial year.

China vowed to continue implementing its regulation policies on the mining and exporting of its rare earths as it remained unperturbed by the panel that the World Trade Organisation (WTO) said it will create to look into the complaints lodged by the U.S., European Union and Japan.

Upbeat earnings from Boeing and Caterpillar helped the Dow industrials rise for the first day in four. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 58.73 points, or 0.5%, to 12676.05. The blue-chip benchmark had fallen at least 100 points in each of the previous three sessions.

Qantas Airways is currently in discussions with Dubai-based Emirates, according to reports, which could soon allow Australia’s flag carrier to set up a hub in the key Middle East city to be used as springboard for its European flights.

The amount of rare earths legally mined and shipped from China had dropped by 42.7 per cent in the first six months of the year versus a year ago, spurred by the persistent and rampant smuggling in the country, aggravating concerns that Beijing's overall exports of the precious metal elements could further dive this year.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is a US cent higher, compared to the same time yesterday, currently trading just above USD1.0300 as risk assets, including the AUD were back in favor, at least early on in the trading session.

Australian troops could soon be deployed in the Philippines for ‘quick stops’ with the approval on Tuesday of the defence pact between Canberra and Manila, which outlines the rules that will govern the Diggers’ visit in the island republic.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has insisted that opinion polls were not the central focus of her government, reasserting too her earlier declaration that the Australian Labor Party will be led to the general election in 2013 by the incumbent Labor leader.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar is slightly weaker this morning following a further deterioration in sentiment due in the main to an increase in risk aversion with Spanish sovereign bond markets remaining very unstable.

The Dow slid to its third straight triple-digit point decline as poor corporate-earnings underscored growth worries and concerns mounted about Greece's ability to pay its debts.

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.