Despite the tax authorities' high-profile campaign against tax evasion, the country has recorded a 20 percent spike on tax offenses, according to the latest report issued by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
The gloomy scenario of the world's rare earth metals (REM) industry, compounded by a shrinking supply and expensive market prices, have pushed consumers to scout alternative materials to aid their respective manufacturing activities that mostly rely on the precious REM.
Australia's Labor government will increase the yearly intake of refugees to 20,000 from 13,750. However, the almost 50 per cent hike would be based on the condition that the refugees are processed offshore.
Aggressive behavior being displayed by labor unions could soon hurt the overall economic situation in Western Australia, according to Rio Tinto chief executive Tom Albanese.
The Australian sharemarket is kicking off the new trading week a touch higher with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.5 pct or 23 pts to 4369.3. All sectors are higher with the exception of the utilities which are a touch lower at lunch.
Qantas unions have secured the support of the Labor Party to strengthen the Qantas Sales Act. The party backed the motion filed by Transport Workers Union (TWU) Federal Secretary Tony Sheldon to keep majority ownership, operation and governance of Qantas in Australia.
After acquiring a 10 per cent stake in a rare earth metals (REM) mine project in South Africa with Canada's Frontier Rare Earths Ltd., Korea Resources Corporation (KORES) of South Korea advanced further to increase its stake allocation to 30 per cent in the Zandkopsdrift project.
Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd rejected suggestions that Prime Minister Julia Gillard was deliberately taking away the good deeds that his government had achieved while Australia was in the middle of a severe financial crunch in 2008.
Amidst fierce opposition mounted by her party's Left bloc, Prime Minister Julia Gillard mustered enough vote from her Australian Labor Party colleagues on Sunday to push through with her proposal of selling uranium to India.
Bell FX Currency Outlook:
The Australian Dollar has held its gains from last week, to open up this morning above 1.0200, after the release of US employment data on Friday evening that was close to market expectations.
From Craig James, Commsec Chief EconomistUS non-farm payrolls (employment) rose by 120,000 in November, in line with market expectations. Private payrolls rose by 140,000, the jobless rate fell from 9.0pct to a 2-1/2 year low of 8.6pct and average earnings fell by 0.1pct.
From Morrison Securities:
U.S. stocks finished barely changed in Friday's session to cap a strong week after the U.S. unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped and European leaders and central bankers redoubled efforts to tackle the sovereign-debt crisis.
It is in times of doubt and uncertainty that the human spirit can certainly do more than survive-it can thrive.
The Australian sharemarket managed to rise for the fifth consecutive day today with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 1.4 pct or 58.2 pts to 4346.3. Almost all sectors improved with Information Technology (I.T) stocks the only exceptions. This week the market improved by close to 7 pct. This was in stark contrast to the 4.5 pct pullback which took place last week.
International sanctions mounted against Iran with the European Union slapping asset freeze and travel ban on 39 individuals and 141 companies from the country on Thursday to counter Tehran's alleged clandestine efforts to build a nuclear bomb.
More than 30 years after its was formally recognised as a deadly pandemic and following millions of lives it claimed along the way, AIDS, according to U.S. President Barack Obama can be overcome by the collective efforts of mankind.
The Bank of Korea, South Korea's central bank, for the second time this year, raised its holdings of gold in November as part of measures to diversify its portfolio of foreign exchange reserves. In a statement on Friday, the Bank of Korea said it purchased 15 tonnes of gold for $850 million in November, four months after it bought an initial 25 tonnes for $1.24 billion between June and July, its first over a span of 13 years.
You know what they say: the bigger they are, the harder they fall.
Former New South Wales Minister Ian Macdonald admitted to the independent Commission Against Corruption on Thursday that he spent two hours with a sex trade worker at a top Sydney hotel.
It is highly likely that come Saturday, majority members of the Australian Labor Party would throw their support behind Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who advocates for a conscience vote that will determine the ruling party's unified stand on same-sex marriage.
The Philippines has announced it would be needing at least $600 million in investment funds for its planned offering of 30 coal exploration projects.
Tanzania welcomed visiting former U.S. President George W. Bush and his wife Laura Thursday, ignoring a call by Amnesty International to arrest him for U.S. torture of suspected terrorists during his term.
Mackay Conservation Group is opposing the planned expansion of the Abbot Point coal port north of Townsville in Queensland. The group is against the increase in number of coal terminals to nine from the current three because of the impact of the expansion on waterways and communities within a 500-kilometre radius of the port.
British American Tobacco (BAT) asked Australia's High Court on Thursday to declare a plain cigarette packaging law as unconstitutional and invalid for violating its trademark.
Vietnam will slash its coal exports by 18.2 per cent next year from this year's projected shipments to 13.5 million tonnes in order to save supplies for domestic consumption in anticipation of new thermal power plants going online in the next few months.
Employees of Fremantle walked off their jobs on Friday dawn as scheduled as part of their move to improve working conditions and seek a 6 per cent salary increase over the next three years.
Amidst protestations and applause, Australia is set to strictly rein in on tobacco marketing within its borders come next year as the country imposes its plain cigarette packaging laws that aim to strip the products of their sleek images, thus giving consumers straight-forward information on the substances they puff in to their system.
Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Ltd. has succeeded in its $654-million takeover bid for Canadian uranium miner Hathor Exploration and its Roughrider uranium project after rival bidder Canadian Cameco Corp. backed out of the bidding war.
Bell FX Currency Outlook:
The Aussie dollar remained steady overnight holding onto the huge gains it made yesterday; opening around USD1.0230 this morning, up from a low of USD1.0150 during the offshore session.
From Morrison Securities:
U.S. stocks were little changed in afternoon trading Thursday, a day after a blowout rally, as headlines from Europe kept traders on the defensive but strength in the technology sector limited losses. The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 6 points, or 0.1%, to 12049 recently, shaving off a sliver of the previous session's 490-point surge.
