POLITICS & POLICY

If the minority party in the South Australia Parliament continues its political delaying tactics, much more will be lost for the coffers of the state government, a possibly irked Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said on Thursday.

Despite Asian prices of gold declining on Thursday, Indian investors continue to believe in the psychological stabilizing effect of the yellow metal as gold buying grew 8 per cent to register an all-time high of 81.73 billion rupees, according to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).

Not all good things last. Or perhaps, some good things HAD to last.Australia may already need to create alternative options if it wants to secure the momentum of its economic growth in years to come after a new research indicated the country has saturated the economic benefits of its mining boom.

With the European debt crisis looming over the world economy, Australia must ensure that it will not replicate the financial missteps many countries in Europe have committed, says Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Gay rights advocates are supporting a bill in the Queensland Parliament that seeks to recognise same-sex unions. The bill was introduced by Deputy Premier Andrew Fraser.

Despite Australia being a prosperous nation, 11 per cent of adults in the country and 12 per cent of children live in poverty. About one million Australian children do not always have enough to eat. Efforts of Foodbank, the largest hunger relief organization in Australia, to reach these needy residents got a boost following the commitment by the Australian dairy industry to provide one million litres of milk yearly for residents in need.

As fresh concerns rose over the massive fiscal crisis that continue to cripple the eurozone particularly Italy and Greece, investors on Thursday went to a market frenzy as most cashed their investments prompting Asian gold prices to go down.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar has opened this morning fairly unchanged at USD1.0150 as worries over Europe's ability to handle its debt crisis abated somewhat.

Western Australia and BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) agreed on Thursday to increase the royalty rate for iron ore after it amended the State Agreements Acts. The deal, however, is subject to approval by the state's parliament.

There was a little bit more optimism on global markets overnight after Greece got a new Prime Minister and Italian borrowing costs stabilised. However the local share market has given up early gains to trade flat at lunchtime in the East.

Barring any possible glitches, cigarettes marketed in Australia will hit the shelves in December 2012 bearing nothing but a plain olive brown packaging and a bold health advisory meant to dissuade smokers from lighting their next stick.

U.S. President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Julia Gillard are expected to announce a bilateral agreement expanding the military relations and cooperation of the two countries when the American leader visits on Thursday.

The pilots union of Qantas airlines has challenged before the Federal Court the ruling of Fair Works Australia (FWA) banning the group from staging industrial action.

Prices in the commodities market plummeted on Thursday led by gold and copper as investor confidence tumbled on discouraging news of China's exports reaching its slowest in eight months, Greece's debt problems, Italy's mounting borrowing costs and concerns of a spread out of the eurozone problem.

More choices would be available for Australians who would subscribe to broadband services under the National Broadband Network (NBN).

From Morrison Securities Pty. Ltd. U.S. stocks rose to session highs as hopes for the beleaguered labor market and clarification about France's credit rating buoyed investor sentiment. Trading was choppy as investors earlier Thursday fretted about France's credit rating.

The Duchess of Cambridge and his father-in-law apparently shares a similar passion for the opera and regularly visits the Royal Opera House.

The Duchess' pregnancy rumors are all over the internet, and some could not help but speculate what name will they pick for the future royal heir.

Walter Isaacson has been making waves in the literary community recently for his book on the life of one of the most iconic figures of this century. Steve Jobs' biography has been on nearly every "best seller" list since it came busting through the gate.

These days, having a charity when you're a celebrity is practically mandatory.Here's a list of the top 5 celebrities who have done their part in making the world and this might surprise you: Angelina Jolie, though completely active and visible in her advocacies, is not on the list.

As many celebrities will say in interviews, they are "just like everybody else."

After Vodafone Hutchinson Australia logged a 222 per cent jump in complaints before the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman for the year with 55,600 complaints, the company announced on Thursday that it will put in place measures to improve service.

China's clampdown on its rare earths production has alarmed trading partners led by Japan, which intends to take up the issue at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum in Hawaii.

Riding on the crest of its success with the recently passed carbon pricing scheme, the Australian Green Party stepped up Wednesday its campaign of seeing through the country to be wholly functional using renewable sources of energy.

Besides carbon tax protesters who promised to make their voices heard when U.S. President Barack Obama visits Australia next week, the mother of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange will also hold a protest outside Parliament House.

Despite the controversy generated by the carbon tax, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said on Thursday that the country is now ready to take global lead on climate.

Investor focus appears to have turned from Greece to Italy, with fear gripping offshore markets overnight. US and European share markets were heavily sold off after Italian borrowing costs (10 year bond yields) rose to 7.5pct, the highest level since the Euro was launched in 1999. Any figure above 7pct is psychological because that was the level which heightened worries about Greece, Ireland and Portugal and all three countries eventually needed a bailout. The Dow Jones Index closed down 3.2pct ...

Australia's unemployment rate went down to 5.2 per cent in October, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics which released the report on Thursday.

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) housing finance figures for September 2011 show in trend terms that the number of finance commitments increased for the fifth consecutive month; the September increase was 1.2 percent.