Erik Pineda

Sexy and sleek smartphones are on the horizon and the rush is on to sell that old handset as consumers try to recoup some cash that will add up to the fund for their next gadget buy.

Many of the green-on-blue attacks on NATO forces serving in Afghanistan could be the direct handiworks of Taliban insurgents, according to a U.S. marine general supervising the operations of coalition troops in the war-torn country.

Former mobile phones leader Nokia remains a king on its own right, but its current fiefdom appears not large enough for the struggling firm to reverse flagging fortunes, reports said.

Tasmania currently holds the unwanted distinction as the cigarette epicentre of Australia and if state authorities would have their way, they would want not only to erase that image but also to create a generation of non-smoking Tasmanians.

Australian legislators called for an independent probe Wednesday to sort out allegations that the senior executives of the country’s central bank tried to cover up the note-printing scandals that rocked the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) in mid-2009.

Chinese assemblers of iPhones and iPads now work a reduced average of 60 hours each week, according to the update report released Tuesday by Washington-based Fair Labor Association (FLA).

Prime Minister Julia Gillard was completely clueless of the alleged nefarious activities of her former partner, then Australian Workers Union boss Bruce Wilson, 17 years ago. Mr. Wilson, on the other hand, claims that they were backed by her former employers at Slater & Gordon law firm.

Tony Abbott is convinced he is a ‘modern man’ as he parried accusations from Labor ministers that he behaves quite differently when dealing with female colleagues at the Parliament.

Telstra Corporation has listed 651 jobs on its axing sight, which the giant telco said on Tuesday was part of underway efforts to streamline its customer service operations across the nation.

Philippine government officials confirmed on Tuesday that the body of the country’s interior ministry chief, Jesse Robredo, has been retrieved from the wreckage of the private plane that crashed Saturday afternoon in seawaters located south central of the Philippines.

Eight months into year 2012, Apple continues to flex its shares market muscle as the tech giant gained 64 per cent in the year so far and closed its Monday exchanges at $US665.15, en route to an overall market value of $US623.5 billion.

The U.S. State Department has accused WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange of sidestepping the real issues surrounding his legal predicaments even as a key Labor figure sounded off grave concerns on the prospect of the Australian national getting a fair trial in the United States.

The Coalition plans not only to deny government funding on private schools but also slash funds accessible for public ones, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Monday.

Australia may find it hard to meet the demands of the ‘Asian Century’, this was hinted Monday by former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry in a speech before the Australian Industry Group held in Canberra.

Still in doubt that iPad Mini will be launched shortly after the anticipated issue of iPhone 5 later this year? Well investors do not have the same mindset and their firm conviction that Apple will unleash killer gadgets before 2012 ends further pushed up the tech giant’s share price.

Gu Kailai, wife of former Politburo top contender Bo Xilai, was given a suspended death sentence on Monday, concluding a brief but high-profile murder trial that China watchers said was both a political and criminal proceeding.

New Zealand suffered its first female combat kill in Afghanistan on Sunday following an attack on Humvee army convoy that was on its way back to a forward base manned by Kiwi troops in the Afghan province of Bamyan, reports said.

The latest Treasury’s admission that Australian surplus cannot be supported by current levels of federal revenues only proved that the May budget presented by Treasurer Wayne Swan was grossly unrealistic, the Coalition said.

The new Windows RT club will be mostly composed of Dell, Samsung and Lenovo, as confirmed this week by Microsoft, indicating that key PC players will roll out ARM-powered slates during the scheduled Oct 26 launch of the revamped Windows operating system.

No official confirmation from Apple is out yet, though it is widely rumoured that the next iPhone iteration will be out as early as Sept 21, at least in the North American market, sparking a frenetic race for current iPhone owners to dump their old units for some cash.

A U.S. report has cited leading tech firms, chief of them Apple, for active efforts in ensuring that products they issue in global markets were not laced with ‘blood money’.

Megaupload founder Kim Dotcom must be given access to materials that U.S. authorities plan to employ in pursuing his extradition from New Zealand, a trial court said on Thursday.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has assailed federal authorities for lack of strong resolve in handling serious border protection affairs in light of reports that the crew of a cargo ship that rescued asylum seekers off the Indonesian waters were intimidated by some of the refugees.

Samsung has officially rolled out the new Galaxy Note tablet and this time around, it is a full-sized slate and in fact a tad larger than iPad with screen size of 10.1 inches.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) hailed on Thursday what it termed as a ‘landmark’ decision handed down by the Australian High Court yesterday, which affirmed efforts by the federal government to force tobacco firms to sell their products on drab and plain packaging.

It’s best for Apple and Samsung chiefs to sit down and attempt to reach an agreement before a trial jury deliberates on their legal disputes, a U.S. court presiding over the two’s patent contest said on Wednesday.

Nokia may just unveil new handsets by the first week of September, reports said, likely jumping the gun on Apple, which earlier has strongly indicated that the latest iPhone version would hit global markets no later than the mid-part of the same month.

Etihad Airways is aggressively on the roll and its Australian CEO, James Hogan, declared on Wednesday that following its substantial holdings acquisitions on Virgin Australia and three other carriers in Europe, the airline is looking for more.

Australia barely made it to the Top 10 of the recently concluded London 2012 Olympics but Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan still rejoices with the fact that amidst the lingering financial difficulties, the domestic economy “is 10 per cent bigger,” when pitted against the other developed economies.