Esther Tanquintic-Misa

A number of business retailers have cautioned Australians to double check their Christmas lights for defective wires and unusual sparks.

Wanting to have a well-diversified portfolio, Australia's Future Fund has scooped up assets in infrastructure amounting to A$2 billion (US$2.08 billion).

The Australian state of Queensland's AA1 credit rating has been downgraded from stable to negative by international ratings agency Moody's Investors Service, and is unlikely to revert any time soon to its former AAA rating.

An island off the South Pacific has been discovered to be a hoax or non-existent by a group of Australian scientists, despite being visible on marine charts and world maps, even on Google Earth.

At least 100,000 jobs will be made available in Western Australia in the next 10 years as the state surges on with growth in its minerals and energy sector.

Aluminum producer Alcoa Inc. is mulling to acquire the aluminum holdings of BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto Group to boost production requirements in anticipation of a 6.5 per cent growth in demand.

Chinese miners of rare earths are bound to receive a funding support from China's Communist Party-led government to encourage further development and upgrades in the badly performing sector recently dealt with environment problems.

A proposed management plan to save the Murray-Darling Basin after decades of degradation has finally become a decree on Thursday, with Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke affixing his signature to make the plan a final legality.

The resumption of uranium mining in Queensland could potentially earn for the state some $78 billion, Jeff Seeney, Deputy Premier and Infrastructure Minister, said on Thursday.

Jonathon O'Dea, Liberal MP for Davidson, has urged on the New South Wales Government to consider exploring the potential of nuclear power generation after the state government reported 39 expressions of interest from companies wishing to explore for uranium in the province.

Mines located in Queensland ought to brace for potential ill-effects of the impending wet season as well as ensure that their respective safety contingency plans are in place and at the same time are working.

After the meltdown came the eventual chaos, and more. Shopping retailers that participated in Click Frenzy are mulling to combine forces yet again, not to add in more products for sale this time, but to ask for proper compensation for the services the online shopping website failed to deliver.

Click Frenzy's website may have crashed due to the surge of consumers wanting to get first dibs on discounted products, and may have lost patrons along the way, but the real winners here were the retailers themselves prepared to serve online consumers.

The state of Queensland has given a conditional stamp of approval to a proposed $1.4 billion resort tourism and residential development project at Ella Bay near Innisfail, south of Cairns.

The inevitable happened. What was touted as the "online event of the year" frustrated many cyber shoppers when the website of Click Frenzy failed to run smoothly a minute after it opened shop at 7pm (AEDT) on Tuesday.

Some eleven franchisees of the Harvey Norman, a large Australian-based retailer of electrical, computer, furniture, entertainment and bedding goods, have been slapped cases by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) in the Federal Court on alleged consumer rights misrepresentation.

Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp has scheduled for December the start-up of its processing plant in Kuantan, Malaysia, executive chairman Nicholas Curtis said at the annual general meeting in Sydney on Tuesday.

Australia, along with 109 other nations, on Tuesday supported a resolution at the UN General Assembly urging for the elimination of the death penalty. The declaration is voted upon every two years by member-nations.

Consumers and kibitzers can't wait for the day to finish and for the clock to strike 7pm in a mad dash to Australia's first nationwide online sale,Click Frenzy. But financial experts warned the frenzied clicking could do more damage than good to one's finances later on.

After pleading guilty to earlier allegations on illegal betting on rival horses two years, Australian champion jockey Damien Oliver has finally received his verdict that suspends him from participating in any racing contests for 10 months.

Organizers and some 200 retail participants into the first cyber flash sale Click Frenzy are all agog making last minute detailed preparations in anticipation of an online mob going bargain hunting on Tuesday evening beginning 7pm AEDT.

Australian seismologists have developed and released a new National Earthquake Hazard Map of Australia, which identified the areas of Moe in Victoria, York and Kirwan in Western Australia as well as Tenant Creek in the Northern Territory the country's most susceptible to the natural occurrence.

The Australian economy could lose more than A$1.5 trillion ($1.55 trillion) over the next 80 years if it fails to address the soonest time possible the loopholes in its education system, an analysis distributed on Monday by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) said.

The state government of West Australia has finally given the green approval to the proposed $30 billion Browse gas project of Woodside Petroleum, despite green groups denouncing the project as an "environmental disaster" waiting in the offing.

Shares of debt riddled Billabong International jumped 13 per cent to 84 cents per share in early trading on Monday after the Australian surf wear retailer announced that the head of its Americas unit had offered to help stage a buyout of the company.

It's that merry season again where people splurge and shop for gifts either to give to others or to oneself. And as the number of Australians set to go online shopping will double this year, according to security technology company McAfee, it would be best to keep a mind or two whenever the urge to use that smartphone and tablet comes up to shop online.

Mike Smith, chief executive of Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd., remained Australia's top paid banker as he netted a $10 million annual pay for the 2012 financial year.

Good news and bad news. RailCorp will be split-up into two operators effective July 1, 2013 is the good news. The bad news is 700 jobs will be affected by the separation.

Effective Friday night of Nov 16, a vast portion of the oceans surrounding Australia, 2.3 million square kilometres to be exact, will become part of the country's marine reserves.