Sharon Olalia

Australia’s minerals industry is expected to pay a record $23.4 billion in taxes and royalties to Federal and State Governments in 2010-2011, according to new research.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) today introduced a new social game designed for budding property investors. Australia’s major bank has released Investorville, an online simulation tool that helps users de-mystify the often complex world of property investment, including simulating ongoing costs, without ever putting any of their own capital at risk.

Australia’s new home sales in June 2011 saw their biggest monthly decline in five years, amidst weakening confidence in the economy and concerns about higher interest rates.

Dairy Farmers are worried changes in Woolworths’ milk supply arrangements will negatively affect farmgate prices. Parmalat recently won the contract to supply Woolworths’ house brand milk products in NSW. This contract was previously held by Lion (formerly National Foods), which sourced around 100 million litres of milk from Dairy Farmers Milk Co-operative (DFMC) members in NSW to supply Woolworths.

Leighton Contractors said Monday it had been selected by Australian Rail Track Corporation (ARTC) to deliver the final stage of the Southern Sydney Freight Line (SSFL) in an Alliance contract worth $150 million.

Tiger Airways remain grounded as a scheduled Federal Court directions hearing of the Civil Aviation Safety Authority's application to continue the suspension of the Singapore budget carrier has been adjourned for a third time. A Federal Court directions hearing had been scheduled for Monday 1 August 2011, but the matter has now been adjourned to Wednesday 3 August 2011.

The Australian Census will count same-sex couples who are married for the first time ever on Census night.

Australia’s second mainland National Broadband Network (NBN) site has been switched on this morning, with residents in the Kiama Downs and Minnamurra, south of Sydney, set to experience superfast fibre broadband.

Westpac-owned St.George Bank now has one of the most competitive rates in the market for two-year fixed home loans, following an interest rate decrease of 0.10 per cent pa to 6.89 per cent pa for Advantage Package customers.

Singapore-owned budget carrier Tiger Airways will have to refund money to passengers booked to fly until next Thursday.

The latest report by Telstra, Mobile Innovation – The Next Frontier for Growth and Productivity for Insurers, launched in conjunction with the Financial Services Council, has identified new opportunities for the insurance industry to better use mobile phone technology in delivering services.

Tiger Airways will not be flying anytime soon, belying previous reports that the Singapore budget carrier will resume its Australian operations next week.

Investment bank Macquarie Group is sticking to its earnings forecasts despite the negative impact of subdued financial market activity.

World-leading solar researchers and industry members in Australia are collaborating to develop new ways of generating zero-emissions electricity using a printing machine to produce solar cells.

Australian retail-to-coal conglomerate Wesfarmers today posted $11.7 billion sales across its retail chains, a 5.8 percent increase in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.

Aussie Home Loans has called on the Reserve Bank to show restraint next Tuesday, August 2, when the RBA board meets again to decide on the course of interest rates.

The Great Australian Dream could remain just a dream with house prices moving from being affordable to severely unaffordable in the last 10 years.

Major Australian bank Westpac (ASX: WBC) says it is progressively restoring payments following a disruption to normal payment operations overnight.

The Australian Human Rights Commission is worried about sending people who claim asylum in Australia to Malaysia or other third countries, and has urged that, in particular, the government not send vulnerable individuals such as unaccompanied minors, families with children and torture and trauma survivors under this agreement.

Amidst radical and hotly debated strategy for maintaining biodiversity, researchers from CSIRO, University of Queensland and United States Geological Survey are presenting a pragmatic decision framework for determining when, if ever, to move species in the face of climate change.

The Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA) has provided Qantas management with notice for tokenistic action in order to “activate” the full range of industrial action voted for by 94 per cent of members in a ballot earlier this month.

The recently concluded agreement between Malaysia and Australia has created strong reactions in Australia’s multicultural communities for its rejection of Australia’s international humanitarian obligations.

In a matter of just one day, over one million users have bought and downloaded Mac OS X Lion, the eighth major release of the world’s most advanced operating system.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has cleared Coles in milk price wars, saying there is no evidence that the supermarket giant has acted in breach of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (CCA).

Anders Behring Breivik, the man blamed for Friday's twin terror attacks in Norway wishes to explain why he killed at least 93 people and wounded nearly 100 more when he appears in court for the first time.

The Reserve Bank of Australia must publish the true cost consumers are ‘paying to pay,’ consumer watchdog Choice has recommended while branding credit card surcharges as out of control.

Australian grains marketer and maltster GrainCorp is buying European malt producer GermanMalt GmbH & Co KG for $77 million. GermanMalt has four malthouses, with 190,000 tonnes of malting capacity per annum.

Technology giant Apple has reported it sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter, representing 142 percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. The Cupertino company today announced financial results for its fiscal 2011 third quarter ended June 25, 2011.

The largest union representing Telstra (ASX: TLS) employees has come out swinging regarding the offshoring of Telstra jobs and customers’ personal information to India.