BUSINESS

Apple Inc has bought back $14 billion of its stocks in the past two weeks. The recent move has increased Apple's total stock buyback to $40 billion shares in a span of 12 months. Apple's CEO, Tim Cook, remarked in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that it was a record-breaking buyback for a company in a similar period. He said Apple will reveal more updates on its stock buyback by March or April 2014.

"The Vampire Diaries" (TVD) star Ian Somerhalder tweeted about fashion retailer Lands' End banning the sale of items with Angora fur after seeing a PETA video of Angora fur farm cruelty. Somerhalder is a certified animal lover and the co-founder of the Ian Somerhalder Foundation (ISF) which was started to help animals, the environment and people as well as educate and empower mankind to make compassionate and sustainable choices for the planet earth and its inhabitants.

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the third straight day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up by 0.7 per cent. The miners are the best performers while weakness from the property trusts, utilities and consumer staple businesses are keeping a cap on the gains.

Headline data has once again blocked out the true underlying state of play.

In US economic news, non-farm payrolls rose by 113,000 in January, short of forecasts for a gain of 185,000. But private payrolls rose by 142,000 and the unemployment rate fell to a five-year low of 6.6%. Average earnings rose by 0.2% as expected. Consumer credit rose by US$18.76 billion in December, above forecasts for a gain of US$12 billion.

Apple Inc.'s CEO Tim Cook has revealed Apple will introduce products in new categories in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. Like in any interview, he avoided getting into the specifics but only hinted that Apple is working on "really great stuff."

The Australian share market rallied for a second session today, adding 0.7 per cent by close after a better than expected jobless claims report released in the US overnight.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), the UN's weather agency, has confirmed that the year 2013 had indeed been the world's sixth hottest year since record keeping began in 1850.

Apple removes Bitcoin programme Blockchain from App Store, while Malwarebytes accepts Bitcoin as virtual currency.

A small telecommunications company in New Zealand is now accepting Bitcoin as an alternative mode of payment. Auckland-based 2Talk announced it will be the first company in the local telecommunications industry to allow the digital currency as payment.

Authorities from the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee has warned all international airlines to take necessary precautions, following reports that terrorist groups have concocted explosives disguised as toothpaste bombs on flights bound for Russia.

In his paper titled, "2014 Innovative Displays and Display technologies, Smartphones, Tablets, TVs and Wearable Displays," Dr. Raymond Soneira has warned Apple may suffer the risk of falling behind Samsung and Amazon in display technologies.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ AAPL) is still a good buy even if it reaches $700

A report issued on Thursday by Canada's budget watchdog has shown that the government and taxpayers have spent paying $871 million to sickly public servants in 2011-2012. The Public Service Alliance (PSAC) of Canada, meantime, said it will thwart attempts to cut full-time workers' allowable paid sick leaves of 15 days a year.

After a volatile start to the week markets have found something resembling equilibrium as the week draws to a close. In the face of what has at times been a challenging week, one of the consolations has been the consolidation of the ASX 200 around the 5100 level. On Friday morning investors have been content to take the market higher, albeit in unspectacular fashion.

Immigrants to Canada seeking to make the country their second home have to spend more time and should master one official language before becoming legitimate Canadian citizens, based on a set of new stricter rules proposed by Immigration Minister Chris Alexander on Thursday.

A week after Delta Airlines has launched its 1980s-themed inflight safety video, Air New Zealand announced a new similar material that will surely send temperatures inside its cabins soaring with the wind.

Sony has decided to shut down its PC products as it is expected to slash 5,000 jobs.

The Dow and S&P saw a strong bounce overnight, which started from the opening bell and carried through to the close, registering their strongest gain for the year.

In US economic news, the trade deficit widened by 12% to $38.7 billion in December. The deterioration was driven by a 1.8% drop in exports - the biggest decline in over a year. Imports lifted by 0.3%. Jobless claims fell by 20,000 to 331,000 last week. US productivity rose at a 3.2% pace in the December quarter after an even brisker 3.6% pace in the September quarter.

Because lowering the threshold from the current $1,000 for online purchases made by Australians would only cost more than the federal government would earn, the consumer action group CHOICE proposed a flat tax rate of $14 on parcels.

Three hundred Ford workers in Victoria will become jobless beginning in May and run through the end of the year when the automaker axes their posts through redundancies due to declining demand for vehicles. The soon-to-be affected workers are deployed at the Geelong and Breadmeadow manufacturing facilities.

Are your friends’ Facebook or Twitter profile picture suddenly turning purple? It is not yet another craze that has hit the web; they are doing it for a good cause.

After spending most of the week in the red, the Australian share market rebounded today, lifting by 1.2 per cent and reducing the weekly loss so far to 1.1 per cent.

Waves as high as 60 feet that lashed along Britain's shorelines have washed out portions of a 150-year old railway line into the sea. Residents have been advised to brace for more rains and potential flooding into the weekend.

A new deadly new bird flu strain H10N8 has been discovered in China. At least one has died from the brand-new bird flu strain.

The Australian share market is showing some signs of strength and a rebound after a tough week for investors. US markets were modestly lower overnight, while at lunchtime in the East the ASX is higher by 0.7 per cent.

Kalgoorie Super Pit extends mining to 2029, the company announces

Kiwis once again are saying their stern no to the Ozs.