BUSINESS

Environment Minister Greg Hunt gave the green light over the weekend for the largest coal mining project in Australia to push through. Kevin's Corner covers an area of 37,380 hectares.

The Australian sharemarket is modestly higher for the first time in three trading sessions. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is 4pts or 0.1 per cent firmer at lunch. Weakness from the energy, consumer staple, healthcare and telco sectors is holding back the gains, while the miners and financials are both supportive.

Japan's financial regulator, the Financial Services Agency (FSA), is set to investigate the nation's three largest banks for transactions with the Yakuza, according to Reuters on Tuesday.

Germany's persistently high trade surplus and export-led growth model is preventing the eurozone from recovering quickly, harming the wider global economy in the process, said a U.S. Treasury report on Wednesday.

Nearly 40,000 Chinese couples living in Bejing have filed for during the first nine months of this year, according to the China Daily on Tuesday, a year-on-year increase of close to 41 percent - with experts speculating that couples had been deliberately avoiding a property tax imposed earlier this year.

The U.S. government saw a budget deficit of $680.3 billion for fiscal year 2013, showed Treasury Department data on Wednesday, a 37 percent drop from the fiscal 2012 deficit and marking the first time in five years that the figure has been below $1 trillion.

Retail Giants are now determined to embrace the environment. Levi's has come out with designer jeans manufactured out of used plastic bottles. Nike has unveiled knitted sneakers that reduce manufacturing waste by 88 percent.

PDF file attached.Corporate bonds offer an alternative to equity investment in providing a fixed "coupon", or interest payment, unlike equities which pay (or not) non-fixed dividend payments, and a maturity date, unlike equities which are open-ended.

The fifty million dollar jackpot was won by a couple of players from Western Canada in the massive draw on Friday, according to Loto-Quebec.

The US dollar continues to enjoy a steady recovery with some positive readings on Friday helping it extend its gains. Driving the greenback was a strong ISM report (56.4 versus 55 expected) which saw the US dollar index rise to 80.72. Tapering is the main topic at the moment and every time we receive positive economic readings, expectations of tapering by the end of the year gain momentum. Fed speakers were also a key theme in Friday's trade; with one of the well documented doves, James Bulla...

In US economic news, the ISM manufacturing gauge rose from 56.2 to 2½-year high of 56.4 in October, ahead of forecasts for a result near 55.0. But vehicle sales rose from 15.21 million to 15.23m in October, short of forecasts near 15.4m due to weaker truck sales.

By Chris Weston, IG MarketsMarkets opened on a modestly positive footing, with US futures opening an hour later for Asia-based traders and heading a touch higher.

The much-awaited Google Nexus 5 smartphone has finally arrived, offering the purest Android experience, while granting its owners access to the latest Android 4.4 KitKat OS. Since owners get updates directly from Google, they don't need to wait for hardware OEMs or carriers to release customised updates.

In October, two tech Web sites named the Google Nexus 10 and Nexus 7 as among their list of top 10 devices. For November, another portal included a third Nexus model in its list of 10 best Android smartphones - the newly released KitKat-Powered Nexus 5.

Office spaces have never looked this enticing, especially for workers at Google, Apple and Facebook which are building massive campuses designed to provide not only a place to work but also a place to live for thousands of their employees. Mashable provides A Peek at Google's £1B Upcoming 1-Million-Square-Foot Office in London. The upcoming London office of the tech giant is scheduled to open in 2016. The Web site said it will feature an open-air swimming pool, indoor football pitch, climbing...

The weekly downtrend has ended flat with the market closing +3 from the 5387 stop. The short term daily is on a downtrend and weakness is expected.

The Australian sharemarket fell for the third time this week, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down by 0.3 per cent. Thanks to a 1 per cent rise on Monday however, the market still ended modestly higher this week. This is the 17th week in 19 that Australian shares finished in the black.

Citi analysts are optimistic of better times ahead for Australia and forecast the country would begin to register economic expansion by the middle of 2014.

Sellers have made several attempts to push the market lower in early trade although the local index has shown the resilience that has become something of a trade mark in recent weeks.

Apple iOS 7 “Cause of Death” video sends creeps just in time for Halloween

In spite of gold losing much of its sheen in 2013 as global prices plummeted to record-low levels, the yellow metal nevertheless significantly contributes to the global economy.

Apple iPad marketshare slides 11 per cent, Android showed significant gain

Reading the moves on the market yesterday I was struck by how limited the moves really were and the tepidness of volumes throughout the entire market.

Qantas Airlines of Australia and Japan Airlines on Thursday announced they will be increasing their stake ownership in low-cost subsidiary, Jetstar Japan.

In US economic news, the Chicago PMI surged from 55.7 to 65.9 in October. This was a high since March 2011. The main driver of the jump was a surge in orders from 58.9 to 74.3. Production jumped from 58.0 to 71.1 and employment lifted from 53.2 to 57.7. Initial jobless claims dipped from 350k to 340k in the past week.

Ashton Kutcher was reportedly hired by Lenovo as its new product engineer. Not only will he act as an engineer for the company, but also as a celebrity endorser for the brand.

Black clouds threaten Europe's recovery, taking the pressure off the USDBy Kathleen Brooks, Research Director UK EMEA, FOREX.

Local stocks ended slightly weaker on Thursday. At face value it was an unflattering result although when measured against the lows of the session, when the index was down 32 points, it was a solid come back.

Several Dell users complained against Latitude 6430u Ultrabooks for smelling of cat urine.