BUSINESS

By Greg PeelThe Dow closed up 6 points while the S&P rose 0.1% to 1655 and the Nasdaq added 0.2%.Bridge Street failed to fire yesterday despite a strong lead from Wall Street, with the July trade balance data weighing on sentiment.

More countries are moving toward recognising same-sex marriage, with New Zealand recently officiating its first gay union. It is not therefore surprising for Unilever New Zealand to reject a Flora margarine advert in South Africa deemed homophobic.

Officials and employees of Nokia are not taking the $7.2-billion sale of the Finnish phone company sitting down. A former official formed Newkia a day after the announced acquisition by Microsoft of the once number one mobile phone manufacturer.

The U.S. Navy Tactics Development programme was able to maneuver Lockheed Martin's paveway II Dual Mode Laser Guided Bomb (DMLGB) successfully. The exercise was conducted at the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center located in Nevada.

Apex Industries Inc is the most recent firm from Canada to join hands with Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) in developing the F-35 Lightning II program. The contract agrees to the use of Apex’s aluminium metallic parts that make up the wing and the forward fuselage. The agreement was described as a "multi-year" contract with all the work to be done at the New Brunswick, Moncton-based Apex facility.

The Australian sharemarket slid for the second straight day, despite the best improvements in a month in the US last night. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) fell by 0.4 per cent, with only the defensive healthcare sector, industrials and IT industries escaping the selloff.

Huawei Australia has announced the opening of a new office in Brisbane with nine staff to be added to its staff of 700, to which 85 per cent of that number are locals. Huawei already has offices in Sydney and Melbourne. The opening of the new Brisbane office will help extend the company’s operations and consumer reach in Australia. The Lord Mayor of Brisbane Cr Graham Quirk has signed an agreement with Huawei, a telecommunications giant in China, to encourage local students to study and learn...

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) on Wednesday said, it will not oppose the proposed acquisition of Gambro AB by Baxter International Inc. This decision of the Commission follows an undertaking submitted by Baxter that it will sell part of its Renal Replacement Therapy business.

Sneaky Germans may have found several ways to dodge the law on how to bring in foreign currency in the country from abroad, but border authorities usually detect the smuggling attempts.

The Australian share market remains in the red on Thursday, despite predictions of a solid session. Overnight, Wall Street recorded its best gains in more than a month, rising 0.7 per cent and setting the SPI futures up for a 0.3 per cent gain locally.

Microsoft won the patent trial against Motorola as the courts decided that the company failed to observe fair and reasonable licensing terms when it negotiated with Microsoft over the Wi-Fi and H.264 intellectual property. A district court had previously ruled that the standard, essential patents of Motorola were not worth $4 billion as claimed by the company. According to Microsoft's public statement, the patent trial win was a milestone for those who want tech products to be affordable and...

If Lenovo Chief Executive Officer Yan Yuanqing could be considered the ideal boss, having given this week his more than $3 million bonus to the tech firm's 10,000 workers, the opposite is true for the store manager of Journeys in Rochester, New York, whose staff resigned en masse by publicly leaving their open letter to him.

Microsoft won the patent trial against Motorola as the courts decided that the company failed to observe fair and reasonable licensing terms when it negotiated with Microsoft over the Wi-Fi and H.264 intellectual property.

Xiaomi Inc maybe only three years old in business in China, but the fact it has managed to snag Apple's market share, never mind if its products are mostly knock-offs, could be an indication it could also very well conquer the world soon.

Nokia Australia announced that Nokia Lumia 1020 will be available in the country by Sept 17.

A hypersonic scramjet is all set to be launched from a site above the Arctic Circle this September. The project, led by University of Queensland is supported by Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) and international research team of 13 partners and sponsors.

Although it has yet to receive reports or complaints of accidents and injuries, Ford Motor Co has ordered the recall of some 370,000 vehicles across its U.S. and Canada markets due to issues on the steering shaft of the involved units.

Offering enhanced security, online payment service portal, PayPal, announced, on Wednesday, the launch of its expanded Seller Protection policy for merchants in Asia Pacific. The policy, which will become operational on Oct 11, 2013, helps protect merchants from fraudulent online transaction and cases where items are not received by buyers.

Cherry Blossom Sushi Bar Newton outlet had pleaded guilty of 40 breaches on food hygiene

A Melbourne woman won a $1,660 refund from Prada over a champagne stain on a Prada skirt

By Jonathan BarrattAt the moment our focus remains on Syria for the next move in oil. As mentioned, Syria does not produce any oil of note however investors see any military invention by the US as a regional issue and as such a premium is being built into the market.

Consumers who were wowed by the specs of the Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch at its unboxing on Wednesday, Sept 4, in Berlin, Germany, and New York City, could buy the watch as early as Sept 25 for $299.

In the past editions of ZDNET reviews, the Samsung Galaxy S4 was only runner up as best Android smartphone, with the HTC One getting the top honours.

Kim Dotcom seems to have a few more surprises up his sleeves. After his tweet about plans to launch a political party in New Zealand - a leak which he attributed to “whistleblower”- picked up storm, it is now known that he quit as director of Mega, the cloud hosting service that he launched with much fanfare in Jan 2013, after his previous file sharing venture Megaupload was shut down in a U.S. driven operation, following allegations of mass copyright infringement and money laundering.

Whether you agree or not that the US ought to strike Syria, there is one reason it will: Because it has to. (Indeed, the bombing may already have started by the time you read this.)

By Greg PeelThe Dow rose 96 points or 0.7% while the S&P gained 0.8% to 1653 and the Nasdaq added 1.1%.

Yesterday's data dump was a non-event. Retail sales rose 0.1%, the current account deficit widened a little, and the RBA didn't change interest rates. The ASX200 followed suit with its own dramatic move, rising 0.16%.

By Chris Weston, IG MarketsEvery now and then the market picks a currency, throws it firmly in the spotlight and runs with it.

During an interview, Apple Inc’s co-founder Steve Wouzniak had a bunch of things to say about Apple, the iPhone and where the Cupertino-California is headed in the absence of the late Steve Jobs, former CEO and co-founder.