BUSINESS

Climate change is changing the financial landscape of Australian insurance companies. The Insurance Australia Group (IAG), whose profit margin is expected to be hit anew by natural catastrophes, warned that the changing and less-predictable climate has the potential to reduce insurers' capacity to calculate, price and spread the weather-related risk.

Stiffer competition is expected in Australia's stock market with the offer by the revitalised National Stock Exchange of Australia (NSX) to reduce broker application fees to zero. The new policy took effect on Jan 1, 2012, the same week that the NSX added 30 firms to its listing.

Facebook continues to change the world, this time by making its presence felt in vehicle dashboards. Luxury carmaker Mercedes-Benz announced on Tuesday the launch of a service called mbrace2 which includes online services such as Facebook, Yelp and Google.

U.S. stocks remain higher but are off session highs Tuesday afternoon after strong gains overseas and an upbeat start to the U.S. earnings reporting season pushed blue-chip stocks to levels not seen since late July.

US chain store sales rose by 3.3pct in the week to January 7 compared with a year ago according to the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales index.

Dell, a known PC maker announced that the company would be putting a stop in their Inspiron line of netbooks.

Sony Corp. denied reports that the company is going to announce the next generation PlayStation console at E3 this summer.

Sony Corp. has introduced a new technology for television that uses 55 million LEDs to create a sharp and clear image that, according to Sony is far superior to traditional LCD displays.

Intel Corp. took center stage at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas to step up the Ultrabook barrage as the chipmaker promised more than 75 ultrabook designs will show up this year.

When Motorola launched its Android phone, the Droid RAZR, in late 2011 techies were asking if it could help propel the phone manufacturing firm to the top position it once enjoyed?

The year 2011 will go down in Qantas's history as one of its worst. It was the year that saw the air carrier hit by several strikes from pilots, ground crew and aircraft engineers. As a result, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce unilaterally grounded the air carrier's fleet for two days, causing major disruption in travel plan of Qantas passengers.

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) killed last week about 300 Asian honey bees found on a cargo ship in Townsville, which came from Port Moresby. The operation was made after DAFF biosecurity officers inspected shipping containers and the vessel which subsequently led to the extermination of the bees.

Ginia Rinehart is probably the 2010 decade's new icon of wealth, comparable to what Christina Onassis was in the 1970s and 1980s. At age 25, Ms Rinehart is set to become the sole heir of the richest person in Australia with $10 billion to her name. However, it would not come easily because of court cases from her siblings who are locked in a legal battle with their mother, Gina Rinehart.

Two female pilots of a British Airways jet felt dizzy in midflight and were forced to quickly return to London's Heathrow airport for an emergency landing on Dec. 20, according to air accident investigators' report.

More Australian retailers are set to join in 2012 the online bandwagon. The shift to e-commerce over traditional bricks-and-mortar stores confirms the truth behind the cliché - If you can't beat them, join them.

US consumer credit rose by US$20.37 billion in November - the biggest increase since 2001. The US employment trends index rose from 103.7 to 104.3 in December.

India has initiated talks with the governments of Australia, Netherlands, France, and the European Union on several human resource mobility partnership agreements that will ensure job employments for its working professionals.

Google's Chrome 15 is now the most popular web browser version according to a research done by StatCounter Global Stats.

Sony will be introducing new TVs, gadgets and its next generation handheld the Sony PlayStation Vita at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company is expected to reveal new content for its smart TVs at Sony's press event on Monday at CES. The company is also expected to heavily promote the PlayStation Vita for its upcoming U.S. and European release. The company will likely have some announcements for the Vita and even a hands-on demo for the participants. The PlayStation Vita was...

Despite the threat of another global contraction due to the European debt crisis, employment prospects in Australia's mining industry continue to be high. To address the manpower shortage in the booming sector, employers have become creative in attracting the best talents from other industries.

Amid Australia's resources boom which led to higher export activities, the workers in the country's seaports are becoming more restive as evidenced by increased strikes toward the end of 2011 and another round of industrial actions at the start of 2012.

Google Inc. is expanding its Internet-TV coalition as LG Electronics Inc., Samsung Electronics Co. and Vizio Inc. join Sony Corp. in showcasing Google TV products at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this year.

The chief executive of music app Spotify Daniel Ek showed off the hack that allows him to control the app using Siri.

US non-farm payrolls (employment) rose by 200,000 in December, ahead of forecasts centred on a gain of 150,000. Private sector jobs rose by 212,000 and the jobless rate fell from 8.7pct to a near three-year low of 8.5pct. Average earnings rose by 0.2pct.

In 2011, Samsung released powerful smartphones designed for different users and for different purposes. For 2012, there are speculations that the successor of Galaxy S2 will be released - the Galaxy S3. It is expected to be far more superior and powerful than all of its Galaxy relatives especially against the Nexus.

Adelaide Port workers who struck on Thursday got the support of the International Transport Federation (ITF) in their ongoing labor row with port operator DP World. The ITF spoke against the lockout of employees.

Qantas Airways downplayed on Friday possible questions on its flight safety as reports of cracks discovered on wing ribs of its A380s emerged, renewing fears that engine failures could again hit its aircrafts.

Wesfarmers reported on Friday that its coal export prices for the first quarter of 2012 would go down 19 per cent compared to the fourth quarter of 2011.

The iPad 3 rumor mill is at full tilt right now with speculation running wild about tablet's improved specs to when Apple will announce the next generation tablet. But along with rumors about the iPad 3 there are also reports about what will happen to Apple's current tablet, the iPad 2.