BUSINESS

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has granted the alliance between Virgin Australia group of airlines (ASX: VBA) and Singapore Airlines draft approval.

Even with a subdued quarter for rental prices, annual growth figures show rental prices for units are approaching that for houses in most capital cities, according to a new report released on Thursday.

Qantas licensed aircraft maintenance engineers are among the highest paid in the world and the current demands from the union are unreasonable, Qantas Group Executive Government and Corporate Affairs Olivia Wirth said on Thursday.

Apple released the iOS 5 today and its perhaps the biggest update to the software. The iOS 5 comes with over 200 new features and it has been released for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch.

Labor force figures released on Thursday highlighted the underlying strength and resilience of the Australian economy in the face of heightened global instability.

Speculations are ripe that China is into a copper buying spree after the world's second-largest economy voluntarily disclosed the size of its copper inventories.

In support of the booming mining sector, Virgin Australia announced today it will provide more than 1,000 additional seats each week from Perth to Port Hedland and Karratha in Western Australia’s Pilbara region. The increase in services will commence on November 21 and end in March next year.

As more consumers shift to upgrades of modern electronic devices such as tablet computers and smartphones from laptops and 3G phones, more companies are launching their own versions of the devices in a bid to get a slice of the growing market - notwithstanding risking a lawsuit from Apple.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 continues to be banned from Australian consumers as Apple won its bid to block the tablet on Thursday.

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the sixth time in seven sessions, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.6 pct or 27.4 pts to 4293.8. Today's improvement can be partly attributed to the impressive gains out of European markets overnight, thanks to progress being made on a viable debt solution.

The country’s unemployment rate declined to 5.2 percent in September as employers from the private sector employed more people and the dollar went up from $US1.015 before figures were made public to $US1.0236.

The proposed alliance between Singapore Airlines and Virgin Australia is almost as good as a done deal as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) announced on Thursday it is finalizing necessary paper works that will ultimately conclude and seal the integrated network aviation alliance between the two airlines.

Macquarie Telecom, Fujitsu, Infoplex and VMware have formed the OzHub, a national cloud council which aims to promote cloud computing to enterprises, small businesses, consumers and governments in Australia.

- JB Hi-Fi AGM offers sales update- Group sales higher, like-for-like sales down- Tough macro outlook impacting on earnings- Brokers remain broadly positive on the stockBy Chris ShawAt its annual general meeting yesterday JB Hi-Fi ((JBH)) indicated like-for-like sales for the first quarter of FY12 w...

With the final eurozone vote now in for the EFSF, the next step is to leverage up that fund to allow governments to shore up the capital positions of their respective banks.

Dialogues between representatives of the Community and Public Sector Union and the Customs and Border Protection officials over wage issues resumed on Thursday as work stoppages are scheduled to take place in different airports across the country.

Qantas canceled 14 domestic flights and delayed another 30 trips on Thursday morning as the baggage handlers and ground crew walked off their jobs for two hours at 7 a.m.

We have a long standing tradition of educating investors here at FNArena. Today's quiz is an attempt to try out a different concept.

By Greg PeelThe Dow finished up 102 points or 0.9% while the S&P gained 1.0% to 1207 and the Nasdaq added 0.

Coal producing miners better get their act together and prepare this early for a possible weather disturbance of a returning La Niña.

Minutes from the last US Federal Reserve meeting highlighted that Fed officials discussed a fresh round of bond purchases among other tools to stimulate activity. However officials seemed to be holding back from a third round of QE. The minutes reiterated that the Fed had become a lot more concerned about the economic outlook.

Attempts to gain unauthorized access to 93,000 accounts on the Sony PlayStation Network, Sony Entertainment Network and Sony Online Entertainment prompted the online gaming network to lock the accounts on Tuesday.

U.S. blue-chip stocks drove higher Wednesday, pushing the Dow Jones Industrial Average into positive territory for 2011 as investors grew optimistic about plans to recapitalize euro-zone banks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 192 points, or 1.7%, to 11609 in afternoon trading, while the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index climbed 22 points, or 1.9%, to 1218 and the Nasdaq Composite advanced 41 points, or 1.6%, to 2624.

American and Canadian users of BlackBerry smartphones are now experiencing delays in sending and receiving e-mails as the service disruption entered its third day.

iOS 5, Apple Inc.'s latest operating system for iPhone, the iPad and the iPod Touch, called iOS 5, is ready for download today, Oct. 12.

Apple has $76 billion and shareholders are already knocking on the company to conduct some profit sharing.

After Steve Jobs died, the world has been pondering if it would be the end of innovation. President Barack Obama lauded Steve Jobs as "among the greatest of American innovators" and many have compared him to great inventors Thomas Edison and Henry Ford. Jobs, a visionary and a creative genius, helped redefine mobile devices, the music industry, the cinema, and the Internet.

Is Facebook Too Big to Fail? Or Will It Soon Burst?

Building permit activity in Victoria improved to $2.3 billion in August 2011, a jump of 21.8 percent on the same month last year.