POLITICS & POLICY

Embattled MP Craig Thomson caused a stir in Parliament on Wednesday by sitting with Liberals and voting against the Gillard government. Mr Thomson's move made Opposition leader Tony Abbott - who has been pushing for Mr Thomson's resignation - uncomfortable and scurry for the parliament door.

Origin Energy Limited, nearing a final investment decision on the second stage of its Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG) project, has been reportedly pondering a A$1 billion ($985 million) share sale.

The state government of Queensland in Australia on Tuesday has given a conditional stamp of approval to the $6.4 billion joint project of India's GVK Power & Infrastructure and Hancock Coal owned by the world's richest woman, Australian mining billionaire Gina Rinehart.

Out to conquer every probable location of natural resource in the world, China, is mulling to start working on developing its deep-sea mining technology by as early as 2030, state news agency Xinhua News reported.

China's statistical authorities on Tuesday announced that the average income of both private and government Chinese workers jumped by double digits in 2011 across various employment categories.

China's largest and widest microblogging service, Sina Weibo recently introduced new rules and regulations for their users in order to prevent online rumors and other content that are considered as inappropriate by Internet censors.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar continued to firm slowly last night in what was a relatively quiet session amongst a positive night for equity markets.

U.S. stocks marched higher Tuesday on rising optimism about Greece's prospects to remain in the euro zone, which offset a disappointing reading on U.S. consumer confidence.

The Australian sharemarket improved following a slow start to trade, to finish significantly higher for the second day running. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose 1.2 pct or 48 pts to 4168.2. This morning however, shares were down by as much as 0.67 pct in the first hour of trade only to steadily improve as the day wore on. At the start of trade, nine of 12 market sectors were losing ground, whereas only two of 12 ended the day in the red.

Although embattled MP Craig Thomson's political career is apparently on a downward slope due to the Fair Work Australia (FWA) report that he misused $500,000 of Health Services Union (HSU) funds, it is not only the legislator whose reputation has been damaged.

Barrick Gold Corp. has acquired the Mill Canyon property in Nevada for $24 million from Victoria Gold Corp., effectively expanding by some 7,000 acres the area it owns in the vicinity of its Cortez gold mine project.

The Labor government has dealt with the controversies that arose in the aftermath of the enterprise migration agreement (EMA) extended to the Roy Hill iron ore project owned by Australia's richest Gina Rinehart.

U.S. investment bank Goldman Sachs, through its unit Colombian Natural Resources SAS, has purchased for $407 million the thermal coal assets of Vale SA, the world's largest iron-ore producer, in Colombia.

The federal government of Australia is set to start collection of the carbon tax in less than five weeks, but a survey found that many small- and medium-sized businesses are still confused about the tax.

The latest Newspoll numbers delivered wide smiles to the Australia Labor Party, which today was afforded considerable boost on its primary vote, with the weekend survey showing climbs of up to five points in the department.

Only about half of Australia's mining boom windfall was spent properly by the Howard and Rudd governments, think tank Per Capita said in a report released on Monday.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian dollar is slightly lower overnight, as news that the Spanish government will need to bailout one of its largest banks, with the possibility of more bailouts to come.

North Korea is now experiencing a prolonged drought that has been affecting the entire nation. Despite that, North Korea is still engaging actively with their rocket plans thus bolstering their nuclear deterrent.

While U.S. markets were closed for Memorial Day, European stock markets erased early gains Monday, as bank shares moved lower and pressure intensified on Spanish banks and the country's government bonds.Stocks had posted solid gains early in the session as investors' risk appetite was boosted after polls in Greece pointed to a victory for the pro-bailout New Democracy party ahead of next month's elections.

Determined to re-ignite its apparent lackluster-bound economy, China has given the go signal for at least some 100 key investment projects in the month of May alone, the newspaper China Times reported.

Iron ore prices are set to get more competitive in the following months as global iron ore miners Vale SA, BHP Billiton Ltd. and Rio Tinto, along with some giant Chinese steel producers, launch on middle this week yet another new iron ore global pricing system.

Unless some evidence of construction work has been made by year end on the programmed $33 billion expansion of theOlympic Dam copper and uranium mine project, it is likely that Australia might revoke the right to proceed it had given to mine owner and developer BHP Billiton Ltd.

The Australian sharemarket rose for the first time in four sessions today, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up 1 pct or 39 pts to 4120.2. Despite the gains, there were around 25 pct less shares exchanging hands than this time last week. This is mainly due to the Memorial Day public holiday in the U.S tonight, which means American markets will be closed.

Australian uranium project developer and explorer Toro Energy Limited, owner of the currently highly controversial Wiluna uranium mine, has announced the discovery of more uranium mineralised areas in its wholly owned Theseus uranium project in Western Australia.

Optus will soon retire a portion of its network services and hand-over some of its existing client-base to NBN Co in exchange for a deal with the federal government that could leave the telco $800 million richer.

In what could be a sign of vindication to its earlier construction delays, initial production of Australia's newly-commissioned Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) Project by Woodside Petroleum Ltd. has been three times more versus what has been forecast for the month of May.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) Deputy Chairman Michael Schaper warned Australian firms on Monday not to use the carbon tax, slated to be collected beginning July 1, as their excuse to jack up prices.

Labor whip Joel Fitzgibbon has already absolved himself, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said over the weekend, but the Coalition maintained that the man tagged as the source of renewed restiveness in government leadership must be sacked.

Probably encouraged by a Channel 9 TV show that found a former sex trade worker who claimed to have been a client of embattled MP Craig Thomson, the police is seeking other prostitutes to prove misuse of Health Services Union (HSU) funds by the ex-national secretary of the union.