POLITICS & POLICY

Australian mining firms, especially those with operations in Queensland, are gearing for a potential massive rainfall in the coming months.

China's annual consumer inflation rate dropped in November to 4.2 per cent from a year ago, its lowest level in more than a year, the country's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said on Friday.

Virginia Tech has announced that there is no longer the threat of danger on campus and standard activities can now resume after 2 people (counting a police officer) were shot and killed on Virginia Tech's university grounds on Thursday.

A report by the IT Industry Innovation Council released on Friday said that Australia has the potential to become a global cloud computing hub.

China is mulling to expand its real estate tax to include more cities in 2012.

There is no immediate possibility that Australia will also reconsider selling uranium to other 'suspect' countries outside of India following the Labor-led government's recent decision to resume uranium trade with New Delhi.

The world's demand for energy will rise 30 per cent higher in 2040 compared to 2010, according to the latest report of ExxonMobil Corporation, "The Outlook for Energy: A View to 2040."

A federal judge imposed on Friday a $1.25 million fine on Australian online retailer Harvey Norman (ASX: HVN) for its misleading advertisement. The fine was initiated by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC).

Part of a pipeline running to an oil refinery in Homs, Syria blew up Thursday causing thick black smoke to hover about the city where protest against President Bashar al-Assad started in March.

Anglo-Australian miner Rio Tinto Ltd., in a bid to honor delivery contracts and supplier commitments, is mulling to start road transporting by using trucks the initial supply batch of iron ore from its Simandou project in Guinea.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground for the third time this week with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) down 1.4 pct or 60 pts to 4278.9. No sectors are being spared from the selloff at lunch.

Wine growers in Hunter Valley who belong to the area's wine industry association sought to kick out gas giant AGL Energy Limited (ASX: AGK) from their ranks because of the firm's stand on coal seam gas (CSG).

It's no secret that the war in Afghanistan has kept more than a few businesses aloft in these critical financial times but a French human rights activist is attempting a fresh way to break down the cycle of violence in Afghanistan: yoga and meditation

Emerging markets are again at the forefront of investment portfolios in 2012 as the dangers of inflation and stagnation had all been washed off by the tight monetary policies this year, a senior investment manager said.

The United States has declared that its planned stationing of U.S. Marines in Australian territory was to be taken as its exclusive ties with a long-time ally and not meant to antagonise any country in the Asia Pacific region.

The three other large Australian banks - National Australia Bank, Westpac and Commonwealth Bank - gave in to pressure and announced Friday that it will pass on in full to customers the 25 basis points cut in overnight cash rate approved on Tuesday by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

A survey of New Zealand working overseas shows that a quarter of Kiwi expats are not keen on going back home, the New Zealand Herald reported. A quarter of the respondents said they intend to live elsewhere, while 27 per cent are looking for work in NZ.

Australia's Defense Minister Stephen Smith said the country can only export uranium to India and not to Pakistan, which is also seeking the same access to the nuclear material.

From Craig James, Commsec Chief EconomistMORNING REPORT (8.00am AEDT) -- US jobless claims fell 23,000 to 381,000 in the past week - a nine month low. US wholesale inventories rose 1.6pct in October after rising by a downwardly revised 0.3pct in September. The October result marked the largest rise since May 2011.

From Morrison Securities: U.S. stocks fell in afternoon trading as investor focus shifted from disappointment over the European Central Bank to the closely watched summit on Europe's sovereign-debt crisis. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 171 points, or 1.4%, to 12026 in recent action. The Standard & Poor's 500-stock index shed 23 points, or 1.8%, to 1238 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 42 points, or 1.6%, to 2607.

The state government of New South Wales says changes are necessary in the existing proceedings regarding organ donation sign ups and families overruling prospective donors’ decisions.

That shocking attack by Japanese planes on the multiplex of U.S. military bases in Hawaii was not just one of the most significant moments in American history; it was also one of the largest news days at the time.

Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith is in India to hold uranium export talks with officials of the south Asian nation in anticipation of the lifting of the ban.

Globe Metals & Mining on Wednesday announced the discovery of a new area with significant rare earth element (REE) mineralization at its Mount Muambe REE-Fluorite Project in Mozambique.

Mexican miner Grupo Mexico announced on Wednesday production output at its Buenavista del Cobre copper mine will hit 475,000 tonnes per year by 2015. The figure is a 6 per cent growth from estimates made earlier in April.

The Australian sharemarket ended a touch lower today with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) losing 0.3 pct or 12.4 pts to 4338.9. Almost all regions of the market lost at least some ground, with the energy sector by far the worst in percentage terms. The miners flirted with positive ground for most of the day and did not add to the market's weakness today.

Indian nationals better ought to brace themselves for more power shortages and energy crisis as state-run Coal India Limited (CIL) announced on Wednesday production targets for the current fiscal year as contained in its annual plan have been slashed to 440 million tonnes from 453 million tonnes.This, as the federal government of India rejected CIL's demand to scale down its target output.

India is now abuzz with activity related to its annual wedding season. In almost every nook and cranny, one will find hordes of beaming brides and their families hopping from one jewelry shop to another trying to find the perfect gold jewelry that is fit to their budget.To accommodate the budget, India's gold jewelers have devised ways to sell their merchandise, to the point of tweaking the jewelry's gold content.

Three tobacco entities are now arrayed against Canberra as international cigarette manufacturer Imperial Tobacco officially lodged its legal challenge against Australia's new plain packaging policy set to be imposed on cigarette products sold in the country.