POLITICS & POLICY

The Australian Bankers’ Association (ABA) welcomed the finding in the report that competition is the best means of protecting consumers’ interests, in preference to further layers of regulation.

ING DIRECT, Australia’s fifth largest retail bank, today welcomed the Senate Economic Committee recommendations on bank competition.

A Malaysian who once was with the late Osama bin Laden’s band of warriors in Afghanistan and has remained on the FBI’s list of “most wanted terrorists” is reportedly now hiding in Mindanao in the southern Philippines.

A homeless Chinese woman has set up a home in the most unlikely place. On top of a 20ft tree.

They delivery anywhere!That's how the Ukrainian military, which is very hard-pressed with cash, is advertising the sale of their lethal fleet of helicopter gunships.

The Australian government on Friday announced it is planning to revive its controversial "Pacific Solution" to deal with its refugees problem. This early, Papua New Guinea has started to make plans to accommodate the huge number of boat people.

A review of the present ban on mortgage exit fees and setting a standard fee for wholesale funding guarantee for banks are included in the series of modifications caused by the Senate inquiry into competition in the Australian banking.

Kevin Rudd’s disclosure of Bali bomber Umar Patek’s capture could have compromised the U.S. operation to kill Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan says.

Environment Minister Tony Burke announced on Friday that the federal government has declared some 538,000 square kilometres of Australia's south-west oceans as marine protected areas. This means, all fishing activities in the protected zones are prohibited.

Philippine authorities have launched a manhunt against a Filipino behind the smuggling of a fleet of luxury vehicles believed to be stolen from the U.S., with one expensive "chopper" belonging to a Hollywood scriptwriter.

The Philippines’ central monetary authority, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, has raised its key policy rates by a quarter of a percentage point after announcement of April inflation data

Asia should play “a more proactive role” toward global monetary and financial stability, a seminar led by ranking international finance officials was told on Wednesday

Asia should now play “a more proactive role” toward global monetary and financial stability, a seminar led by ranking international finance officials was told on Wednesday

A recent survey shows that more than 1.6 million Australians are pushed to drop private hospital cover with the proposed changes to the health insurance.

Osama bin Laden apologized to all his children for not being a good father to them in a will he wrote three months after the September 11 attack. He even warned his offspring not to join the Al-Qaeda group.

Despite scare-mongering from big business, Australia’s strong economic figures confirm a $28 a week pay rise for Australia’s lowest paid workers is modest and affordable, claims the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU).

The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) on Wednesday cancelled the liquor licence of notorious Showgirls Bar found in the central business district in Melbourne, ending a long legal battle by the Victoria Police against the strip joint.

New homes sales jumped 4.3 percent in Australia in March, bringing to three consecutive months the sector registered gains which paints a positive outlook into the domestic housing market.

Nearly 200 senior representatives of credit unions and building societies – mutual banking institutions are calling on the Gillard Government to reaffirm its commitment to banking competition by announcing the retention of the $1 million cap for the retail deposit guarantee.

The Newspoll published in The Australian newspaper revealed 60 per cent of the voters are opposed to the prime minister’s plan to put a cost on carbon next year as opposition leader Tony Abott perseveres to campaign against the tax.

The 14th Dalai Lama, one of the world’s most revered spiritual leaders, will provide words of wisdom to current and future Queensland business leaders when he visits Brisbane for a lunch forum in June.

Conflicts rise between the American and Pakistani authorities as senior officials of the Obama government demand explanation from the latter on how Osama bin Laden managed to hide in Pakistan on Tuesday.

Vietnam’s announcement of lower growth target owing to spiraling inflation sets the mood at ADB annual governors’ meeting in Hanoi this week.

A high-level seminar to discuss possible reforms in the international monetary system to make it more capable of promoting greater global monetary and financial stability will be held Wednesday during the annual governors’ meeting of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Hanoi, Vietnam.

Taking its cue from the inflation jitters set by other neighbors in the Asia-Pacific Region, the Reserve Bank of Australia has maintained the country's benchmark rates steady on the fifth straight meeting at 4.75 percent.

The Australian government is mulling giving mining permits in the once prohibited Woomera defense area to develop resource projects estimated to be worth as much as A$35 billion ($38.2 billion).

The Australian central bank on Tuesday has announced it would keep its main cash rate steady at 4.75 percent as expected. But analysts predict the decision might temporary as the government might raise interest rates later in the year to keep inflation in the light of massive trade and mining boom.

The sovereign wealth fund of Australia has sold out its holdings in mine and ammunition makers as the country prepares a treaty that will impose a ban on deadly weapons manufacturing and stockpiling.

Osama Bin Laden was living for the past few years not in a cave as many thought, but in a relatively luxurious compound in Abbottabad, a town 32 miles (51 km) north of the Pakistani capital Islamabad. Here are interesting facts about his hideout: