Vittorio Hernandez

New South Wales (NSW) Premier Barry O'Farrell announced on Tuesday that the state government will sell buildings worth over $300 million. The state will use the proceeds of the sale to begin housing infrastructure in growth areas in Sydney.

Qantas is on an apparent collision course, not against Virgin Australia or Tiger Airways or Middle Easter air carriers, but against the premier of New South Wales (NSW) over the plan to build a second airport in Sydney.

Anna Burke was elected on Tuesday as House Speaker of the Australian Parliament, putting an end to career of Peter Slipper who resigned over a sexual harassment scandal.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the eighth time in nine sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by 0.5 per cent or 24.6 pts to 4526.6. Last night, European markets slumped by as much as 2 per cent, with shares in Milan amongst the biggest losers. France's CAC40 and Germany's DAX Index both slid by close to 1.5 per cent. The CAC40 and DAX are France and Germany's equivalents to Australia's All Ordinaries Index (XAO).

The International Monetary Fund has today cut its growth forecasts for China for this year and next, saying stimulus efforts have so far failed to deliver the expected boost. The downgrade appears to have been factored into local sentiment, with Australian stocks hitting a fresh 14 month high in early trade. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 17.1pts or 0.4pct to 4519.1pts at lunchtime in the East.

The next Nexus phone will appear this month, produced by LG, CNET reports. This will be the first time Google has teamed up with LG and it should help the latter break into the U.S. market. The phone is expected to be heavily influenced by the LG Optimus G.

Much like the battle in the mobile phone space that resulted in three companies - Nokia (NOK), Motorola (GOOG) and one time mobile phone vendor Ericsson (ERIC) - controlling the industry, the smartphone market is now consolidating around its top players. That means market share loss and margin pressure for others.

Several business groups have spoken against the failure of the big 4 to pass in full to borrowers the 25 basis points cut in overnight cash rate the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) made last week. The groups also did not spare the central bank for failing to persuade the lenders to follow its monetary policy.

Single Australian women, who comprise 87 per cent of the country's poorest families, will lose $60 a week with plans by the federal government to move 100,000 single parents from Parenting Payments to Newstart in 2013.

Business leaders from Australia and Japan urged Canberra not to overlook Tokyo while the Gillard government focuses on the Chinese economy as the world gears for the Asian century.

The Australian sharemarket ended in the red for the first time in eight sessions, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) easing by just 0.3 per cent or 11.8 pts to 4502. Keep in mind that last week, shares improved by 2.5 per cent, which was the local market's third best performance this year.

On Friday the US market closed mixed as the early excitement over the better than expected US jobs report started to dwindle away. The NASDAQ closed in the red as Apple and Zynga shares pulled the index lower. Metal prices lost ground and concern over European growth added to the pain.

Another Nokia Lumia will become exclusive for AT&T in US. The Nokia Lumia 920 will run on Windows Phone 8, Microsoft's upcoming software release for PC.

LG announced the addition of 3D video game platform to its Smart TV app offerings. To be released in the later part of 2012, it features primarily family-friendly games in both 2D and 3D in genres including action/adventure, RPGs, puzzle games, sports, and more. User can browse or search for games as well as purchase and play them through the TV's interface which looks like any app store. Owners can use either the LG Magic Remote or any third party game controller.

A study for ANZ Bank conducted by Newspoll found that many Australians favour the use of new but difficult to cheat technologies to access their bank accounts. In lieu of plastic cards used to withdraw money from ATMs, they would prefer retina or fingerprint scanning technology.

Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Governor Glenn Stevens is one of the candidates who may replace Sir Mervyn King as government of the Bank of England (BoE). Mr King is scheduled to retire in 2013.

In an apparent bid to boost Coalition leader Tony Abbott's declining political stock due to his perceived problem with powerful females, the other women in his family have joined the media blitzkrieg initiated by Margie Abbott, the wife of Mr Abbott.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the seventh straight day today, rising by 2.5 per cent over the past five sessions alone. This is the longest winning streak in over 18 months and the best weekly performance for local equities since late July. Despite the gains, this has been one of the quieter weeks of the year due to a number of public holidays across Asia Pacific. The Chinese markets have been closed for five days straight but should resume trade next week. The market has also been qui...

Four days after the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) reduced by 25 basis points the overnight cash rate to 3.25 per cent, two members of the big four announced rate cuts on Friday.

The Australian share market started off slightly stronger again today and by lunchtime the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) had rallied 30points higher to 4,450 points, as the reversal in the US$ oil price overnight and strength in the retail sector boosted stocks. The XAO set to close higher for the seventh straight day.

Goldvish, a Swiss company, launched the Equilibrium mobile phone brand, to add to the firm's growing line of premium luxury cell phones that combine high-end technology and the known Swiss craftsmanship.

Margie Abbott, the wife of Coalition Tony Abbott, is on a public relations blitz in an apparent attempt to recover lost political support among voters for her husband who recently was questioned over having problems with female authorities or women in general.

Prosecutors concluded this week their case against Karl Joseph Kraus, a 93-year-old Australian who is battling pedophilia charges in northern Thailand.

Free train rides would be offered to rail commuters in 2013 when two major lines and the Adelaide Railway Station close for upgrading and prepare for electrification.

With global commodity prices of iron ore and coal at record-low levels, mining giant Rio Tinto (ASX: RIO) has apparently forayed into the agriculture to seek other sources of income outside the once very profitable resources sector.

The Australian sharemarket improved for the sixth consecutive day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by 0.3 per cent or 13.8 pts to 4472.6. While this perhaps doesn't sound overly impressive, it is the best winning streak for the local market since December 2011. The gains haven't been backed by a rise in volume though, with investors still shying away from truly diving headfirst into equities.

Microsoft announced on Wednesday that Javascript was developed with complex applications and at the same time made available a new plugin for Visual Studio. The plugin, known as Typescript, will make Javascript more user friendly for newbies who want to create large-scale web applications.

The Australian share market started of strong up near 10 points but as the morning went on the market lost ground. By lunchtime the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) moved into the red and was off 1pt to 4,460 points, hit by the slide in the oil price overnight and weak economic data.

Infrastructure New South Wales (INSW) named on Wednesday 70 projects and reforms that the agency will pursue considered crucial to the state's growth and development.