Vittorio Hernandez

Despite pleading guilty, former Liberal Senator Mary Jo Fisher was not convicted by the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court on Wednesday over second shoplifting charges. Magistrate Paul Wilson said a conviction is not proper due to lack of previous shoplifting convictions on the 49-year-old former lawmaker.

Another Australian couple is facing genital mutilation charges after they were accused of organising the illegal circumcision of their baby daughter in Bali.

Pakistan denied a published report last week that some of the 21,000 imported Australian sheep suspected of carrying the salmonella bacteria and ordered culled by Karachi authorities were killed in a brutal manner.

A landmark Australian High Court ruling released on Wednesday ruled against Qantas's pocketing $34 million in general sales tax (GST) that passengers forfeited when they did not push through with their flights.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 has a lot to say when it comes to features and specifications. The combination of special live editing for movies and photos and the wide screen for viewing pleasure with amazing details make this device worth buying. However, not all is covered by this device, although Galaxies are known for versatility and flexibility that catches the interest of techies.

The Australian share market continued its solid run this morning. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) opening 20 points higher, despite the weak close on overseas markets and falls in gold and oil futures.

A growing number of Australians expressed their dissatisfaction with Facebook because of the popular social networking site's culture of narcissism and self-absorption.

The Bank of Queensland said on Wednesday that it would cut by 20 basis points is interest rate following the Tuesday decision by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to reduce the overnight cash rate by 25 basis points.

Dutch MP Geert Wilders, known for his controversial anti-Islam stand, postponed his speaking engagement in Australia to February 2013 due to what the organisers of the talk considers delay in the issuance of the legislator's visa.

The Australian sharemarket rose for the fourth consecutive session, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rising by 1 pct or 43.6 pts to 4451.9. Despite the improvement, volume and value of shares exchanging hands remained light due to public holidays in China, Hong Kong and India.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) surprised the banking community on Tuesday by announcing an overnight cash rate cut of 25 basis points. With the decision, the country's key lending rate is down to 3.25 per cent, the lowest in three years.

Cybergeddon is humanity's battle against a large-scale viral assault on all computer networks, systems, and activities. The threat of growing population of tech literates versus tech experts is a factor to the growth of sophisticated hacking programmes and mechanisms used by malicious perpetrators. This may sound threatening but even though it is possible to happen, experts are also doing everything they can to prevent a global crisis like this.

Today, the Australian share market followed the lead of the US and European markets higher, with the gains in oil and gold helping the material sector run higher in early trade. By lunchtime the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) had held on to early gains up 28 points to 4,436 points.

The South Korean tech giant Samsung has announced the roll out of a new electronic device in the later part of 2012, the Samsung Galaxy Camera. The brand name Galaxy indicates that its operating system is the Android but this time it is merged to a digital camera.

While residents of most Australian states are struggling with their finances, let alone save, the mining boom has made people from Western Australia (WA) and Queensland enjoy a comfortable income that enabled them to pay their debts and even save some money.

Former ABC Host Andy Muirhead was sentenced on Monday by the Tasmania Supreme Court for 10 months over charges of child pornography. The basis of his sentence in a decision written by Chief Justice Ewan Crawford was evidence that Mr Muirhead had stashed a large collection of photographs and videos of child porn in his personal computer between February 2009 and June 2010.

New Zealanders continue to migrate to Australia which offers better income opportunities to migrants. The New Zealand Herald reports that in the past 12 months to June 2012, the number of Kiwi migrants hit a record-high of 53,763 people.

After a slow start to trade this morning, the Australian sharemarket managed to edge higher by the close of business. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by just 0.1 pct or 3.5 pts to 4406.3; however still finished the week lower by around 0.5 pct. This makes it the first weekly loss for the Australian sharemarket in four weeks. Volume was also higher than usual due to equity option expiry yesterday.

After a slight improvement in markets yesterday, Australian shares are a touch weaker at lunch. The All Ordinaries Index is down 0.1 pct or 5.7 pts to 4397.1. Last night, the Spanish parliament released its first draft of a tough 2013 budget. Around €39 billion of spending cuts were announced, which is an 8.9 pct reduction in spending compared to this current year. Perhaps this can be summed up as being good news for markets (over the very short term) and bad news for those living in Spain. The...

While the federal government of the United States announced on Thursday plans to include the great white sharks in its endangered species list, on the same day, Australia announced plans that it has set aside $6.85 million to kill sharks.

Despite the carbon tax being collected by the Gillard government for almost three months and the sky not falling as predicted by the Opposition, Coalition leader Tony Abbott continues to use colourful language to describe the tax which he vowed to repeal if he wins the 2013 federal election.

Witnesses to the culling of some of the 21,000 Australian sheep rejected by Bahrain and Pakistan described the process as inhumane and brutal. The Karachi edition of The International News cited a video which showed the animals being clubbed, stabbed and buried alive.

The design of new Australian bank notes which the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has commissioned failed to win the nod of many Aussies.

The same-sex marriage bill in Tasmania suffered on Thursday the same fate its federal counterpart experienced when it was rejected by state lawmakers. The fate of the controversial measure was sealed when the 8th member of the 15-member Legislative Council voted against the bill.

The Australian sharemarket ended a little higher for the first time in four days, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) edging higher by 0.5 pct or 20.3 pts to 4402.8. Despite today's improvement, markets have been treading water ahead of the Spanish Parliament's release of the 2013 budget (first draft). The borrowing costs for the Spanish government are currently sitting at 6 pct, which is around twice as high as funding costs for our government.

Yesterday, the Australian share market closed lower for the third straight session, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) giving back another 13 points to 4,382 points.

In the generally male-dominated world of mining, two resources queens are engaged in a court battle over ownership of the Hope Downs iron ore mine in Pilbara.

More major resources projects in Australia continued to be shelved as commodity prices remain low. The latest to be added to the list of postponed or cancelled projects is the $650-million ammonium nitrate plant of chemical giant Incitec Pivot.

Australian mining tycoon Nathan Tinkler is no longer number one on the BRW Young Rich List, which he has dominated since 2009. The former coal pit electrician at Hunter Valley, with his $400 million personal wealth, has slipped to second place.