Vittorio Hernandez

Acting Health Services Union (HSU) National President Chris Brown is studying the filing of 10 charges in a bid to oust whistleblower and HSU National Secretary Kathy Jackson.

Despite a positive start, the local share market closed slightly lower today with investors unwilling to take on too much risk ahead of an important week on the global front. Chinese shares fell to their lowest level in three and a half years, following a fall in profits from industrial companies. After rallying to an intra-day high of 4402.9pts, the local market closed down 3.6pts to 4372.9.

In 2011, Australians lost a total of $4.8 billion to cybercriminals, according to a Norton cyber crime report released on Monday.

The Australian share market has regained some Friday´s lost ground today. On Friday night we saw the US market rallying higher on expectations the US Federal Reserve members stated they were willing to restimulate the US economy if needed and positive comment out of Asia. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) opened up 24 points higher, but by lunch had given back a bit of ground, holding on to a 15 point gain at 4,391 points.

The current price of iron ore at $100 per tonne is expected to drop further to $80 before the price would recover, experts said on Monday.

Perth residents trooped to shopping malls and other retail outlets on Sunday for the first time as Western Australia's amended Sunday trading laws took effect on Aug 26.

The days of grandparents being left behind to age gracefully in old folks' homes are slowly changing as more senior citizens are being included in intergenerational travel bookings or going on bike tours to help fellow grannies in Africa.

BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) may have shelved expansion plans at the Olympic Dam, but the mining giant is still on an expansion mode in other areas of operations. BHP Chief Executive Marius Kloppers disclosed on Sunday that the company will boost its coal output in Queensland by 50 per cent by hiking production at 10 per cent for the next two years.

The Australian sharemarket maintained its losses throughout the afternoon, to end lower for the third time this week. Despite the pullback, the local market has still improved for seven of the past nine trading weeks. Shares have jumped by 2 pct so far this month and are adding to July's 3.7 pct gains.

The Australian Capital Territory (ACT) government said on Friday that it has started to collaborate with the Tasmanian government to develop same-sex marriage legislation.

Minister for Resources Martin Ferguson belied on Friday speculations that Australia's mining boom is coming to an end. While recent decisions by resource companies indicate a slowdown based on shelving or cancellation of multibillion-dollar projects, there are many ongoing ventures as well as newly approved applications that show the sector is still robust.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground following yesterday's modest improvement. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.8 pct or 37.3 pts to 4374.5.

Another classic battle between environmental groups and business interest is shaping up in Victoria which announced on Thursday the opening of its national parks to private tourism development.

Gina Rinehart is having her sweet revenge on the Fairfax Media board, which rejected her bid to become director, by attempting to dump her shares of the financially challenged company.

The adage that when a door closes, another window opens appears true for Australia's mining sector BHP Billiton announced it will no longer push through with its Olympic Dam expansion project, the federal government approved the $10.4-billion coal mine and rail project of Indian firm GVK Power and Infrastructure in Galilee Project.

Following a slight pullback yesterday, the Australian sharemarket managed to improve for the second time this week. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by 0.2 pct or 8.5 pts to 4411.8. The index is one of the most popular ways to measure market performance on the local sharemarket.

After a restless session on overseas markets the Aussie market opened higher this morning. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) lifted at the start of trade, helped by gains in mining and banking stocks, up 24 points. But by lunch the market had reacted to the weaker than expected read on Chinese manufacturing and lost momentum with the All Ordinaries Index only holding on to a 1 point gain.

The Asian Development Bank announced on Thursday the signing of a road transport agreement between China and Vietnam which opened a 1,300-kilometre road that links the two Asian nations.

Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick said on Wednesday that the present atmosphere in Defence would not allow women to flourish within the organisation. To change this, she made 21 recommendations when she submitted her final report to the federal government.

Australian public service unions are against a proposal by the Coalition to outsource federal jobs to state governments. Community and Public Sector Union National Secretary Nadine Flood warned of the danger of reversion to a 1980s policy which could result in axing of thousands of federal jobs.

Westpac Bank, one of the big four which used to defy Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) overnight cash rate policies, is recommending more interest rate cuts to boost the Australian economy.

Support by the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Greens led the passing on Wednesday night by the territory's Legislative Assembly of the same-sex union bill after a long debate.

The Australian sharemarket ended a touch lower by close of trade, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) easing by just 0.2 pct or 7.5 pts to 4403.3. On two occasions, the market briefly snuck into positive territory only to fall back into the red a few minutes later.

After a strong session here at home yesterday that pushed the All Ordinaries to a 3 and a half month high, markets in Europe moved higher overnight. As the trading day moved on money moved into mining stocks and commodity prices on comments from Chinese officials that more economic stimulus could eventuate in the next month or two. US markets fell away from the open of trade as investors took profits, especially in the tech sector, and the index closed below 4 year highs.

The New South Wales government ended on Tuesday its one year impasse with the Shooters Party over amendments to the state government's anti-graffiti legislation.

Despite the apparent slowdown of Australia's resource sector, mining giant CITIC Pacific expects full production of its $8-billion iron ore mine in Western Australia even if the project has been hit by delays.

The anticipated released of BHP Billiton's (ASX: BHP) full year financial results on Wednesday was not over an expected profit decline, but the mining giants intentions on expansion plans.

For the 11-year period 2001 to 2012, Australian workers stole a total of $398 million from businesses through employee fraud, a study by forensic accounting firm Warfield and Associates found.

Among Australian states, Queensland has the most number of mortgage defaults, a report by Fitch Ratings released on Wednesday said.