Vittorio Hernandez

Despite the controversy generated by the carbon tax, Australian Greens leader Bob Brown said on Thursday that the country is now ready to take global lead on climate.

Investor focus appears to have turned from Greece to Italy, with fear gripping offshore markets overnight. US and European share markets were heavily sold off after Italian borrowing costs (10 year bond yields) rose to 7.5pct, the highest level since the Euro was launched in 1999. Any figure above 7pct is psychological because that was the level which heightened worries about Greece, Ireland and Portugal and all three countries eventually needed a bailout. The Dow Jones Index closed down 3.2pct ...

Australia's unemployment rate went down to 5.2 per cent in October, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics which released the report on Thursday.

A $30 million athlete facility being built in London uses wood sources from protected Tasmanian forests, according to results of a six-month probe. The wood is used for the flooring of the sports hall.

More options are now available for Aussie air travelers with the entry of China Southern Airlines into Australian skies. The air carrier made its maiden flight which arrived Wednesday morning in Perth.

The popular online game Angry Birds will be one of the drivers of the projected 18 per cent compound annual growth rate of the digital games market in the Asia-Pacific region.

Despite Opposition leader Tony Abbott's vow to repeal the carbon tax if he comes to power, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard claimed in a question-and-answer portion at the CarbonExpo conference in Melbourne on Wednesday that Mr Abbott will not repeal the tax.

Despite the hurried city life, a new study released on Wednesday said that urban Aussies prefer freshly brewed coffee while their rural counterparts favour instant coffee.

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the second straight day thanks to news that Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to step down later this month. This resulted in strong gains from the American markets late in trade this morning, which has translated in an impressive performance from shares locally. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is up 1.4 pct or 60.5 pts to 4417.2.

After hosting Queen Elizabeth in October, Australia will welcome on Nov. 16 and 17 U.S. President Barack Obama who will visit Canberra and Darwin.

The chair of the ongoing media inquiry proposed on Tuesday a new industry levy to strengthen the Press Council, Australia's newspaper watchdog.

The Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman received for the year about 198,000 complaints against telecommunication firms in Australia. The complaints were up by almost 25,000 from the previous year's 168,000.

Contrary to claims by the Opposition that the carbon tax passed Tuesday by the Australian Senate would cause economic slow down, a climate expert said that the impact of a $23 per tonne tax would be to increase inflation rate by less than 1 per cent.

Australia's top mortgage lender, Commonwealth Bank, forecast on Tuesday that the global economy would slow down due to the European debt crisis. As a result, the bank's funding cost could go up.

Despite pressure from other Labor leaders for a formal party position on gay marriage, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Tuesday that she would allow a conscience vote on the issue.

A battle is brewing between wine producers and proponents of a coal seam gas project in Hunter Valley as the vineyard owners seek to stop AGL Energy from exploring and putting in gas wells through the area's vineyards.

Mindoro Resources (ASX: MDO) announced on Tuesday three new high-grade gold intercepts from two further drill holes at its mine in Batangas province in the Philippines. The gold intercepts are part of the infill and extension drilling of the Southwest Breccia (SWB) epithermal gold shoot at the town of Lobo.

The marketing war between Apple and Google over a larger share of the smartphone and tablet computer pie has give rise to a new culture in the workplace. Independent technology analyst Ovum calls it the "Bring your own device" (BYOD) phenomenon.

After a less than ideal start to the trading week yesterday, Australian shares are rising modestly. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) is up 0.2 pct or 10.7 pts to 4346. Most of the larger sectors are currently improving with the S&P/ASX 200 Materials index up 0.4 pct while the S&P/ASX 200 Financials index is 0.3 pct or 12.1 pts higher to 4066.6.

As the Australian Senate votes on the carbon price on Tuesday, the Labor government said it will stick to its proposed $23 per tonne price.

The third quarter was another bad period for Australia's retail industry, except for online sellers, as supermarkets and department stores recorded declining sales.

Australian Prime Julia Gillard has the Qantas crisis and the G20 Summit to thank for lifting her sagging popularity. Latest survey made by Newspoll released on Tuesday shows that Labor got a 47 per cent rating, up by 1 per cent, while the coalition lost 1 per cent.

It seemed that investors stayed well away from the Australian sharemarket today ahead of further clarification on a number of topics from the Eurozone and particularly Greece over the next few days. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) fell by 0.2 pct or 7.2 pts to 4335.3.

CMC Markets said on Monday that it would implement a fully segregated client money model, including client margins in Australia and New Zealand.

Following the cut by the Reserve Bank of Australia Friday of the country's growth forecast to 3.25 per cent for 2011/12, Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Monday the national coffers could still return to a budget surplus in 2012/13 as planned.

Ninety-eight per cent of Victoria nurses who belong to the Australian Nursing Federation (ANF) Victoria branch voted "Yes" on Friday for protected action.

India will remain the top knowledge process outsourcing (KPO) global site despite challenges from China, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Australian Senator Nick Xenophon pushed for an amendment of the Qantas Sale Act to prevent a repeat of the unilateral grounding of Qantas planes which stranded about 70,000 passengers.

German sportswear and gear manufacturer Adidas is the latest victim of cyber attack. The company's Web site was closed on Sunday after a sophisticated and criminal hacking incident.