Vittorio Hernandez

An Australian study of bird flights could provide improvements on pilot-less aircraft, particularly for navigation through environments such as canyons, gorges or under bridges.

A Facebook blog entry disclosed that every day 600,000 log-ins and passwords are compromised.

The local share market is in the red in early trade, following a weak session on Wall Street and ahead of this afternoon's Reserve Bank interest rate decision. Overnight, Wall Street sold off by more than 2pct as profit takers moved in at the end of the month. However over the course of October, stocks rose by 9.6pct, marking one of the best monthly performances on the Dow Jones Index in years. In early trade, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 43.4pts or 1pct to 4317.1.

Jockey Lloyd Williams pulled out his race horse Mourayan from the Melbourne Cup at 10 a.m. of Tuesday. He informed Racing Victoria Chairman of Stewards Terry Bailey that Mourayan has toe problems.

The Australian Securities Exchange suspended all of trades of MF Global Australia due to the filing for bankruptcy on Monday night by its parent company in the U.S. Deloitte was named administrator of MF Global operations in Australia.

Although Qantas is back in the air following the intervention by Fair Work Australia (FWA) over the industrial dispute, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce did not escape recrimination for his unilateral decision to ground the planes and crew on Saturday.

The Australian dollar has opened weaker this morning following yesterday's large Intervention by the Bank of Japan, while the markets expectations for a RBA interest rate cut latter today is also weighing on the AUD.

Global markets retreated sharply overnight, as Italian and Spanish bonds fell amid concern that European leaders will struggle to raise funds to contain the region's debt crisis.

The Chicago purchasing managers index eased from 60.4 to 58.4 in October, just short of forecasts centred on a result near 59.0. But the employment index rose from 60.6 to 62.3. The Dallas Fed manufacturing index improved from minus 14.4 to +2.3 in October. But the New York ISM index eased from 538.0 to 534.9 in October.

The All Ordinaries index (XAO) fell by 1.2 pct or 50.9 pts to 4360.5. Almost all regions of the market lost ground today with the miners the worst performers in percentage terms.

An Australian scientist says he has discovered a key factor in high blood pressure.

The Transport Workers Union promised Monday that baggage handlers, ground crew and catering staff who belong to the union will not strike for the next 21 days, if Qantas negotiates in good faith.

Nomura opened the Chi-X Australia stock trading on Monday. The company promised to bring down prices by removing the monopoly of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX).

After a negative start, the local share market is paring losses to hold only slightly lower at lunchtime in the East. Stocks in New York ended modestly higher on Friday night while European share markets ended mixed. At Midday in the East, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 9.5pts or 0.2pct to 4401.9.

Qantas planes are expected to be flying by mid afternoon.

Despite Fair Work Australia's (FWA) intervention on Qantas' labor row which will result in resumption of flights by 12 noon of Monday, Qantas Chief Executive Alan Joyce's unilateral action did not escape criticism of several groups.

Global markets took a breather on Friday night, as investors consolidated after recent gains. US markets were relatively flat, while in Europe, markets were a touch weaker. There was a lot to take in after all the announcements out of Europe throughout the week. Despite Friday's subdued moves, global markets finished the week with huge gains.

The Australian dollar has maintained its relative strength having surged past 1.0700 late last week after some of the measures agreed to at the EU summit calmed markets for the time being.

The Australian sharemarket surged in the first hour of trade today, with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) rising by as much as 1.5 pct. As the day went on however, the market gave away much of its impressive gains to end largely flat by close of business.

Australians visit an average of 2,772 Web pages months, according to Nielsen Online Ratings, which recently got the Interactive Advertising Bureau's (IAB) endorsement as preferred measure of counting Internet Activities in the country.

A full week after her death, two-year-old Yueyue continues to bother the Chinese conscience hardened by the country's push towards wealth. The introspection is spreading to other countries that experienced similar incidents.

With the approach of Halloween, the Australian consumer watchdog warned of horror make-up facepaint which may contain lead that could be deadly to users.

The global drive to reduce smoking rates appears to be working. A survey by Yahoo of over 1,000 Yahoo users found that campaign appears to be effective particularly among young people.

The distinction between online retailers and bricks-and-mortar stores is slowly being erased due to the falling rates of rentals in Australia.

The Australian sharemarket is gaining for the third consecutive day with the All Ordinaries index (XAO) up 0.8 pct or 36.6 pts to 4440.5. Almost all sectors are improving with the exception of the defensive healthcare and telco sectors.

Australia will share its food productive expertise with poor African nations through a new $36-million food security centre which Prime Minister Julia Gillard launched at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Perth on Friday.

The ongoing industrial dispute in Qantas which has caused family holidays to be canceled and business meetings to be postponed has dug so far a $68-million hole in Qantas's pocket.

Today was one of the more unpredictable days of trade for the Australian sharemarket, with the ASX 200 index (XJO) rising 2.5 pct or 105.7 pts to 4348.2 while the broader All Ordinaries index (XAO) ended 2.4 pct or 103.1 pts higher to 4403.9.

The Australian sharemarket has finally re-opened after a technical glitch crippled markets for a number of hours. At 2pm (AEDT) shares came back online and started rallying almost immediately. The All Ordinaries index (XAO), which is one of the most popular ways to measure Australian market performance is up 1.7 pct or 71.6 pts to 4372.4.