Latest Australia News
RSS-
Bernanke comments hit US stocks Australian dollar
United States Wall Street saw its biggest one day swing in six months and the Australian dollar dropped overnight as investors raised concerns that the US Federal Reserve will scale back its stimulus program shortly.Markets initially rose as Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernankeaddressed Congress saying the quantitative easing program is providing significant benefits to the American economy ...
-
Aussie dollar US markets slip as stimulus end eyed
United States The Australian dollar and US stocks have fallen after mixed messages from the Federal Reserve over its $US85 billion a month stimulus program.The Fed's chairman Ben Benanke told Congress it was too soon to scale back the stimulus because it was helping the American economy recover.Mr Bernanke says he will consider winding it down in the "next few meetings".However, ...
-
Ford Australia poised for important announcement amid shutdown speculation
Australia Ford Australia says it is poised to make an "important business announcement", amid speculation that the car-maker will confirm an end to all Australian manufacturing.Ford executives have called a press conference at the company's Melbourne headquarters for 10:45am.There are reports the car-maker will announce that it is shutting its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants ...
More Australia News
RSS-
Aust bonds weaker on Fed comments
Australian bond futures prices have fallen following comments from the US Federal Reserve on ending its economic stimulus program. In testimony to Congress, Fed chairman Ben Bernanke gave an upbeat assessment of the US economy but warned that ending the central bank's program called quantitative easing (QE) could stall the nation's economic recovery. He later said there could be a ...
-
Profit falls at James Hardie
James Hardie's full year net profit has fallen significantly because of changes to its asbestos liabilities and the impact of legal battles with the tax office. The building products maker on Thursday posted a net profit of $US45.5 million ($A47.19 million) for the year to March 31, down 92 per cent from $US604.3 million in the previous year. The previous year's profit was boosted by ...
-
Ford ends Australian production
FORD Australia is set to drop a bombshell on the car industry this morning. It is expected to announce the closure of its Broadmeadows car factory and its Geelong engine ...
-
Two die in fiery Wheatbelt truck smash
AT least two people have been killed in an horrific fiery truck and car collision near Wubin, 275km north-east of Perth - making five deaths inside 24 ...
-
Ford Australia to shut Victorian plants
FORD Australia is set to drop a bombshell on the car industry this morning. It is expected to announce the closure of its Broadmeadows car factory and its Geelong engine ...
-
Telstra staff wait for axe to fall
TELSTRA workers are bracing for deep job cuts as the telco giant prepares to announce its biggest structural shake-up in a ...
-
Mining boom peak officially over
And the investment phase of the mining boom is likely to have already peaked, according to a government report. Capital spending in the nation's resources sector is set to plunge by two-thirds over the next five years, it says. The value of committed projects - those approved by companies and governments, or those already begun - is expected to slow to $256 billion by the end of the year. ...
-
Tumbling PC sales drag down HP profit
HEWLETT-PACKARD says its quarter profit has been hit by a dramatic slump in sales of personal computers, but maintains its reorganisation is making ...
-
Can you read Charles Darwins handwriting UC Berkeley wants you
University of California, Berkeley's entomology museum hopes to decipher and digitize some of the labels on collections of insects, some more than a century old, with the help of the public. Cal's Essig Museum of Entomology seeks volunteers with Internet access to sign up for the Calbug project, through which they'll be sent images of hand-written field notes that identify ...
-
Ford to end Australian production
Ford is expected to announce it will end vehicle production in Australia.Sky News reports the company will announce the move will come into effect from 2016.Fairfax radio is reporting that it will close its Broadmeadows and Geelong factories.Ford has not officially confirmed any closures, however a spokesperson has said that it would issue a media alert this morning.Federal Assistant Treasurer ...
-
Australias James Hardie Q4 profit down 11 pct outlook cautious
SYDNEY | Wed May 22, 2013 7:19pm EDT SYDNEY May 22 (Reuters) - Australian building materials group James Hardie Industries Ltd reported an 11 percent fall in fourth-quarter profit after declines in sales prices in the United States and Europe offset improved sales volumes in those markets. The world's largest manufacturer of fibre cement products, which earns two-thirds of its ...
-
Australia shares to weaken after Wall St decline
SYDNEY | Wed May 22, 2013 7:16pm EDT SYDNEY May 23 (Reuters) - Australian shares are seen easing on Thursday after falls on Wall Street over worries that the U.S. Federal Reserve may consider winding back its economic stimulus programme. * Local share price index futures fell 0.4 percent, a 14.4-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark closed 0.3 percent ...
-
Australia ‘going backwards’ on asylum policy
Australia%u2019s controversial asylum seeker policies have been slammed by a new Amnesty International report into the global state of human rights. ...
-
Road Watch All fine on Adelaide streets
THERE have been no major accidents on metropolitan roads this morning with expected wild weather avoiding the city. Nick Green from the Australian Traffic Network said many roads, including the South Eastern Freeway and the Northern Expressway, were still slippery and reminded motorists to drive to the conditions. Traffic on Anzac Hwy, Main South Rd, Marion Rd and Port Wakefield roads was ...
-
Making a poll win a breeze
To continue the weathervane analogy, it is not just a case of which way the wind is blowing but how strongly it is blowing. This means there are any number of positions that groups can adopt: strongly one way or another; weakly one way or another; or pretty much even-handed. Even-handed can still be an important position to take. If a group that usually supports one side is undecided, then the ...
-
Path to preserving local funding a vital road to take
Illustration: Karl Hilzinger When I grew up, and some might say that would be rather recently, sealed roads around my district were still a novelty. There was always a sense of excitement as you saw the black tar approaching as you drove along the dirt road. It meant you could wind the window down, and prior to airconditioning, that was quite something. I remember the sign saying ...
-
Memo all newsreaders from Macarthurs proud citizens Campbelltown and Campsie are 40km apart
Campbelltown is a part of south-western Sydney - but it no longer wants to be. As far as TV and radio news coverage is concerned, that is. Residents of Campbelltown, Camden and the Picton-based Wollondilly Shire are fed up with being thrown into the same geographic area as Lakemba, Punchbowl and Campsie in a distant, unconnected part of Sydney. So that's why the local Fairfax newspaper I ...
-
No logic to cycle of abuse on roads
Illustration: Edd Aragon Here's a first. Seen tooling around Surry Hills before Easter, a tandem with a difference. The front human is lycra-clad, leaning in, pedaling hard. The other, behind, reclines. He is calm, sweatless, business suited, working the phone. Unsure whether it's micro-industry or performance art, I log it anyway as a new local life-form, Limosinius cyclus ...
-
Over to public to seal the deal for fantastic four
On the big issues Australians generally do the right thing, and make the right collective judgment. They prefer positive to negative. This is why the blockbuster successes on TV in recent years have been about celebration, not humiliation. I am now counting on the Australian public to do the right thing by Miss Murphy. Miss Murphy, from a Tongan immigrant family, works for a church in western ...
-
Taxing matters as GST takes centre stage again
'When the history of this Parliament, this nation and this century is written, June 30, 1999, will be recorded as a day of fundamental injustice - an injustice which is real, an injustice which is not simply conjured up by the fleeting rhetoric of politicians …'' This quaint overreach came from Kevin Rudd way back in 1999, as John Howard's ...
-
Renovation and geography are worlds apart
''Art deco is Miami,'' another paint-spattered House Ruler says (if the other show's contestants are called Blockheads, what else are we to do with these?). For their part, Jane and Plinio are convinced their direction is simple to follow. Well, Jane is. Plinio does a lot of nodding. Jane obviously spends much time wondering how to define things, since she decides that ...
-
Heart Victory divided on draw
It was a tale of two cities as Melbourne's A-League clubs reacted to the 2013-14 season draw released on Wednesday, with Heart happy with its lot and Victory far from impressed by the scheduling. The two meet in the opening round in a Victory home game at Etihad Stadium, but the fixture is not a stand-alone event to mark the new season's opening. That honour goes to Sydney FC, which ...
Digest on Australia
-
Australia the energy superpower?
A new boom in the extraction of Australia's natural gas reserves will have immense economic benefits for the country and especially the state of Western Australia, but conservationists warn of an environmental impact.
Australia is a country rich in natural resources, because of this its economy is an export driven one, and coal, iron ore, wool, meat, gold, and wheat are some of its main exports. It was in the 1920’s that Australia’s economic potential was underpinned by the gold rush that saw its population triple in size in just ten years. Read more
News from around our Network
