Govt Says Tobacco Firms Selling Cheap Cigarettes is a Desperate Act

The Australian government said on Thursday that issuing much affordable cigarette brands in the market was an act of desperation coming from the British American Tobacco Australia (BATA), which recently unleashed a new brand that sells for only $11.50.

Published: 1 hour, 23 minutes ago

Sloppy NSW Slaughterhouse Conditions Brings Back Memories of Abattoirs in Indonesia

The New South Wales (NSW) government is set to announce tougher standards for abattoirs in the state following the release of videos that showed pigs being hit on the head with metal poles as part of the slaughter process.

Published: 1 hour, 27 minutes ago

Samsung Galaxy S III Released Early in London

Samsung Galaxy S III was released early in London much to the delight of customers who pre-ordered the latest smartphone recently.

Published: 1 hour, 45 minutes ago

China's Nuclear Safety and Development Plan Nears Approval

It looks the safety and development plan that is currently being modified by Chinese regulators and planners for its nuclear industry will have its stamp of approval by June.

Published: 1 hour, 59 minutes ago

Macquarie Consortium Buys E.ON Gas Grid for $4.1 Billion

A Macquarie consortium purchased for $4.1 billion the gas grid of German energy firm E.ON. Open Grid Europe runs Germany's biggest gas transmission system and is about 12,000 kilometres long.

Published: 2 hours, 3 minutes ago

Gartner Crowns Samsung as Number 1 Smartphone Maker

Samsung is the king of smartphones for the first quarter of 2012, based on the latest global sales data released on Thursday by Gartner.

Published: 2 hours, 51 minutes ago

2 Months After Winning Bid for Public Housing Projects in NSW, St Hilliers Goes into Voluntary Administration

St Hilliers Construction, which two months ago won major public housing projects in New South Wales, went into voluntary administration on Wednesday. The move created havoc on the company's building projects in Illawarra, Shoalhaven, Coffs Harbour and Victoria.

Published: 3 hours, 2 minutes ago

North Korea Reported Resuming Reactor Construction

North Korea has resumed construction on an experimental light water reactor, a move that could extend its capacity to produce more material for nuclear weapons, website 38North reported Thursday.

Published: 3 hours, 24 minutes ago

2011 Gold Production in Tanzania Up 13%

Production of the precious safe haven yellow metal gold by Tanzania, Africa's fourth largest gold producer, jumped 13 per cent to 40.4 tonnes in 2011 from 35.6 tonnes in 2010, as companies increased production output prompted by the metal's rising price during the period in reviews.

Published: 3 hours, 37 minutes ago

Report: Apple to Roll Out Major Overhauls on New iPhone

Apple will issue a new iPhone version later this year and based on reports that emerged, the hit gadget will come with a bigger screen, ditching the standard screen size that the smartphone has been carrying since its 2007 market debut.

Published: 3 hours, 39 minutes ago

PM Julia Gillard Blogs for 1 Hour About Carbon Tax, Other Hot Issues in Aussie Newsroom

Hot issues such as the carbon tax and income tax rates were thrown to Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Wednesday when she served for one hour as live blogger on The Telegraph.

Published: 3 hours, 44 minutes ago

Samsung Shares Fall Further On Apple-Elpida Alliance Fears

Shares in South Korea's Samsung Electronics extended their heavy slide on Thursday, on speculation that arch rival Apple Inc is looking to cut its reliance on Samsung memory chips and turn increasingly to Japanese chipmaker Elpida.

Published: 3 hours, 48 minutes ago

Brokerages Stop Taking Facebook Orders

Investors who want Facebook shares when the social network goes public may have lost the opportunity. Some brokers have stopped accepting orders.

Published: 5 hours, 4 minutes ago

Asian Shares Stabilize After Selloff

Asian shares steadied Thursday from the previous day's selloff, but investors found no reason to bet on risk amid deepening turmoil in Greece and fears of contagion to other stressed euro zone economies.

Published: 5 hours, 25 minutes ago

Nikkei Opens Down On Greek Fears

The Nikkei share average slipped in early trade Thursday following news that some Greek banks have been denied funding by the European Central Bank.

Published: 5 hours, 31 minutes ago

Merkel Open To Measures To Revive Greece

German Chancellor Angela Merkel appeared to soften her stand on Greece Wednesday night, saying she was ready to discuss stimulus programs to get the Greek economy growing again and that she was committed to keeping Greece in the euro zone.

Published: 5 hours, 45 minutes ago

Elpida selling over 50 percent of mobile chips to Apple: source

Japan's Elpida Memory Inc has been supplying more than 50 percent of its production of dynamic random access memory chip for mobile devices to Apple Inc since late last year, a source with direct knowledge of Elpida's sales breakdown said on Thursday.

Published: 5 hours, 48 minutes ago

J.C. Penney Stock Suffers Worst Drop Ever, 20%

J.C. Penney Co Inc shares plunged nearly 20 percent on Wednesday, their worst decline ever, wiping away $1.43 billion in market value a day after the retailer shocked Wall Street with a much worse-than-expected drop in sales and by scrapping its dividend.

Published: 6 hours, 2 minutes ago

GM Shares Climb On News of Berkshire, Buffett Investment

Warren Buffett's investing powerhouse, Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (NYSE: BRK.B) took a 10 million share stake in General Motors Company (NYSE: GM) during the first quarter, an investment it disclosed Wednesday, delivering a 2.29 percent bump to car company's shares and a welcome dose of investor confidence.

Published: 6 hours, 50 minutes ago

Communist Party Veterans In China Demand Security Head Zhou Yongkang Quit

A group of retired Chinese Communist Party members have called for the resignation of Zhou Yongkang, the head of China's Public Security Ministry.

Published: 6 hours, 53 minutes ago