IMF leads push for bigger firewall

International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde led a global push for the euro zone to boost its financial firewall, saying "if it is big enough it will not get used".

Security scare: PM details adviser’s role

Updated | Prime Minister Julia Gillard says her former media adviser Tony Hodges did not say or suggest that Opposition Leader Tony Abbott had called for the Aboriginal tent embassy to be torn down.

UK police arrest Murdoch tabloid staff, raid offices

British police arrested four current and former staff of Rupert Murdoch's best-selling Sun tabloid plus a policeman on Saturday as part of an investigation into suspected payments by journalists to officers.

Woman found dead at Alan Bond's house

The body of a woman, believed to be the wife of former high-flying businessman Alan Bond, has been found at their home in the Perth beachside suburb of Cottesloe.

RBS chairman waives bonus amid payout row

The chairman of the state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland has waived a shares bonus worth 1.4 million pound ($2.08 million) amid a row over executive pay.

RBS slashes chief’s bonus by half

Treasurer defends car handouts

Treasurer Wayne Swan is rejecting arguments that the government is using the high dollar as a scapegoat for car industry job losses and low productivity.

Thomson inquiry focuses on trio

The minority federal government will head back to Parliament under the cloud of an investigation into the finances of the HSU which is considering making adverse findings against three individuals.

Carbon price no problem

The federal government’s former climate change adviser Ross Garnaut has dismissed concerns the price of carbon in Australia will be too high.

Carbon plan floors emitters

Markets Today

Late buying helps Wall Street finish flat

US stocks trimmed losses to end little changed on Friday, as investors saw dips in the market as an opportunity to buy into what has been a strong first month of 2012.

Facebook to file IPO papers within days: WSJ

Updated | Facebook is preparing to file the paperwork for an initial public offering of shares to raise as much as $US10 billion, perhaps as early as Wednesday, a report says.

Iconic offering to set new advisory fee standard

What Kloppers knows

Cyber attacks against businesses are becoming more prevalent and it is time CEOs and board members started taking more responsibility.

Call for overhaul of Queensland’s planning laws

Leading company chairman Graham Bradley has called on the Bligh government to streamline approvals for mining projects to ensure Queensland makes the most of the resources boom.

Chanticleer

Back door swings wide open

The long-term hibernation of the initial public offering market in Australia is likely to lead to greater use of back-door listings as well as increased complexity in the structuring of merger and acquisition deals.

		Change	% Chg
S&P/ASX 200	4288.4	17.1	+ 0.40%
Dow Jones	12660.46	- 74.17	- 0.58%
FTSE 100	5733.45	- 61.75	- 1.07%
SPI 200 MAR2	4255.000	5.000	+ 0.10%
AUD/USD	1.0655	0.0000	+ 0.00%

Last updated: Sat, 28 Jan 2012 05:06 PM AEST

Markets Data »

New risks in the labour market

Alan Mitchell - The inflation and the labour market outlook in Australia has changed dramatically in the past few months.
Majors soar while index struggles

Last call - Since mid-2005 the four major banks, along with BHP and Rio have all reported an increase – some by a record margin – in their bottom line.
Do as Cameron says, not as he does

Market monitor - Following David Cameron’s advice to Germany I’m expecting him to start winding back his fiscal sustainability push.
Fed still has tricks left up its sleeve

Bassanese - It’s no wonder that many United States Republican politicians hate Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
EU oil embargo draws line in Iranian sand

Europe declared war on Iran this past week using what is perhaps the last best weapon in its arsenal – an oil embargo.
Galileo’s lesson for our teachers

Capital idea - How would Galileo have gone in the national literacy and numeracy tests for Australian students known as NAPLAN?
American banks try to pass the buck

What’s on Wall Street’s mind right now? Listen to any US banker lately and it sounds like regulation is killing them. But look at the evidence.
Striving for a better indigenous future

Editorial | The sight of Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott being hustled away by their security people was not the image that we wanted to project.
Fears Gillard has done her dash

The pictures of Australia’s Prime Minister cowering in the arms of a security officer as she fled a pursuing mob will be a lasting one.
Pegasus may be next winner for Perth geologist

Luke Forrestal - Michael Fotios is fast becoming known as the man to follow among the Perth elite wanting to gamble on the resources sector.

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Boom year will help bring out Aussie stars

Men’s tennis is in for a bonanza year as the big four battle for grand slams and Olympic gold, says John Newcombe.

Principal opera role for Mazda

Opera Australia has convinced long-time partner Mazda to step up to principal status for the next three years.

The ants that ate my car

I barely noticed them. The tiny black ants marching across the dashboard were hard to see, hard to object to.

Heard the one about the pub?

Aussie walks into a bar… stupid bloke, forgot his glasses. Horse walks into a bar. Barman says: “Why the long face?”

Rather Greens of all hues than a blacklisting

Movements that were once inclusive but turn exclusive are generally movements in trouble.

Fix your eyes on new horizons

Given the changing prospects, a smart investment may be to swap where the developed and developing markets sit in the conventional core-plus-satellite portfolio.

Resources Daily

The politics of the deal

How did small Australian explorer Nexus Energy find itself launched into one of the biggest of the big-time underwater drilling ventures?

DealBook

Inside the deal

How FLSmidth courted Ludowici

This week saw Danish world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki bow out of the Australian Open, but another Danish force, the engineering group FLSmidth, hoped it delivered an ace with its bid for Australia’s Ludowici.

Business

China keenly eyeing Browse gas

Chinese oil companies are lining up to make a $10 billion commitment to Woodside Petroleum’s massive Browse liquefied natural gas project in Western Australia, despite the uncertainty hanging over the venture’s development.

National

Woman found dead at Alan Bond's house

The body of a woman, believed to be the wife of former high-flying businessman Alan Bond, has been found at their home in the Perth beachside suburb of Cottesloe.

Film | Chekhov in Hawaiian shirts

The Descendants is a low-key film about human relationships that could have toppled into sentimentality with only the smallest nudge from director Alexander Payne.

World

RBS chairman waives bonus amid payout row

The chairman of the state-rescued Royal Bank of Scotland has waived a shares bonus worth 1.4 million pound ($2.08 million) amid a row over executive pay.

RBS slashes chief’s bonus by half

Karzai, British PM sign Afghanistan deal

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and British Prime Minister David Cameron on Saturday signed an agreement on the future of Afghanistan aimed at bringing stability to the country after the withdrawal of international troops in 2014.

Markets

Take control: it’s your super

If you want to make your money work as hard as you do, learn to understand your super fund and its investment options so you know why and when to change them.

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Property

Facelift for FKP’s retirement unit model

FKP Property Group’s chief executive Peter Brown has already picked where he’ll live when he retires.

Personal finance

Award default funds under scrutiny

A quarter of the most prominent superannuation schemes in the industrial awards system have underperformed the industry average over the past seven years, putting pressure on the Productivity Commission to recommend the introduction of criteria for the selection of default funds.

Technology

Smartphone sales swell Samsung profits

Samsung Electronics reported a 17 per cent jump in fourth quarter profit on the strength of smartphone sales even as the company battled claims it had copied Apple’s iPhone.