AUSTRALIA

The new vessels will be “new generation” ships in many innovative ways - housing exciting new activities and entertainment concepts as well as environment friendly factors.

Beijing will have to seek alternative sources of grain to feed animals as top exporter the United States runs tighter on corn supply than it has for decades, while at home a severe drought threatens China's wheat belt.

A book authored by a WikiLeaks defector claims that the founder of the whistleblower website, Julian Assange, has four 'love children' across the world. An excerpt of the tell-all book was leaked to gossip website Gawker.

Total reported bumper earnings on Friday, bolstered by stronger oil prices, and the French oil major unveiled plans to spend $20 billion this year on new oil and gas projects to boost flagging production.

Flood and storm-battered northern Australia is likely to suffer more frequent weather extremes, according to a study of coral cores that reveal a centuries-old climate record for the region.

Newcrest Mining , Australia's top gold miner, almost doubled underlying first-half profits on Friday due to higher gold production, beating some forecasts, and appointed a new chief executive.

Canadian exchange operator TMX Group (X.TO), which is the target a friendly takeover by the London Stock Exchange (LSE.L) said on Thursday it has taken a 50 percent stake in Australia's PCF MinesOnline.com Ltd.

Global reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Australia's natural disaster risk was increasing and urged its governments to cover the rising damages bill using insurance instruments like catastrophe bonds as opposed to one-off disaster levies.

Properties underlying Australian commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) experienced minimal disruption as a result of the recent flooding and cyclone experienced in Queensland, Australia, according to Standard & Poor's Ratings Services.

About a quarter of Australia's sugar cane crop may have been destroyed after Cyclone Yasi tore through key growing areas, with the damage exacerbating already tight global supplies and helping push U.S. futures to three-decade highs last week.

PetroChina (0857.HK)(PTR.N) agreed to pay C$5.4 billion ($5.4 billion) for half of Encana's Cutbank Ridge shale gas project, marking the largest Chinese investment in a foreign gas asset.

North and South Korea traded blame Thursday for the breakdown of military talks as a stalemate emerged over the starting point for negotiations.

Anglo American's thermal coal unit is keen to expand its operations in South Africa and beyond, but is waiting for price of acquisitions to come down first, the unit's head said late on Wednesday.

A fall in South African thermal coal prices to $113 a tonne this week has started to draw out Indian buyers who have been sidelined since November, Indian traders said on Thursday.

The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are warning poor regions that have so far not been hit by rising food prices, like sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean, to get ready to face them.

Trevor Bailey, one of the greatest England all-rounders of the post-war era, has been found dead in a fire at a nursing home in Essex.

Wright Express, a company that provides mostly fuel payment processing services to commercial and government automobile fleets, release earnings results for Q4 2010.

Leon Russell has landed in the spotlight with Elton John album, appearance on David Letterman, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2011 induction and inclusion in Bluesfest lineup.

The Hong Kong stock exchange said on Thursday it will consider international alliances after Deutsche Boerse and NYSE Euronext announced plans to form the world's biggest trading powerhouse.

The London Stock Exchange is to buy Canada's TMX to claw back lost market share and create the world's fourth-largest bourse trading $4.1 trillion of stock a year.

The London Stock Exchange is to buy Canada's TMX stock exchange operator to create the world's fourth-largest trading center and claw back some of the market share it has lost in recent years.