The owner of the Pacific National rail freight business has announced plans to sell or close its grain transport operation in Victoria.

ANZ Bank branches across Australia will be targeted by the Wilderness Society today.

The New South Wales Government is being asked for further guarantees over the future of the Snowy Hydro company in the wake of its decision this week to privatise the state's power industry.

Tough counter-terrorism and anti-money laundering rules come into effect for the Australian financial sector today.

The owner of the Pacific National rail freight business has announced plans to sell or close its grain transport operation in Victoria.

New technology pioneered in Australia to refine scrap metal waste is be put to the test in northern Tasmania.

Financial software group MYOB Ltd reaffirmed its profit guidance and said it expects its strong performance to continue throughout fiscal 2008.

A Legislative Councillor acknowledges his fight to recover some Tasmanian Compliance Corporation (TCC) accreditation fees for builders will not be popular with the business sector.

WELLINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Guest nights in New Zealand short-term commercial accommodation fell 1 percent in October on the same month a year earlier, the first drop in 15 months, official data showed on Wednesday.

Banking and insurance company Suncorp Metway Ltd says it has received about 9,000 insurance claims following severe storms in Sydney over the weekend.

QUEENSLAND Premier Anna Bligh says "radical action" will be taken if investigations uncovered a systemic failure in the way the state's justice system applied to indigenous communities.

A CYCLIST killed when a truck ploughed into a group of riders was training for a memorial event to honour an Olympic cyclist killed in similar circumstances.

DAVID Hicks is mentally fragile and unlikely to have the strength to fight a proposed control order, his lawyer said yesterday.

FIREFIGHTERS are braced for dangerous conditions a day earlier than expected, as fires continued to rage out of control on Kangaroo Island last night.

Tokyo, Japan, Dec 11, 2007 - (JCN Newswire) - The East Asian economy (excluding Japan) is projected to grow by 8.2% in 2008, according to a report released today by the Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization (IDE-JETRO).

NEW YORK (AFP) - US banking giant Citigroup announced Tuesday that it had appointed company executive Vikram Pandit as its new chief executive officer with immediate effect.

A review of laws designed to protect consumers across Australia has found there is too much inconsistency between the policies of the states, territories and the Commonwealth.

There are fears the rail operator, Pacific National might close its freight container business in Tasmania.

SYDNEY, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to fall on Wednesday, tracking losses on Wall Street after the Federal Reserve's 25 basis points interest rate cut disappointed many investors.

A plan to build a child care centre near an iron foundry in Adelaide's north appears doomed because of health risks.