Financial management software company Reckon has reported a 21 per cent rise in full year profit.

Astronauts have installed the European laboratory Columbus on the International Space Station (ISS) overnight, finally giving Europe its first permanent research facility in space.

Hearing-implant company Cochlear has reaffirmed its full-year core earnings guidance after posting a 17 per cent boost in first half net profit.

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Primary Health Care Ltd PRY.AX said on Tuesday it had secured more than 50 percent of medical testing company Symbion Health Ltd SYB.AX, taking its A & #36;2.7 billion ( & #36;2.4 billion) bid closer

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Australian shares rose 0.8 percent on Tuesday, with resource stocks gaining after copper prices hit a three month high in London and banks gleaning support from gains on Wall Street.

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Australia's Cochlear Ltd COH.AX, the world's top maker of hearing implants, reported a 17 percent rise in first-half profit on Tuesday, a touch below analysts' forecasts and sending its shares lower.

SYDNEY, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Australia's Allegiance Mining Ltd AGM.AX said on Tuesday a third party had ended due diligence and would not be making a proposal because it could not comply with a deadline Allegiance had set.

BUSINESSES expect higher interest rates and fuel prices to hamper their operations in 2008 but sales growth is tipped to remain healthy, a survey has found.

US software giant Microsoft has reiterated its $US44.6 billion ($50 billion) takeover bid to Yahoo, saying its offer was "full and fair."

EAST Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta will undergo further surgery in Darwin in the next 26 hours after suffering "terrible injuries" in an assassination attempt.

WELLINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - New Zealand gaming and cinema company and takeover target Sky City Entertainment Group Ltd SKC.NZ said on Tuesday that it would write down the value of its cinema assets by NZ & #36;60 million (

WELLINGTON, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Guest nights in New Zealand short-term commercial accommodation rose 1 percent in December on the same month a year earlier, official data showed on Tuesday.

Retailer JB Hi Fi Ltd has reported a record half year net profit up 60.23 per cent for the six months ended December 31, 2007.

It has been an indecisive opening to the trading week on Wall Street, with stock prices heading higher after early losses, as bargain-hunters moved in.

MELBOURNE, Feb 12 (Reuters) - Australian home electronics retailer JB Hi-Fi Ltd JBH.AX posted a 60 percent jump in first-half net profit, boosted by ravenous demand for flat-panel TVs and personal audio players, and upgraded its full-year profit outlook.

Mitsubishi management and union officials meet today to discuss a redundancy package for 930 Adelaide workers who will lose their jobs from next month.

A cargo ship contaminated with lead will be cleaned and assessed on South Australia's west coast.

Canberra hotel owners are reaping the benefits of the first sitting of the new Parliament and the Federal Government's apology to the Stolen Generations.

Thousands of people have signed a petition pushing for improved rail services out of Bathurst in central western New South Wales.

Victoria Police are urging riders to ensure their bikes have lights after an accident last night at Albion near Sunshine in Melbourne's west.