Australia's youth bore the brunt of the financial downturn, while older workers experienced relative increases in salaries and job stability, a survey shows.
Department store giants David Jones Ltd and Myer Holdings Ltd are likely to have driven first half profit growth on cost reductions and higher margins.
A transport tsar, 10 super councils and support for the federal government's proposed hospitals takeover are on a top 10 list of big ideas to invigorate NSW.
The federal government has attacked the opposition for rejecting its private health insurance changes, saying it will now be tougher to return the budget to surplus.
China and India announced on Tuesday they would back the 11th-hour climate accord hammered out in Copenhagen in December, removing doubts that the world's two most populous countries fully supported the contested deal.
Israel on Tuesday approved the construction of 1600 new settler homes in east Jerusalem, announcing the move as US Vice President Joe Biden met top Israeli officials to boost renewed peace efforts.
NZ auction website TradeMe has rolled back the price of 'two captured ghosts' which sold for $NZ5000 ($A3,850), after several last minute bids were removed.
Google will sell the online services of other business software makers in an effort to fill its own product gaps and persuade more companies to rely on applications piped over the Internet.
Australians are increasingly choosing free-to-air digital channels with shows like Lost, The Big Bang Theory, sport and children's shows pulling in viewers.
Companies lose about 10 per cent of their turnover as a result of poor safety, costing billions in lost production and flow-on effects, a leading academic says.
Consumers appear to have taken the latest interest rate rise on the chin, but mortgage rates are closing in on a level that could have an impact on confidence, Westpac chief economist Bill Evans says.
Demand for new home loans slumped nearly eight per cent in January against the backdrop of rising interest rates and the end of the federal government's more generous first homebuyers grant.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou on Tuesday enters talks with President Barack Obama seeking not a handout but US action against speculators that he says are deepening his country's financial crisis.
Toyota owners claiming that massive safety recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet have filed at least 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto giant $US3 billion ($A3.
The Kerry Stokes-owned heavy equipment firm that is also the proposed merger partner with Mr Stokes' Seven Network Holdings Ltd is set to expand amid a surge in mining and construction sectors to near-boom levels.
Australia's economic future will be challenged by an under-supply of capacity and housing, despite decades of economic reform shielding Australia from the worst of the global downturn, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) says.
Oil prices dropped sharply to below $81 a barrel on Tuesday, due to a stronger dollar and profit taking on a monthlong run fuelled by growing investor optimism about global economic growth.
European stocks ended the day with little change on Tuesday in a bout of cautious trading due to uncertainty over Europe's economic outlook and poor earnings reports, analysts said.
Britain's top share index closed a touch lower on Tuesday, as a weakening in banks after a cautious research note from Credit Suisse slightly outpaced buoyant oil issues and drugmakers.
The federal government has attacked the opposition for rejecting its private health insurance changes, saying it will now be tougher to return the budget to surplus.
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