AAP

Production has started on Woodside Petroleum's Okha floating vessel that is expected to produce 30,000 barrels of oil a day.

The chief operations officer of the state's beleaguered fire agency has resigned just a week after the authority's new head took the reins.

Australian investors have taken heart after European finance leaders pledged to do whatever is needed to resolve the eurozone sovereign debt crisis and ensure financial stability.

Wage growth under enterprise bargaining agreements perked up in the first three months of 2011, particularly for public servants, government data shows.

Australian mortgage holders are creating bigger financial buffers for themselves as financial market turmoil gives them the jitters, a survey shows.

International air travellers will face delays at Australian airports this week and next as customs officers take industrial action amid a standoff over pay and conditions.

Treasury officials have rejected claims their carbon price modelling collapses if the United States does not introduce an emissions trading scheme.

The Reserve Bank of Australia should cut interest rates because the local economy is starting to tank with some sectors already in recession, the federal opposition says.

A key Western Australian business lobby group has highlighted industrial relations and energy as areas of policy failure in its annual report card on the Barnett government.

The Australian dollar has opened weaker from where it was on Friday but looks to be well supported, on hopes that world finance leaders could soon announce a solution to Europe's debt crisis.

US stocks halted their downward slide on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average hovering just above the break-even mark at the close, despite ongoing gloom about the state of the global econ

The Australian dollar and local shares have had another tough week on fears that Europe and the US will drag the global economy into recession.

So, just what did everyone expect policymakers to say about the economic outlook?Aside from the blindingly obvious.The world's share markets took a battering this week.

Australia's largest rare earths miner Lynas Corporation has posted a 33 per cent widening in its full-year loss following a year blighted by controversy.

A bird strike has forced a Qantas flight heading from Perth to Melbourne to turn back soon after take-off.

Fashion brand owner Just Group will stop selling sandblasted jeans after aid agency Oxfam threatened to complain to the consumer watchdog.

Wireless telecommunications services continue to grow, but not at the expense of fixed-line broadband, the competition watchdog says.

Shares in Australian stock exchange-listed Blackgold International Holdings rose after the Chinese coal producer acquired the holder of a coal mine in Chongqing municipal province in China.

The Department of Treasury says current modelling of the government's planned carbon tax is not robust enough to assess the impact on regional areas.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has affirmed Australia's long-term AAA credit rating due to the country's economic resilience, public policy stability and sound financial sector.

Despite months of bickering, joint venture partners Auzex Resources and GGG Resources now insist they are getting along and that their new gold company, Bullabulling Gold can proceed.

Japan's Fukushima accident six months ago provoked major worries worldwide about nuclear power, but now that the dust has settled it is clear that atomic energy still has a rosy future.

Australian households are continuing to shun spending and pay down debt as worries about the global financial system grows, a central bank report says.

Australia's Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd has told the United Nations the world's leaders need to look beyond the next election cycle and take the measures necessary to rebuild sustainable economic g

US stocks suffered a brutal sell-off Thursday fuelled by the Federal Reserve's stark warning about the health of the US economy.

The Australian dollar has fallen sharply to 10-month lows, as concerns over the state of the US economy cause a massive sell-off on global markets.

The Australian dollar closed below parity with the greenback on Thursday afternoon, on concerns that the US Federal Reserve was not doing enough to stimulate America's ailing economy.

The salary of Australia's Reserve Bank governor Glenn Stevens rose by 3.7 per cent in the last financial year, in line with the average wage growth for public servants.

The Australian share market closed more than 2.6 per cent lower to its weakest close in more than two years, amid global uncertainty following big falls on Wall Street over a downgraded economic ou

The federal opposition has continued its attack on Treasurer Wayne Swan, a day after opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey was criticised for attacking his Euromoney's Finance Minister of the Ye