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CURTIN University of Technology has opened its second overseas campus in nine years, with the launch of its Singapore site last week.

SOUTH Perth-based property developer Finbar has put its majority owned Gateway office development, currently being built on the former Nutrimetics site on Albany Highway, on the market.

CALLING the bottom in any bust cycle is always highly contentious, even more so in the context of the current global economic crisis.

Aquarius Platinum Ltd Zwelakhe Mankazana has been appointed as a non-executive director. Atom Energy Ltd Director Ross Louthean has resigned.

There has been a significant decline in student enrolment and completion of institutional-based training courses, with only 16 per cent of IBT students completing their courses in 2007, according to an auditor general report.

THE Links Kennedy Bay golf course has been re-opened under new management with developer Mirvac taking over the role after the former manager was placed into administration.

THE corporate watchdog has charged Perth company director Malcolm MacCormick with insider trading in relation to last year's sale of his family business to ASX-listed company Walter Diversified Servic

THE state government has lifted the moratorium on the commercial production of genetically modified cotton in the Ord River Irrigation Area, renewing calls for it to move on the Ord Stage Two project.

BRIEFCASE is amazed at the poor understanding of market dynamics shown by many commentators and self-appointed analysts.

WELL It's time to face it. You take the most pessimistic analysis of the global economic situation and we're in for tough times.

ONCE the most energetic and successful married couple in global mining, Phil and Viv Snowden have re-emerged after 18 months with plans to take on a new industry - wine.

THE growing number of mass participation events in Perth has provided fertile ground for benevolent institutions looking for more creative means to raise funds and deliver their message of goodwill.

BARACK Obama made the sale. Sixty three million people were sold on his potential ability to lead and govern. And they did so without the benefit of actually seeing what he will do.

PERRON Group's shopping centre and office ownership has helped it comfortably absorb more than $100 million from downward revaluations of its equity investments.

HOSPITALITY entrepreneurs Kristan Roche and Chris Sweeney are taking Victoria Park a step closer to the vibe of Mount Lawley or Leederville with their first venue, The Imp.

THE Western Australian business community has given a mixed reaction to the latest review into 457 visas, the Deegan Report, released by Immigration Minister Chris Evans last week.

WESTERN Australia's South West has expanded its offering for foodies of all kinds this summer.

PERTH company AgritechSmart-Water has commissioned an economic review of its plans to use Wellington Dam as a major new source of water for the South West.

THE residential population of the area encompassed by the City of Perth is forecast to double in the next 20 years, as the number of new dwellings and net migration numbers grow.

WHO remembers the final week of the 2008 state election campaign, when then premier Alan Carpenter ran an increasingly desperate and almost bizarre scare campaign? Every waking moment he told voters about the supposed dangers posed by uranium mining, nucl

A REPORT released this week has provided the first accurate and detailed picture of the Western Australian forestry industry, which employs 5,570 people, half of whom rely on native forest resources.

IN her doctorate on the impact of fly in, fly out (FIFO) on workers, the University of Western Australia's Susan Clifford has found that FIFO is not having the deleterious effect the tabloid headlines would have us believe.

REDEPLOYMENT has become the new buzzword in Western Australian human resources circles, most notably in the engineering services sector, which involves a number of the state's largest employers.

TRANSPARENCY is a fascinating concept and last week I encountered two vastly different examples of its application, or more accurately, its absence.

As spectacular shareholder stoushes go, EFTel's extraordinary general meeting held today had it all: disallowed proxies; a bitter family feud; disputed legal opinions; all topped with allegations of lies and dirty tricks.

Mines and Petroleum Minister Norman Moore today announced his wife, Lee had sold her shares in BHP Billiton, Wesfarmers and Woodside Petroleum but he insisted he had done nothing wrong over perceived conflicts of interest.

Canning Vale-based electrical contractor, Electrical Construction & Maintenance Australia took out the Industrial category award for excellence at the National Electrical and Communications Association Awards held last week.

The inaugural meeting of the Economic Audit Committee, the group tasked with examining the operational and financial performance of the Western Australian public sector, has taken place today launching the four-month review.

AusQuest shareholder's have approved the strategic alliance and $26 million placement with international mining company, Cliffs Natural Resources.

Perth-based explorer Bauxite Resources has signed an MOU with a Chinese group, aimed at establishing a 'farm-in' type arrangement for exploration at the company's Darling Range tenements for all minerals other than bauxite.

Latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics show that capital spending on mining and energy projects has fallen from its peak levels, though WA still accounts for the majority share.

The Western Australian government has set aside almost $6 million in funding for major regional projects.