Rio throws off $9.9b after wiping debt
How the mining giant's major dividend payout to investors was likely shaped by politics and a decade of prudence by management teams.
Rio's $5.6b investor bonus, copper find
Rio has lavished shareholders with a monster special dividend and given its growth prospects a much-needed boost by revealing an exciting copper prospect in Western Australia.
ASX adopts Hayne's governance blueprint
Kenneth Hayne will be happy with the ASX because the guidelines now align with the sort of philosophy espoused by him in his final report to the government published this month.
Ruralco deal driven by global forces
Fertiliser giant Nutrien is in the midst of a post-merger growth push aimed at getting as close to farmers as possible. Ruralco investors are the big winners.
Pakistan says it downed two Indian warplanes
Pakistan's air force shot down two Indian warplanes after they crossed the boundary between the two nuclear-armed rivals.
Pell jailed for 'brazen' offending
George Pell has been taken to jail after Australia's most senior Catholic was classified as a serious sex offender to be sentenced on March 13.
Where property prices fell the most in Melbourne
The trendy Melbourne suburb of St Kilda East suffered one of the biggest downturns in property prices last year, Domain Group says.
Rio reveals plans to go greener
Rio Tinto has revealed plans to get greener after earning a tick of approval from activist investors behind Climate Action 100+ in the wake of its exit from the coal sector.
Vodafone boss says NBN must succeed
Vodafone chief executive Inaki Berroeta has urged the industry not to turn its back on the national broadband network, saying a solution to the broken economics of NBN retail must be found.
Rinehart bids $591m for Riversdale
Gina Rinehart's Hancock Corporation has moved to take full ownership of the nascent coal miner Riversdale Resources, offering $591 million for the remaining shares in the company.
ASIC to use new data to shine a light on mortgage brokers
The corporate regulator is set to reveal if there's fraud occurring in mortgage applications and whether home owners are duped into taking out excessive loans.
Better avocados are coming your way
Costa Group chief Harry Debney wants to save you from the disappointment of a mushy avocado.
Small gains enough to lift ASX
Australian shares advanced on Wednesday despite a muted day of trading, with the benchmark index closing up 0.4 per cent.
Why the big four could ditch NZ
Australian banks may divest their New Zealand subsidiaries following higher capital demands from the Kiwi central bank, according to top banking analysts.
Why this fundie has given up on Amazon
The managers at Calirfornia's $42 billion WCM are not tech bears but they are moving on from both Amazon and Facebook in search of better opportunities.
Who dares invest in Chinese shares?
A powerful surge in prices has flipped Chinese equities from the worst-performing shares in 2018 to the world beaters in 2019.
Magellan may benefit from Perpetual's decline
Magellan's new Australian share fund, overseen by boutique Airlie, is being marketed as similar to Perpetual before the investing pioneer's decline.
Opinion
ASX adopts Hayne's governance blueprint
Kenneth Hayne will be happy with the ASX because the guidelines now align with the sort of philosophy espoused by him in his final report to the government published this month.
Ruralco deal driven by global forces
Fertiliser giant Nutrien is in the midst of a post-merger growth push aimed at getting as close to farmers as possible. Ruralco investors are the big winners.
WA's answer to housing affordability
It sounds like a dream. Deposits of only 2 per cent to take out a mortgage – not 20 per cent now demanded by banks. In Western Australia, it's become the reality for 50 per cent of all first-home buyers
Newcrest can avoid merger mania
This merger question has been on the minds of chief executives at global gold miners over the past six months, and the answer has been bigger is better.
'Disgraceful rubbish': What the Pell jury heard from the Cardinal
Because Pell chose not to take the witness stand, the police interview was the jury's only glimpse of the defendant's reaction to the charges against him.
Anger as taxpayers foot the bill for MPs' TV ads
Labor says changes quietly introduced by Morrison government on the cusp of election campaign give Coalition MPs a $22 million war chest for TV ads.
'Naked pork barrelling': PM's energy free-for-all criticised
Business and consumer groups have accused Prime Minister Scott Morrison of "nakedly political pork barrelling" and "an egregious lack of process" over $3.4 billion in energy announcements.
Australian barley faces China tariffs
Analysts in China warn that Beijing latest trade move may be another sign of political retaliation against Australia.
Labor's Adani strategy risks country seats
Labor is willing to lose a string of regional seats as "collateral damage" because of its anti-Adani stance that is aimed at bolstering its chances in green inner-city seats.
Cohen ready to accuse Trump of deceit, racist comments
Donald Trump's former personal attorney and fixer is prepared to depict his former boss as a liar and possible criminal who manipulated his financial statements
N Korea touts for investment as Trump, Kim meet
Pyongyang's push to attract foreign investment comes amid a tenuous de-escalation of tension with Washington.
SEC, not Musk's tweets, biggest threat to Tesla shares
Chief executives learning on the job is acceptable. Misleading markets is not.
House passes resolution to overturn Trump's 'emergency'
Democrats painted an apocalyptic portrait of a lawless chief executive who is out to gut the Constitution.
The $60b race to fix Jakarta's choking traffic
A new rapid transit rail system is a small step towards fixing Jakarta's enormous congestion problem.
Personal Finance
18 reasons why property prices will fall further
Housing bear LF Economics makes a scary call on house prices predicting a further 20 per cent fall just in 2019 but others disagree.
Retirees 'bitterly disappointed and betrayed by Labor'
Adelaide retirees described the actions of Labor's Chris Bowen as similar to "a dictator in a third world country" over his retrospective franking plans.
Australians face weak incomes for years
Real incomes will barely grow over the next six years and living standards are destined for a slowdown, unless a wave of major economic reforms can unleash a productivity boom like in the 1990s.
Explicit Snapchat picture justified sacking
A Sydney train guard's conduct was in the "extreme outer limit of offensiveness" such that "no amount of regret or apology can lessen the seriousness of the incident", Fair Work has found.
What Australia can learn from France on higher education
France will lift government spending on research and innovation to 3 per cent of GDP and it is focusing its attention on disruptive technology.
Women deserve the right to be as useless as men
Women will never be equal unless they have the right to be as incompetent as men are.
The disgrace of Australia's most senior Catholic
Cardinal George Pell has been the most public and influential face of Catholicism in Australia, with friends in high office. Now he is facing a prison sentence.
Lifestyle
Crowdfunding secures Mirka Mora's legacy for museum
The Heide Museum of Modern Art has used a crowdfunded $180,000 to snap up artworks and ephemera of the Melbourne-based artist ahead of an auction of her possessions.
David Rowe's cartoons
