Australia & New Zealand

Financial News

Apache, Santos Seek to Revive $650 Million Australian Natural Gas Project Apache Corp. and Santos Ltd. are seeking to revive a A$900 million ($651 million) natural gas project in Australia after signing an accord to sell the fuel to an iron ore venture proposed by Citic Pacific Ltd.

Australia Dollar at Three-Month High, N.Z. Currency Gains on Risk Appetite Australia’s dollar rose to a three- month high and New Zealand’s dollar climbed to its strongest in almost three weeks versus the greenback as gains in equities and commodities revived appetite for higher-yielding assets.

Babcock & Brown Says It Is in `Substantial' Negative Net Asset Position Babcock & Brown Ltd., discussing a debt for equity swap with creditors as it struggles to avert collapse, said impairment charges mean its liabilities substantially outweigh its assets.

New Zealand Annual Trade Deficit Narrows as Recession Curbs Import Demand New Zealand’s annual trade deficit unexpectedly narrowed in November as a domestic recession curbed demand for imports.

Australia's Retail Sales Trend Series Increased 0.1% in November on Food Australian retail sales rose in November as consumers spent more on food.

Alcoa Says Has No Plans to Cut Australian Jobs Amid Firing of Global Staff Alcoa Inc., the world’s largest aluminum maker, isn’t planning to cut jobs in Australia after announcing the firing of 13 percent of its global staff.

Fertilizer, Chemical Prices May Be `Significantly' Lower, Rabobank Says Global prices for fertilizer and agricultural chemicals are expected to be “significantly” lower in 2009 than the previous year driven by a fall in demand and the global financial crisis, Rabobank Groep NV said.

Atlas Iron Shares Surge After Finding High-Grade Reserves at Pardoo Mine Atlas Iron Ltd., the Australian iron ore company that started mining at Pardoo in October, climbed to the highest in three months in Sydney trading after saying it found “high-grade” iron ore resources.

General News

Anti-Whaling Activists Deny Disrupting Search for Missing Japanese Sailor Anti-whaling activists chasing Japan’s fleet across the Southern Ocean denied disrupting the search for a Japanese crew member missing in Antarctic waters.

Magnitude 6.1 Quake Strikes Off North Coast of Papua, Indonesia, USGS Says Indonesia’s West Papua province was hit by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake today, the latest powerful tremor to shake the region where five people were killed and hundreds injured at the weekend when buildings were destroyed.

Australia Beats South Africa in Second-Last Over to Win Third Cricket Test Australia beat South Africa by 103 runs in the final cricket Test in Sydney to avert a 3-0 sweep and keep its No. 1 spot in the rankings.

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