Australia

The Australian and New Zealand dollars pulled back from near two-month highs against the U.S. dollar, reacting to disappointing economic data from China, one of their major trading partners. Price Movement: New Zealand's kiwi fell to 1.5564 against the greenback, retreating from...

Australia's competition watchdog said the country's federal court ordered Alphabet Inc's (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) Google on Friday to pay AU$60 million ($42.7 million) in penalties for misleading users.  The court found that the company misled users about collecting their...

Australia's central bank has launched a one-year research program for a central bank digital currency (CBDC) to find out the potential economic benefits it might bring. What Happened: The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) said it has partnered with a government-backed industry group, the...

Fears of a recession have reportedly led fund managers to wager the most bearish bets on the Australian dollar since March. According to Bloomberg, hedge funds and traditional asset manager peers have accumulated short positions on the currency worth 61,405 contracts, as per Commodity Futures...

Losses made by Australians falling prey to impostor bond scams nearly tripled in the first half of 2022 as consumers lost over $14 million in their quest for returns. Scam Executions: Perpetrators are understood to have impersonated real financial firms or banks while claiming to offer Treasury...

An Australian airline passenger was handed a fine of AU$2,664 ($1,874) for two undeclared eggs, beef sausage McMuffins, and a ham croissant in their luggage. What Happened: An unnamed passenger traveling from Indonesia to Australia found themselves paying a hefty price for a McDonald's Corp (...

Despite the highest food price inflation in years, Australians are dumping truck loads of avocados as oversupply has driven the prices to a record low. What Happened: Australian farmers would this year produce 22 avocados per Australian, up 26% on last year's figures, a new report by...

Electric vehicles from a market leader are seeing strong interest and momentum in Australia, according to new statements from the chair of the company. What Happened: Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) chairwoman Robyn Denholm spoke at the Australian Clean Energy Summit this week and said the company...

The Financial Planning Association of Australia stated the need for regulating cryptocurrency exchanges and implementing a “crypto rule book”. What Happened: In a recent statement, Ben Marshan, the Financial Planning Association of Australia’s head of policy, strategy and...

Amid the widening scrutiny against global technology platforms, the Australian antitrust watchdog has filed a lawsuit against Airbnb Inc (NASDAQ: ABNB), accusing it of misleading users into paying more. What Happened: The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), in a court filing...

As Australia grills through a lettuce shortage, fast food giants like KFC have replaced lettuce with cabbage in their burgers to hedge exorbitant costs. What Happened: “We’ve hit a bit of an Iceberg and are currently experiencing some lettuce supply chain disruptions due to...

An Australian court has ordered Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL) (NASDAQ: GOOG) to pay AU$715,000 ($515,000) to a former lawmaker in defamation damages over two videos posted on its social media platform YouTube. What Happened: The Federal Court said the social media giant intentionally made money by...

Anthony Albanese, the new Australian Prime Minister who took office on Monday, warned that the country's relations with China would remain "difficult." Albanese was sworn in as the PM, hours before he flew to Tokyo to take part in the Quad leaders' meeting — where...

It’s not every day that a country’s national institute makes public its efforts to get into psychedelics, but today is one of those days. The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) announced that it will work with Australian medtech companies to develop new...

Whistleblowers have alleged that Meta Platforms Inc-owned (​​NASDAQ: FB) Facebook's act of blocking news pages in Australia was a deliberate negotiating tactic to thwart a potential law, according to The Wall Street Journal. What Happened: Meta had publicly called the resulting chaos...