Australia signs multibillion-dollar LNG deal with China

October 7th, 2009 Australian jobless rate posts surprising dropCANBERRA, Australia — Australia's unemployment rate surprisingly dropped to 5.7 percent in September, the government said Thursday, news that caused the Australian dollar to surge to a 14-month high. Economists had forecast a rise to 6 percent, but the Australian Bureau of Statistics said 40,600 new jobs were created last month.

September 30th, 2009 Pfizer, Wyeth deal gets clearance in ChinaNEW YORK — Drug developer Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday China's ministry of commerce approved the company's $68 billion buyout of rival Wyeth.

September 30th, 2009 Pfizer, Wyeth deal gets clearance in AustraliaNEW YORK — Drug developer Pfizer says the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved the company's $68 billion buyout of rival Wyeth. Pfizer will divest certain animal health assets in Australia, the New York-based company says.

September 19th, 2009 ISLAMABAD - Pakistan has signed an agreement with China to provide a 220-million-dollar financial grant to help the Islamic country launch a communication satellite. The operational life of Pakistan's existing satellite PAKSAT-1 will be over in November 2011.

September 11th, 2009 SYDNEY - Australia has overtaken the US as the country that produces more carbon dioxide per person than any other, the British risk assessment company Maplecroft Ltd said Friday. Canada, the Netherlands and Saudi Arabia rounded out Maplecroft's list of the top five per-capita emitters of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels.

August 27th, 2009 Fluor completes joint venture project in KuwaitIRVING, Texas — Fluor Corp. completed a multibillion-dollar project for a joint venture with Dow Chemical Co.

August 20th, 2009 CANBERRA/BEIJING - China's refusal to back down from its anti-Australia rhetoric, has prompted Australia's ambassador to China to return home for high-level meetings aimed at reviving the ailing relationship. Tensions are still high in so far as Australia-China trade relations are concerned.

August 18th, 2009 Australia says China canceled minister's visitCANBERRA, Australia — China canceled a senior minister's trip in anger that Australia granted a visa to an exiled Uighur activist, the government said Tuesday, in the latest sign that ties between the two countries are strained. Beijing is upset that Australia defied its wishes by granting a visa to Rebiya Kadeer, an ethnic Uighur Muslim from China's west who lives in exile in the United States, so that she could attend a film festival in the southern city of Melbourne this month.

June 25th, 2009 Australian welcomes IMF policy endorsementCANBERRA, Australia — The government, criticized for sinking Australia too deep into debt with spending to boost the economy, on Thursday welcomed an International Monetary Fund endorsement of its quick response to the global economic slump. The IMF said Wednesday the downturn in Australia "has been milder than in most advanced countries." "This is because of strong commodity exports, a flexible exchange rate, a healthy banking sector and a timely and significant macro policy response," the IMF said.

June 18th, 2009 World Bank raises 2009 China growth forecastBEIJING — The World Bank is raising its 2009 growth forecast for China due to the country's stimulus-driven investment boom. But it also cautions that it is still too soon to say a sustained recovery is on the way.

June 15th, 2009 China says Australia ties OK despite Rio-BHP dealBEIJING — Miner Rio Tinto Group PLC's decision to opt for a tie-up with rival BHP Billiton Ltd. instead of a $19.5 billion deal with Aluminum Corp.

June 4th, 2009 CANBERRA - China has joined India in asking Australia to provide improved protection for foreign students after a series of violent racist assaults on Indian students Down Under. "There are over 130,000 Chinese students in Australia.

May 2nd, 2009 SYDNEY - Acknowledging that the supremacy of the United States has begun to fade, Australia's new defense plan prepares the country's forces to be less reliant on America. In a fundamental shift in defense plans, the Kevin Rudd Government has clearly stated that US primacy in the Asia-Pacific - the bedrock of the nation's security since World War II - may be ending.

April 23rd, 2009 Australia approves Chinese bid for Oz MineralsCANBERRA, Australia — China's Minmetals won Australian government approval Thursday to buy most of miner Oz Minerals' operations in a deal that excludes a mine in a sensitive military area. Minmetals promised to use mostly Australian managers and to expand production at some sites as conditions of the 1.7 billion Australian dollar ($1.2 billion) purchase, Treasure Wayne Swan said in a statement announcing the approval.

March 20th, 2009 CHANDIGARH - Despite the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) nod for the historic India-US nuclear deal, Australia, one of the world's largest producers of uranium, is unwilling to export it to India unless New Delhi signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the country's envoy says. 'The NSG decision cannot affect our policies and decisions.