TELSTRA is in talks to buy Asian undersea cable operator Pacnet in a deal that could be worth as much as $1 billion.

The Dow Jones index briefly hit a new record of 23,000 but has since retreated slightly, while the Australian share market is headed for a slightly lower open.

Documents show the Victorian government said changing suppliers would lead to cost blowouts and delays.

Josh Frydenberg is being warned that massive federal government debt from emergency pandemic spending could double in coming decades as borrowing costs rise and spending costs blow out.

RUSSIA’S central bank has announced a dramatic hike of its key rate from 10.5 to 17 per cent to try to halt an out-of-control slide in the rouble.

CHINESE manufacturing has contracted for the first time in seven months in December, raising questions over growth prospects for the giant economy.

ORIGIN Energy has secured a $750 million “liquidity buffer” to protect the business from the falling oil price.

BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie says there is an “urgent” need to drive reform of the tax system.

AUSTRALIA is nearing the “tipping point” in superannuation where almost as much money is being taken out of super as there is going in.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has seen 15 per cent of the population displaced within the country. Ukrainians tell us why they have stayed.

THE coal-seam gas extraction industry is likely to be among the best performing in 2015, according to research firm IBIS World.

The price of iron ore has crashed to a 10-year low of $44.10 a tonne after a stunning 11 per cent plunge overnight.

THE slide in oil prices has caused sharp losses among some of Wall Street’s biggest names — the latest in a series of bad bets made by star investors.

Chinese retailer JD.com could disrupt not only Australia’s bricks-and-mortar shops but its online sector as well.

CBA’s current and former CIOs are being sought as ­witnesses in the bribery case against two former IT executives.

Up to 4,700 Darwin homes were without power after an electrical explosion at a major substation that also left a worker with burns to his arm and leg.

The typical Australian is now worth more than $260,000, knocking Switzerland off the top of the global rich list.

While many Australians provide their phone number and email address when booking domestic flights, not everybody does, but now the Government wants airlines to ensure contact tracers are able to access the information they need.

FOUNDING PanAust chief executive Gary Stafford has taken legal action against his former company, demanding a bigger payout.

ASIC says the chance of it backing a plan to rescue Planet Platinum is the same as “a snowflake in hell”.