AUSTRALIA

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ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM), the largest U.S. and global producer of oil has been dethroned from its top spot.

The U.S. government now projects that the total cost to develop, buy and operate the Lockheed Martin Corp F-35 Joint Strike Fighter will be $1.45 trillion over the next 50-plus years, according to a Pentagon document obtained by Reuters.

The new iPad is garnering success for Apple, but the little beauty is also plaguing the company with legal woes that won't just end here. Apple has launched the new iPad in Australia with a plethora of advertisements showing off the awesome features of the one tablet to rule them all. Unfortunately, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) is not pleased, not one bit.

Less than four years ago, American Internet security firm Symantec struck a deal with Chinese infrastructure equipment manufacturer Huawei Technologies, joining forces to develop computer network security products. However, in the wake of increasing cyber security concerns piling up against Huawei, Symantec decided to exit the venture, fearing that it would prevent it from gaining access to U.S. government classified information regarding cyber threats.

Now that Apple is allowing Australian customers to refund their iPads, other countries want to know if their customers should deserve refunds too. The UK, Sweden and Denmark are now all investigating the compatibility of the new iPad 3 with local 4G LTE networks.

The insurance market listed the litany of disasters in its annual report, which included claims from flooding in Australia in January, the February earthquake in New Zealand, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March and the floods in Thailand.

Stock index futures rose on Wednesday with large-cap shares looking to pierce 52-week highs, but the major indexes were not seen making big moves before the end of the quarter.

An Australian newspaper accused News Corp of sabotaging the Pay- TV rivals by selling pirated smartcards, causing loss of millions of dollars to the rival channels.

Huawei, China's largest equipment manufacturer, has just lost a shot at billions of dollars worth of infrastructure sales to Australia. In light of China's reputation for cyber-espionage, the Australian government has decided to block Huawei from bidding on Australia's roughly AUS$36 billion National Broadband Network project. The decision was reported on March 26.

Australia's competition regulator is on the crackdown against Apple's new iPad, claiming the tablet misleads customers with its '4G LTE' label -- a feature that is not supported by Australia's 3G broadband frequency.

China's Huawei Technologies still hopes to win contracts to build Australia's $38 billion National Broadband Network, despite being blocked from bidding on cyber security concerns, and is ready to make concessions to do so.

Germany's Pirate Party won four seats in the Saarland state parliament on Monday. The new party took an impressive 7.4 percent despite only having three months to prepare for the snap elections.

The extinction of Australia's giant animals was caused by hunting, not climate change, a new study concludes.

Italy's top winemakers are joining forces with the country's luxury goods elite as the world's second-biggest wine producer tries to give itself an edge in the battle for U.S. and emerging market customers amid falling consumption at home.

Ever since Rihanna and Chris Brown collaborated on remixes of each other's tracks Birthday Cake and Turn Up The Music, fans and media have been speculating that the two R&B stars were dating again in secret, following their notorious 2009 breakup after Chris Brown punched Rihanna repeatedly while driving his car (according to the police report). Now the news is leaking that RiRi and Breezy may be reuniting on stage this Summer at the SupaFest music festival in Brisbane, Austra...

Rumor has it that notorious exes Rihanna and Chris Brown will be reuniting musically at the Supafest music festival in Brisbane, Australia. But does that mean they will be reuniting romantically as well? Our guess is no.

Australia has blocked China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd HWT.UL from tendering for contracts in the country's $38 billion National Broadband Network (NBN) due to cyber security concerns, Huawei said on Monday.

Sunday's win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was the 72nd of Woods's PGA Tour career, one behind Jack Nicklaus for No. 2 on the all-time list. The last one came 30 months ago, in September 2009.

Early on the morning of March 16, Wong Tat joined a line of about 100 people waiting for the launch of the new iPad in a chilly rain outside an Apple store on the outskirts of San Francisco.

Brompton IGA store owner Norm Hurst told Adelaide Now that previous store owners told him the market was haunted. Now he believes maybe it is after CCTV video apparently caught proof that something strange is occurring in the market. Hurst reportedly closed up the market last week with everything in order.