News Australia

We think Public relations practitioners who are students of Crisis PR should take a turn in the simulator and analyse in detail how QANTAS has acted and should act from now on. QANTAS, in our opinion, has one of the best track records for Crisis PR management, anywhere (A380 engine failure in November 2010; grounding [...]

An expert says cybercrime is soaring, it already costs Australians more than burglary and will only increase as more people use smartphones. Marian Merritt, internet safety advocate with computer security company Norton, said a new global study showed 69 per cent of adults around the world experienced cybercrime in their lifetime, much more than previously [...]

The Australian dollar was almost two US cents lower at noon as a combination of weak data, locally and in the US, and the central bank keeping the cash rate on hold weigh on the currency At 1200 AEST on Wednesday, it was trading at 107.04 US cents, down from 108.90 cents on Tuesday. The [...]

Hacker groups Anonymous and Lulz Security have called for a boycott of PayPal to punish the electronic payments firm for its refusal to accept donations for WikiLeaks. PayPal, Visa and MasterCard have stopped accepting donations for WikiLeaks in December after the website began releasing sensitive US State Department cables. PayPal says the decision to restrict [...]

A German hacker group has called for online users to circulate altered versions of the 1500-page manifesto by Norwegian terrorist suspect Anders Behring Breivik, until the original document is drowned out by copies. ‘Ensure that Anders becomes a joke, so nobody takes him seriously any more,’ declared the hacker group Anonymous on Tuesday. In the [...]

The Australian dollar has cracked new highs above 110 US cents after the release of official inflation figures on Wednesday. The consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.9 per cent in Australia in the June quarter, for an annual inflation rate of 3.6 per cent, slightly higher than economists’ forecasts. The Australian dollar was trading at [...]

Microsoft has apologised for a ‘tweet’ that has been blasted for seeming like a blatant effort to cash in on the death of 27-year-old British singer Amy Winehouse. ‘Apologies to everyone if our earlier Amy Winehouse ‘download’ tweet seemed purely commercially motivated,’ Microsoft UK PR said at a ‘tweetbox360′ account at microblogging service Twitter. ‘Far [...]

THE Australian dollar has reached an 11-week high, benefiting from weakness in the US dollar and growing uncertainty surrounding America’s debt crisis. At noon (AEST), the Australian dollar was trading at 108.83 US cents, its highest value since May 11, and up from 108.13 US cents on Monday afternoon. The domestic currency reached 110.11 US [...]

Twin shooting and bomb attacks have left at least 17 dead in Norway after a gunman disguised as a policeman opened fire at a youth camp and a bomb blast tore through government buildings. Many were also reported wounded on Friday from the expolsion in central Oslo and the shooting at a summer school meeting [...]

Author JK Rowling’s website devoted to fictional wizard Harry Potter will feature a bit of Google magic when it debuts later this year in the United States, according to the internet titan. Rowling’s beloved Potter titles will be available on Google eBooks platform at Pottermore.com and Google Checkout will be the preferred payment system, according [...]