JAPANESE-OWNED Australian dairy and juice producer National Foods has asked the competition watchdog whether it has any competition concerns about its possible takeover of dairy producer Dairy Farmers.

SIX former top executives of wheat exporter AWB will face court in July over their alleged roles in the $126 million Iraqi kickback scandal.

INFLATION is expected to have grown further in the first quarter of 2008, as food, petrol and commodity prices soar.

TWO major retailers are on the brink of collapse thanks to sustained Reserve Bank interest rate hikes which have knocked the economic life out of our suburbs.

NEW Zealand's Fisher & Paykel Appliances jumped almost 12 per cent yesterday after the company announced plans to fire 1070 workers and shift production to Italy, Thailand and Mexico.

LITIGATION funder IMF became part of the Opes saga yesterday when it announced it had 30 clients willing to take on the ANZ bank.

AUSTRALIAN hedge fund manager Greg Coffey has surged into the ranks of the world's super-rich, collecting $US300million ($320million) in fees last year.

WESFARMERS will be in a trading halt until it unveils plans for a billion-dollar-plus equity raising to refinance $3.3 billion in loans.

WHAT credit crunch? Babcock & Brown's executives had a bumper pay day according to the investment bank's annual report.

RIO Tinto shares roared ahead yesterday on rumours that jilted suitor BHP Billiton was about to raise its bid.