Breaking News, Business, Financial and Economic News, World News from EconoTimes

Become a contributor

Bookmark Econotimes

Sun, Jul 05, 2026 02:22 AM All times are UTC

Follow Series

©Econometrics LLC . All Rights Reserved.

Rob Nicholls

Senior lecturer in Business Law, UNSW

Dr Rob Nicholls is a senior lecturer in business law at the UNSW Business School.
He was previously a research fellow at Swinburne University of Technology where he worked on spectrum policy matters and a research fellow at the Centre for International Finance and Regulation where he researched the intersection of competition law with financial services regulations. His research applies system and network analysis techniques, commonly used in networked industries, to examine error amplification. Rob is the Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator in a regime established to deal with wholesale disputes arising over both legacy services and migration to the NBN. He has had a thirty-year career concentrating on regulations and governance, particularly in networked industries. He has worked for Webb Henderson, the ACCC and Gilbert + Tobin.

Meta and Google just lost a landmark social media addiction case. A tech law expert explains the fallout

Mar 26, 2026 08:53 am UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Social media platforms Instagram and YouTube have a design defect which means they are addictive, a jury in the United States has ruled. The Los Angeles jury took nearly nine days to reach its verdict in the landmark case...

Google is worth more in Australia than major news outlets. Here’s how it could better fund journalism

Sep 19, 2024 01:24 am UTC| Technology

The Global Media Internet Concentration Project examines the concentration of the communications and media in countries around the world. The latest data for Australia have recently been released, and they show just how...

Do you trust AI to write the news? It already is – and not without issues

Nov 07, 2023 08:56 am UTC| Technology

Businesses are increasingly using artificial intelligence (AI) to generate media content, including news, to engage their customers. Now, were even seeing AI used for the gamification of news that is, to create...

The power of tech giants has made them as influential as nations. Here's how they're sanctioning Russia

Mar 07, 2022 08:59 am UTC| Technology

The worlds five leading tech companies Google (now Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (now Meta), Amazon and Microsoft have taken steps to impose significant and (mainly) voluntary sanctions on Russia, in response to its...

If Facebook really pulls news from its Australian sites, we'll have a much less compelling product

Sep 02, 2020 14:08 pm UTC| Technology

Facebook will ban publishers and people in Australia from sharing local and international news on Facebook and Instagram if a proposal to force tech giants to pay for news becomes law, the tech giant has announced. The...

No more negotiating: new rules could finally force Google and Facebook to pay for news

Apr 22, 2020 12:49 pm UTC| Technology

Digital platforms such as Google and Facebook will be forced to compensate news media companies for using their content, under a new mandatory code to be drawn up by Australias competition watchdog. The announcement,...

Why you might be paying more for your airfare than the person seated next to you

Oct 09, 2018 12:52 pm UTC| Insights & Views Technology

Price discrimination is legal in Australia where sellers will typically pick an opening price based on the likelihood that someone will pay it. We take a look at how you can get the best deal on airfares in the second part...

Economy

Goldman Sachs Flags 3 Key Risks Ahead of Europe’s Earnings Season

Goldman Sachs has outlined three major themes investors should watch as Europes corporate earnings season approaches, warning that elevated market expectations could lead to stronger share-price swings if companies...

Goldman Sachs Raises USD/JPY Forecast, Sees Yen Weakness Persist Through 2027

Goldman Sachs has raised its USD/JPY exchange rate forecasts, predicting the Japanese yen will remain under pressure as elevated U.S. Treasury yields, limited recession risks in the United States, Japans fiscal concerns,...

JPMorgan Cuts Gold Price Forecast, Sees Bullion Reaching $4,500 by End of 2026

JPMorgan has sharply lowered its near-term gold price outlook, citing weaker-than-expected demand from major buying sectors and growing uncertainty over U.S. monetary policy. The bank now expects gold prices to average...

Oil Prices Steady as U.S.-Iran Peace Talks Ease Strait of Hormuz Supply Fears

Oil prices ended the week largely unchanged as investors weighed improving prospects for a lasting U.S.-Iran peace agreement against rising crude supply from the Middle East. Brent crude futures settled up 14 cents, or...

Asian Currencies Rise as Dollar Weakens; Yen Holds Steady Amid Japan Intervention Watch

Most Asian currencies edged higher on Friday after the U.S. dollar retreated from a 13-month high following weaker-than-expected U.S. nonfarm payrolls data, raising fresh questions about the Federal Reserves interest rate...

Politics

Trump Marks America’s 250th Anniversary With National Mall Rally Amid Political Divide

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to headline a major rally at Washingtons National Mall on Saturday as part of Americas 250th anniversary celebrations, concluding weeks of events that have sparked debate over the growing...

Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of 702 Federal Regulations in Major Deregulation Push

The Trump administration is moving forward with one of its largest deregulation efforts, proposing to eliminate 702 federal regulations across multiple government agencies as part of its latest semiannual regulatory...

Iran Holds State Funeral for Ali Khamenei as Security Fears Shape Succession

Millions of Iranians gathered in Tehran on Saturday for the state funeral of slain Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, while authorities confirmed that his son and successor, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, would not lead funeral...

Trump Offers to Help Advance Ukraine Peace Talks in Call With Putin

U.S. President Donald Trump told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Washington remains ready to help advance efforts to end the war in Ukraine during a phone call that lasted nearly 90 minutes, according to Kremlin aide...

Kim Jong Un Oversees North Korea Destroyer Missile Tests, Orders Rapid Naval Deployment

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un supervised a series of weapons tests aboard the newly built naval destroyer Kang Kon, reinforcing Pyongyangs push to strengthen its maritime military capabilities, according to the Korean...

Science

Blue Origin New Glenn Explosion Could Delay Launch Operations Until 2028

Blue Origin is facing a significant setback after a dramatic explosion involving its New Glenn rocket severely damaged a launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida. According to NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, repairs to the...

Blue Origin New Glenn Rocket Explodes During Launch Pad Test, Delaying Space Ambitions

Blue Origin suffered a major setback after its uncrewed New Glenn rocket exploded during a launch pad test in Florida on Thursday, raising new challenges for Jeff Bezos space company as it competes with Elon Musks SpaceX...

SpaceX Delays Starship V3 Launch Ahead of Potential Record IPO

SpaceX on Thursday postponed the highly anticipated launch of its 12th Starship rocket test from Texas after technical issues interrupted the final countdown. The company now plans to attempt the Starship V3 launch again...

Trump Administration Releases New UFO Files and Apollo Mission Records

The U.S. Defense Department has released dozens of previously classified UFO-related files following an order from President Donald Trump, sparking renewed debate over unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP) and government...

China vs. NASA: The New Moon Race and What's at Stake by 2030

The space race is back and this time, its a direct competition between the United States and China for dominance on the lunar surface. NASAs Artemis II mission recently made history when four astronauts flew farther into...

Technology

Anthropic Tightens AI Access Controls After Reports of China-Based Workarounds

Anthropic is strengthening measures to prevent unauthorized access to its artificial intelligence services from China after discovering that several Chinese companies had allegedly bypassed its restrictions, according to a...

Kuaishou Stock Jumps as Kling AI Secures $2 Billion Funding Round

Hong Kong-listed shares of Kuaishou Technology (HK:1024) climbed more than 6% on Thursday after its spun-off artificial intelligence business, Kling AI, secured an initial $2 billion in venture capital funding to...

Meta CEO Zuckerberg Says AI Agent Development Has Slowed Despite Massive AI Investment

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ: META) CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that the companys progress in developing artificial intelligence (AI) agents has been slower than expected, despite Metas aggressive investment in AI...

Kioxia Bets on AI Memory Boom With Next-Gen NAND Production in Japan

Kioxia is set to mark a major milestone on Friday with a ceremony at its manufacturing facility in northern Japan as the company prepares to begin mass production of its next-generation NAND flash memory chips. The move...

OpenAI Proposes 5% U.S. Government Stake Amid AI Policy Talks

OpenAI has reportedly proposed granting the U.S. government a 5% ownership stake in the artificial intelligence company as it seeks to strengthen ties with Washington and address growing political scrutiny over the rapidly...