The group said that the demerger would be finalize in May and might spike the interest of SABMiller, the second largest brewer in the world after Forster’s. After the split, the beer and wine businesses will each be looking to adopt different strategies in the market.

According to White Funds’ portfolio manager, Angus Gluskie, the earnings of the two companies during the merger might make the businesses look vulnerable. “As they do the demerger, it promotes the possibility of them becoming a target but the earnings will leave them looking somewhat vulnerable,” told Reuters the manager of White Funds, company that is a shareholder in Foster’s.

Seeing as both the company’s beer and wine businesses are struggling to stay above the surface, the acquirer would have to be comfortable with the “structural declines, added Gluskie.

After the split companies will be listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, they are expected to attract both private equity firms and trade buyers.

Belgium’s and Australian Open champion Clijsters has went above Caroline Wozniacki, from Denmark, in ranking points. On Friday, the Belgian received a big No “1” made out of flowers.

The No 1 was handed by Amelie Mauresmo, the Paris Open director and former French number one who is now retired.

“I’ll try in French…I’m very happy to be number one again. Thanks for all your support and I hope I can also win the tournament maybe.

It’s a nice feeling but it doesn’t change anything for me personally,” said the new world number one, Kim Clijsters.

However, this is not the first time Clijsters is the world number one. She lived this experience three times before already, once in 2006 and two times in 2003. But this year’s number one for the player is even more important and significant since she has now returned to tennis after having retired in 2007 to have a baby.

Clijsters started playing tennis again in 2009, when she won the US Open.

The Australian made the announcement on Wednesday, and said that he would train before the selection trials of the Australian Olympic, which will take place in February or March 2012.

“It hasn’t been something that I have taken lightly in making a decision in returning to competitive swimming, but I actually made a decision in September. When I made that decision, I was not able to say anything because I was commentating for the BBC, so it was sitting in my gut for a while,” said Australian Ian Thorpe.

Thorpe, aged 28, said that he hopes to be selected and become a part of Australia’s swimming team at the London Games next year.

Thorpe also said during the media conference on Wednesday that he will be focusing on the 100m freestyle and that he’s hoping to compete in relay events if he gets to the Games.

“I was then taken to see the swimming venue for the London Games. It was an extraordinary venue, and I could actually taste it. I haven’t felt like swimming like that for a very long time,” added the Olympic swimmer.

Image via Wikipedia

Ross Garnaut is calling for a renewed political push for Australia to cut carbon emissions, as he argues that the recent Cyclone Yasi, that battered the northeast coast on Thursday, and the earlier massive Queensland floods, are “just a taste” of what is to come should climate change be left unchecked.

“The greater energy in the atmosphere and the seas can intensify extreme events and I’m afraid that we’re feeling some of that today, and we’re feeling that at a time when global warming is in its early stages,” Garnaut said on Thursday.

Earlier plans to implement carbon-emissions permits that polluters would pay for on an open market have been stalled as a committee has been set up to investigate a better way of setting a price on carbon.

The original plan had proposed A$1 per tonne, before moving to a market price. In Europe, prices trade at around EUR 14.50 ($19.70) per tonne.

The government had also suggested a 5 per cent emissions cut of 2000 levels by 2020, whereas the Greens pushed for a 25-40 per cent cut.

Other measures, including an interim carbon tax, are also said to be considered in the new policy, which is being developed with the inclusion of both Green and independent MPs.

Australia is one of the world’s largest per capita emitters due to its reliance on coal for some 80 per cent of its electricity generation. The country is responsible for about 1.5 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Image via Wikipedia

Police reported that a 23-year-old man died as a result of suffocation after using a diesel-powered generator in a closed room he sheltered in in the aftermath of the hurricane.

Two people are also reported missing more than 24 hours after the storm hit in the early hours of Thursday.

With winds up of to 280 km/h and waves reaching as far as two blocks into coastal communities both residents are authorities are thankful the death toll was not higher. However, hundreds of houses and millions of dollars of banana and sugarcane crops have been devastated by the storm.

The area is a gateway for tourists wanting to visit the Great Barrier Reef. It is not yet known if the storm has caused any damage to reef. According to experts, cyclones can cause damage to reefs as they move across, but that they are normally able to recover.

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard visited the affected region on Friday: “I would prefer that my visit to Queensland was for other purposes but we’re here because nature’s been continuing to throw challenges to Queensland,” she said.

Cyclone Yasi was predicted to hit the city of Cairns, home to 160,000 people, and Queensland’s unofficial capital Townsville, but the 290 km/h (180 mph) winds took a different direction and hit the coast in between the two cities instead.

Although the storm destroyed hundreds of homes and caused some 180,000 people to be without power, police had by late afternoon not received any reports of deaths. Australian authorities attribute the fact that there had been no loss of life to a combination of well-planned preparation as well as luck.

Queensland emergency services minister, Neil Roberts, said it was an “amazing outcome,” and Anna Bligh, Queensland premier concluded “We didn’t miss a bullet, we missed a rocket.”

Yasi has been downgraded to a category one storm, however continuing strong winds and heavy rainfall are still having an impact on the country as the weather system moves inland.

Cyclonic winds and flash floods have been predicted for Mount Isa and the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs, and even as far as South Australia.

Anna Bligh, the State Premier, said that residents living in coastal areas who have been warned that their homes will flood should have left their homes already and found shelter elsewhere.

“No-one should be leaving home now. The time for movement and evacuation has now passed. People should be sheltering wherever they are,” said the State Premier.

She further added that Yasi is “the most catastrophic storm” to ever hit Queensland’s coast, since the worst storm – a category four one – hit Darwin in 1974, on Christmas Eve. At that time, Cyclone Tracy killed 71 people, but Yasi could cause a lot more damage seeing its category.

The coordinator of disasters in Queensland also warned residents that once Yasi hits, they will be on their own for a time period of 24 hours.

Queensland has been going through a rough patch ever since the worst floods in the history of the Australian state hit, last November.

Image by toga via Flickr

This is the second time in Djokovic’s career when he leaves Melbourne with a grand final winner title, after his success in 2008, when he won the finals in front of Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.

For the Antipozi success, Serbian Djokovic will receive 2,000 points in the ATP, together with a 2.2 million Australian dollars check. Murray will also get 1,200 points and a check amounting 1.1 million Australian dollars.

His adversary in the finals, however, has even more reasons to perform better at the next competition since this is the second final of the Australian Open in which Andy Murray was eliminated, but he said that he might take a break from the game.

Last year, Murray lost the competition to Roger Federer.

Swiss player Federer, however, was eliminated this year in the semifinals by now-known-as-winner Nova Djokovic, with 6-7, 5-7, 4-6, after an exhausting three-hour game, which the winner said to have been the best one in his career.

The elimination in the semifinals ended Federer’s success ever since 2003, as holder of a Grand Slam title.

Queensland was the city that experienced the worst flooding. The Australian newspaper reported on Monday that the costs of rebuilding Queensland could rise as high as A$10bn, or $9.8bn.

However, the damages could cost even more since the floods have already affected 46 town of the Victoria State and are moving fast south to western and northern Victoria.

“It looks like this is possibly going to be, in economic terms, the largest natural disaster in our history.

This is very big; it’s not just something which is going to occupy our time for the next few months. It will be a question of years as we go through the rebuilding,” stated Treasurer Wayne Swan on Australian television.

2010 was the wettest year in Australian due to the La Nina climatic phenomenon which took place in the pacific.

The phenomenon caused floods in a wide area of Sri Lanka, and brought food inflation worries as the rushing waters also destroyed 21 per cent of Sri Lanka’s staple rice crop.

The town of Horsham has been split in two, and nearby Shepparton has been badly affected after nearly 10 years of drought.

Image via Wikipedia

The body of a young boy has been found in the town populated by only 14,000 people. The Eight year old was swept into a flood drain before being discovered by police divers on Monday.

Power has been cut to many communities in the area as the stations have all been flooded, This is expected to last for an extensive period.

Properties have been affected with the water rising to 1 metre in some areas.

This comes on the heels of the disaster in Queensland that has so far seen 30 deaths throughout the state due to tropical storms and riverbank breaches.

Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, has stated that private industry needs to becom heavily involved in the efforts to re-build affected areas in Queensland. The damage is expexted to be in the billions.

A plea to corporate companies has been made by the Queensland premier, Anna Bligh, to help with the cleanup efforts.

She also stated that and inquiry will be made into the operation of the states dams so that any future events of a similar nature can be dealt with in a more effective,timely manner.