Wesfarmers expecting solid growth. Coles owner Wesfarmers Ltd has delivered a 33.6 per cent rise in annual profit and expects solid growth again this year despite the challenges of a tougher economic environment.

Talks to buy Qualceram collapse. Irish bathroom ceramics company, Qualceram Shires, today said that a potential bidder for the firm has pulled out of talks due to the property and construction slump in Ireland and the UK.

XM-Sirius Vote Hangs on New Conditions. A long-delayed merger between the nation's two satellite radio providers may be facing another hurdle after a key regulator yesterday told the companies they would need to make stronger concessions on pricing and minority programming to gain his support.

Move to Digital TV Faces Language Barrier. The television set in Marisa Orozco's Falls Church living room is almost always tuned to Spanish-language stations. For her parents, who don't speak English, the telenovelas -- soap operas -- and newscasts are a strong connection to their former lives in Colombia. The shows, received through the..

Credit fraud ring busted. Investigators with the Coweta County Sheriff's Office have busted an identity fraud ring that involves multiple victims stretching across multiple states and more than $100,000 in stolen money -- and additional..

Personal Tech. The Washington Post's Rob Pegoraro will be online to discuss recent reviews and answer your personal tech questions.

Five Insane Upgrades That You Should Never Do. Just because you can do something, that doesn't mean you should. That old truism goes double for computers. But some PC geeks are so fanatical about performance, so doggedly determined to push their hardware to extremes, that they'll go to ridiculous lengths to wring a few more clock cycles out of..

2 Fremont brothers held in blaze that killed father. The Blade, Toledo, Ohio Middle Aug. 26--FREMONT -- The grandparents of two Fremont brothers accused of deliberately burning down their home Saturday morning, killing their father in the process, claim the two..

High-Stakes Race to Unlock a Wider Web. The nation's top technology companies have spent millions of dollars and nearly two years building devices, poring over laptops and working in federal labs trying to come up with a new way of providing high-speed Internet to bandwidth-hungry cities as well as hard-to-reach rural regions.

URS Corp. Upgraded to a Buy. Of URS Corp.'s current $17.9 billion backlog, 7.8% is Power, 14% is Infrastructure, 58.1% is Federal and 20.1% is Industrial/Commercial. At this point, the Power sector probably has the best outlook, as the..

Baker to Conduct Bridge Type Study for New Kentucky Bridge. Michael Baker Jr., Inc., an engineering unit of Michael Baker Corporation, has been awarded a $1.1 million contract to conduct a Bridge Type Study for a new bridge to replace the existing U.S. 421 bridge over..

XM Radio Predicts Quarterly Loss Even as Its Customer Base Grows. XM Satellite Radio Holdings said yesterday that it expects losses of as much as $38 million in the second quarter and would have to refinance debt as it waits for final regulatory approval of its merger with Sirius Satellite Radio.

Subscribers' Options to Change With Merger. The merger of XM and Sirius satellite radio companies raises a number of questions for subscribers of the two services and for Washington, which has been the home of XM for more than a decade.

Counties agree to spend $7.4 million on renovations for Academy for Career Excellence. The Beaufort-Jasper Academy for Career Excellence could get a $7.4 million facelift after both counties' boards agreed Thursday to have a construction firm draft a three-year plan for renovation projects.

Keep That Laptop in the Bag in the Security Line. The Transportation Security Administration is apparently trying to make our lives a bit easier while not reducing one aspect of the security theater that's more reality than acting. The TSA will, starting tomorrow, let you keep your laptop in a bag that provides a clear image.

Laser Technology Spots Cavities Before They Start. FRIDAY, Aug. 22 -- Using lasers to spot troubled teeth before cavities form, researchers hope to turn the dentist's drill into a relic of the 20th century.

That 'Friend' May Be a Worm. If, by chance, you've received a message from a "friend" in the last few days saying that you've been caught on tape, it's not true. Unless you're Paris Hilton.

Satellite Radio Merger Approved. The government has approved the long-delayed merger of the nation's only satellite radio companies, combining Sirius and XM into a single entity with 18 million subscribers.

Hines Horticulture files for Chapter 11. Hines Horticulture, Inc. today announced that it and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Hines Nurseries, Inc.

UConn to build facility for men's, women's hoop. UConn's Division of Athletics announced Wednesday that it has hired HOK Sport, Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., to coordinate architectural and design services for a new men's and women's basketball practice..