THE NEWS WRAP: China sets free trade with Australia as a priority

China’s second most powerful leader, Premier Li Keqiang, has announced the pursuit of free trade agreements with key developed economies, including Australia, is a key economic priority for his government.

The Chinese government wants to see a move away from an overreliance on wasteful investment towards private demand driving economic growth, even if it means a slower but more sustainable rate of growth.

“We must keep economic development as the central task and maintain a proper growth rate,” Li says.

“On the basis of careful comparison and repeatedly weighing various factors as well as considering what is needed and what is possible, we set a growth target of around 7.5%.”

Abbott reveals Qantas wanted $3 billion from taxpayers

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has revealed embattled airline Qantas asked for a $3 billion unsecured loan and a government debt guarantee, with both options rejected by cabinet.

“You would never in a fit lend anyone $3 billion on an unsecured basis without doing due diligence on that person,” Abbott says.

“The conclusion that we came to based on their advice was that Qantas does not need an unsecured facility from the government.”

Yahoo! dumping Google and Facebook sign-ins

Yahoo! has announced it will remove the ability for users to sign in to its services using their Facebook or Google account details.

“Yahoo is continually working on improving the user experience… [The new process] will allow us to offer the best personalized experience to everyone.”

NCAA college basketball service Tourney Pick ‘Em will be the first Yahoo! service to use the new sign-in process, while the company has not given a timeline as to when it will be rolled out to other services.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down to 16360. The Aussie dollar is up to US89.90 cents.