THE NEWS WRAP: Rupert Murdoch divorces Wendi Deng

News Corporation chairman Rupert Murdoch has filed divorce papers in the New York Supreme Court, ending his marriage of 14 years to his third wife, Wendi Deng.

Deng is best known for preventing comedian Jonathan May-Bowles from throwing a pie at Murdoch at a hearing into the News Corp phone tapping scandal.

News of the divorce comes as Murdoch prepares to separate News Corporation into an entertainment company called 21st Century Fox, which will hold the company’s film and television assets, and a “new News Corp” which will own its publishing interests.

AustralianSuper in the market for a merger

AustralianSuper chief executive Ian Silk has revealed the $62 billion super fund is looking at mergers and acquisitions, with the $1.6 trillion retirement savings sector set to consolidate over the coming years.

“It’s pretty clear that the regulators and public policy is pushing in the direction of a smaller number of large funds rather than a large number of smaller funds,” Silk says.

“If we are true to our label and true to our beliefs that we exist only for the benefit of members, then we should continue to grow so long as that growth adds value for members.”

Slight improvement in unemployment rate, due to lower participation

The unemployment rate fell slightly, from 5.6% in April to 5.5% in May, reducing the prospects for further Reserve Bank rate cuts.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the drop was led by 0.1% drop in the participation rate, with the number of full-time jobs down by 5300, offset by the creation of 6400 part-time jobs.

The shift to part-time work was reflected in the number of hours worked, which fell 0.7% to 1.63 billion hours for May.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1.21% to 15,176.08. The Aussie dollar is up to US96.47 cents.