THE NEWS WRAP: Facebook now used by more than one billion people around the world

More than one billion people now use Facebook every month, the company has revealed, with particularly strong take up of the social networking site in Australia.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the landmark has resulted in 1.13 trillion “likes”, 219 billion photos and 17 billion location check-ins to date.

In Australia, 42% of the population uses Facebook, more than any other region in the world apart from North America, where 44% of people log into the site regularly.

Gillard hits out at “absurd” Greece comparison

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has hit out at Opposition Leader Tony Abbott for comparing Australia’s economy to Greece.

Gillard said it was “absurd” to say that Australia could suffer the same kind of debt crisis as Greece.

David Murray, former head of the Future Fund and the Commonwealth Bank, said it was “easily possible” for Australia to follow Greece due to net foreign debt and productivity concerns, comments that Abbott endorsed.

TPG still talking to Billabong

Billabong has insisted that it is still in takeover talks with TPG, amid speculation that the private equity firm is looking to pull out of a deal.

Reports suggest that TPG wants to pull its $694.5 million bid for Billabong due to concerns over the troubled business. However, Billabong said in a statement that talks were “continuing”.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 80.75 points, or 0.60%, at 13,575.36. The Australian dollar was up to US102.45 cents.