ECONOMY

Four incidents that rocked the global aviation industry in just a span of four months have created the inevitable phobia among air travellers. While Superman did say that air travel is still the safest mode of transportation, the fate of the four airlines doesn't seem to jive to this testament.

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has ordered the closure of all schools in Liberia amid the deepening Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, which has been categorised as "out of control" by Doctors Without Borders (MSF). Nigeria's major ASKY airline had announced it is stopping all flights bound for Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Tests looking for possible Fukushima radiation contamination on the waters along the U.S. coast continued to yield negative results, a group of scientists said on Tuesday. However, they warned low levels of radiation from the March 2011 nuclear disaster in Japan are still expected to reach the US shore.

Authorities in Britain have called for a crisis meeting to tackle possible measures to fight off as well as cope with the spreading deadly Ebola virus. UK pressed the panic button after an infected man managed to fly out from disease-affected Liberia to the major international travel hub of Lagos, Nigeria. Although no British national has been infected yet, the British government views the incurable disease as a "very serious threat."

Australia's AAA credit rating has been affirmed by Standard & Poor's due to the country's strong public finances, low debt and deficit. The credit rating agency appears more "relaxed" about the federal government's budget, according to reports.

Citing building code violations, police in China's city of Wenzhou have removed a 10-foot cross from a local church. Wenzhou is considered be "China's Jerusalem" due to its large Christian population.

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The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has said it will be creating a task force on airline safety in light of the fatal downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 over war-torn Ukraine. This, as the global aviation industry rallied that governments must relay or share intelligence information to avert future incidents on flying over war-zone declared areas.

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Alliance partner Emirates and Qantas Airways have issued differing pronouncements on flying to warzones, most specially Iraq.

Unexpectedly losing their loved ones to a senseless war was already painful. But families of the 298 victims of Malaysia Airlines MH17 may have to endure one final blow, as authorities declared it may be already impossible to retrieve all bodies. The families may have to source from elsewhere their much needed closure.

A woman and her two granddaughters belonging to the Ahmadi Muslim minority neighbourhood in Pakistan have died from suffocation after their house was burned down, following an alleged blasphemous post on Facebook of a fellow sect member.

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International health experts cautioned the global populace against the dreaded Ebola virus as it killed a Liberian doctor and infected a second medical worker from U.S. Authorities in Nigeria are likewise scrambling the possible spread of the flesh-eating disease following the arrival of an infected man into Lagos, Africa's largest city with 21 million people.

The United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised all Britons currently in Libya to leave the country, citing the ongoing and greater intensity of fighting in Tripoli and wider instability. It likewise has issued a travel ban against the north African nation.

A multi-million pound law suit is looming over Russian President Vladimir Putin's head for his alleged involvement in the uncalled and accidental downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 on July 17 that claimed 298 lives.

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A bar on the Spanish island of Majorca as well as the event planner that planned the bar crawl that filmed an 18-year-old British girl performing oral sex acts on 24 men has been ordered to close and shut down operations for a year.

The international global community led by the U.K. wants the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to take away from Russia the opportunity to host the 2018 World Cup. Vladimir Putin's country is already facing a slew of economic sanctions due to its alleged involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17.

Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey called the economy of New Zealand "the envy of the world" during his visit to the small island nation across the Tasman. In an interview with TV ONE, Hockey said Australia could learn some lessons from New Zealand.

Rising tensions in the Middle East and Ukraine are sure to impact an already plummeting global economy reeling from slowdowns in the U.S. and China. On Thursday, the International Monetary Fund said projected global growth for 2014 has been lowered to 3.4 per cent, from the previous estimate of 3.7 per cent in April.

The mysterious disappearance of one commercial airliner four months ago, plus the three successive crash accidents in just the past week has definitely taken its toll on the jittery global aviation industry. On Wednesday, the British Armed Forces scrambled two of its Royal Air Force aircraft after air controllers lost contact with a private plane. London's military presumably believed the plane had been compromised.

Pope Francis was every inch visibly moved when he met on Thursday Meriam Ibrahim, the Sudanese woman who refused to recant her Christian faith even as a death sentence loomed over her head.

Has the world reached the purging stage as precursor to the prophesied end of times? In just a span of seven days, some 500 lives were lost from around the world due to three aviation accidents, the latest of which is the Air Algerie flight AH5017.

The U.S.' Federal Aviation Administration has lifted a ban that barred U.S. airlines from traveling to and from Ben Gurion International Airport. The new directive took effect as of 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday.

The New Zealand dollar fell to its six-week low against the U.S. dollar after the Reserve Bank governor, Graeme Wheeler, said the strength of the Kiwi was "unjustified." This paved the way for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to intervene in the currency exchange market.

At least 32,000 people in Taiwan were left without power supply after typhoon Matmo pummeled the east Asian country. Matmo has likewise made landfall in China, the country's second weather disturbance within a week.

Travelers going in and outside of China are being advised to brace for potential delays and worst, flight cancellations in the next three to four weeks. The country's People's Liberation Army is currently conducting military drills over the East China Sea, thus imposing "air traffic restrictions."

Five days after the downing of Malaysia Airlines MH17 over eastern Ukraine, leaders of the European Union finally met on Tuesday to deliberate sanctions against Russia. They agreed imposing travel bans against high-ranking Russian government officials as well as mounting a new round of asset freezes.