ECONOMY

A list of what could be the first batch of identities of people who perished aboard the downed Malaysia Airlines MH17 had started to emerge.

The terrorist act that led to the downing and crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 has been attributed to a group of Russian separatists, based on a recording of intercepted communications released by Ukraine.

Disaster struck again Malaysia Airlines. Four months after Flight MH370 first went mysteriously missing on March 8, another Malaysia Airlines plane, flight MH17, went into peril. Global reports surmise the airliner was a victim of tensions between Ukraine and Russia, purposely shot down and killing all 295 onboard.

Typhoon Rammasun, now on its way to strike southern China and northern Vietnam, forced over 400,000 people in the Philippines to evacuate and seek higher and safer grounds on Tuesday till Wednesday.

Eighty workers of ABC will join the ranks of the unemployed under a forced redundancy programmes as the media firm restructures its international broadcasting commitments after the Australia Network was axed.

The final phase of an operation to salvage Italy's ill-fated cruise ship Costa Concordia has began on Monday, two and a half years after it sank off the island of Giglio, claiming 32 lives in the process.

Now it can be told. Seems German Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's prayers worked better than Argentinean Pope Francis. And sourgraping Brazil is very much elated that archrival Argentina didn't win the coveted World Cup 2014 title.

French police on Thursday said it had intercepted a terrorists' plot to blow-up the famous romantic monument Eiffel Tower, the Louvre as well as a nuclear plant in France last summer.

There won't be any fare price reductions even if the carbon tax surcharge gets scrapped, Australian flag carrier Qantas Airways said this week.

Japan's capital of Tokyo is now on high alert in anticipation of Typhoon Neoguri which is expected to reach areas near the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant on Friday.

Pope Francis has reshuffled the leadership of scandal-riddled Vatican Bank and has named Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, the former head of Invesco Ltd.'s European business, to lead it.

The FOMC minutes have provided further reason for the market to grind higher. There was nothing that really broke with the current policy settings, however the discussions from the minutes had some very interesting revelations, with the most interesting of those coming from the 'exit strategy' of the asset purchase program

The US Federal Reserve FOMC minutes from its June 17-18 meeting were released. The Fed began detailing how it plans to ease the US economy out of an era of loose monetary policy. The minutes showed that Fed participants ´´generally agreed´´ that its monthly bond purchases would end in October. There was also discussion about the central banks current policy of reinvesting its $4.2 trillion in asset holdings as the securities mature. Policymakers debated how to reduce those holdings without disru...

A survey of 680 high net-worth individuals in the U.S. with $3 million or more in investable assets found that the changing family structures, multi-generational and extended family circumstances, evolving gender roles, and generational views on investing and use of wealth are challenging traditional approaches to wealth planning.

Typhoon Neoguri, weakened from an original super typhoon category, has killed at least two people, forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights and has cut the supply of electricity and water to the people of Japan.

Visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed on Tuesday a free trade agreement with Australia, which opens Japan's $5 trillion market to the Land Down Under.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) deputy governor and operations head, Geoff Bascand, said digital currencies may one day replace cash. In his recent speech before the Royal Numismatic Society in Wellington, he described digital currencies like Bitcoin as a challenge to the form and use of money.

The state of health of a woman during pregnancy very much determines the size of her newborn baby.

HIV home-testing kits, similar to the pregnancy tests, will soon be made available in Australia after the federal government lifted a ban restricting their manufacture and sale.

The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued what could be its highest alert to warn residents of Okinawa and the rest of the country to relocate to higher grounds in anticipation of massive wind damages and localized flooding brought by super typhoon Neoguri.

At least three people have died, among them a newborn boy, after a strong 6.9-magnitude shook the border between Guatemala and Mexico on Monday. The temblor injured 32 others, damaged dozens of buildings, toppled down power lines as well as triggered landslides.

In US economic data, the Employment Trends index rose from 119.03 to 119.62 in June. In European economic data, German production fell by 1.8% in May, the biggest reduction in two years and well below market expectations.

German airline Lufthansa will be entering into a joint venture with Air China that will see the two airlines share revenue on certain routes in Asia by selling each other's flight tickets. The routes are situated between China and Europe.

Crews of power supply utility firms on Monday are racing to restore electricity to more than 250,000 homes and businesses groping in the dark in Atlantic Canada after tropical storm Arthur lashed through the area on Saturday morning.

The Department of Agriculture and Food Western Australia has developed a new breed of apple, dubbed as "black apple" that can rival the Pink Lady as world's most popular apple.

Institutions or individuals fond of sending spam mail to Canadian electronic mailboxes should ought to think twice sending those missives or otherwise risk getting sued in court for millions of dollars. Canada's new anti-spam law (CASL) already took effect on Tuesday.

Residents in the U.S.' North Carolina coast as well as Canada's Nova Scotia area have been advised to take necessary precautions as tropical storm Arthur continued to gain strength, potentially hitting hurricane level by Thursday.

Canada could be seeing soon on its many runways its first ultra low-cost air carrier as Canada Jetlines Ltd. announced plans of raising $10-million to be able to enlist on the TSX Venture Exchange.

It was a busy night on the US economic calendar with the ADP jobs report and comments from Fed chair Janet Yellen hitting the wires. The ADP non-farm employment change came in at a much-better-than-expected 281,000, smashing estimates of 207,000. This saw expectations ramp up as we head into the official non-farm payrolls reading later today. With the July 4thIndependence day holiday on Friday, the data is being released on Thursday instead of the traditional Friday. The market is expecting to s...