ECONOMY

Weather forecasters from Australia and the U.S. have warned an El Niño weather pattern may likely hit the country and parts of Asia this year. If this occurs, chances are farm growers will experience deficient rains this year.

Days before the Chinese Lunar New Year and Chinese residents won't be serving chicken on their festivity tables. China has effected a ban of live poultry sales following a jump in the number of H7N9 infections. The ban covers large parts of eastern and southern China. Immediately on Tuesday, Hong Kong slaughtered 20,000 chickens found with the deadly bird flu virus.

Greece has declared a state of emergency over the Greek island of Cephalonia (Kefalonia), following Sunday's 5.8-magnitude quake which injured seven people.

Russia has banned the importation of Australian beef byproducts such as offal over claims the food products used a growth stimulant which Moscow considers unsafe.

Global telecoms giants Samsung and Google has forged a 10-year cross-licensing deal on technology patents, which includes the existing ones as well as those filed within the term period.

A bankruptcy court in the U.S. has approved the assets sale of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railways (MM&A), seven months after it figured in a fiery railway crash in Lac-Megantic, Quebec that killed 47 people.

Residents in British Columbia, Canada, have been reportedly hoarding medicines containing potassium iodide amid radiation scares coming to their shores from Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

Effective March 1, 2014, Beijing will no longer be approving proposals for new constructions of industrial plants, including oil refining, steel, cement and thermal power plants. Proposals for improvements of existing ones will likewise be barred.

A new research published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B has found that flu medications can actually help spread the influenza viruses more rapidly from one person to another.

Despite terrorism scares and anti-gay sentiments, prices of hotels in Sochi, Russia, host of the 2014 22nd Winter Olympics, have started ballooning and could reach by as much as $243 per night, a whopping jump of 121 per cent.

A U.S. District Court Judge in California on Tuesday has ruled that Korea's Samsung did infringe Apple Inc's autocorrect patent technology, two months before the telecoms giants face each other for a late March trial date.

China's dangerous air pollution isn't only confined to harm its residents. It has been found to be dangerously invoking more severe and frequent cyclones in the northwest Pacific.

Apple Inc is in another legal battle. The iPhone maker has been slapped with a lawsuit in Massachusetts by three customers who alleged that the company had been selling users' personal information to third parties.

Some 1,700 employees from the aerospace division of Canadian aeronautics company Bombardier are bound to lose their jobs in the coming weeks.

Electricity suppliers have managed to restore all of Auckland's power supply on Wednesday after ex-tropical Cyclone June's powerful wild winds hit the area on Tuesday.

China has developed its own mobile operating system called China Operating System (COS) that will rival Microsoft's Windows, Google's Android and ChromeOS, as well as Apple's iOS and MacOS platforms.

Papua New Guinea will no longer be issuing Australians visas on arrival, Peter O'Neill, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister, made the announcement on Monday.

Best not to get sick at anytime in Canada. A new survey that looked into the waiting times of Canadian patients in setting urgent appointments just to be checked and treated by their family doctors within a day has been found to be the worst among the 11 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OCED).

Three weeks before the opening of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin has pounced on critics, particularly American critics opposed to his country's anti-gay laws. He specifically told them to look at themselves in the mirror first before throwing tantrums and verbal shenanigans against Russia.

Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO), embattled operator of crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, has detected a new radiation contaminated water leak at the plant's No. 3 reactor building.

Large amounts of rainfall are expected to fall down on New Zealand and Australia early this week. Kiwi farmers at upper North Island however are excited over the development.

Bitcoin automated tellers machines may be proliferating all across Canada, but the country's finance department was quick to warn residents the digital currency has yet to be recognised as a legal tender.

Residents living in Canada's Toronto and the rest of the GTA are advised to take the necessary precautions in anticipation of blowing snow and frigid temperatures expected to blast the region on Sunday lasting through Monday.

The New Zealand dollar broke records when it surpassed the Australian dollar due to weak jobs data in Australia and differences in interest rate outlooks between neighbour countries. The Kiwi dollar climbed as high as 94.80 Australian cents as it traded against the Aussie at 94.72 cents on Jan. 16. It is the highest climb of the Kiwi dollar in 8 years. The local currency soared to 83.44 U.S. cents from 83.29 cents as of the same day.

Canadian Governor General David Johnston on Thursday announced the country will be having royal visitors in May. The Prince of Wales, Charles, and the Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla, will be visiting Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (P.E.I.) four months from now.

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) warned on Thursday big power users in South Australia and Victoria of the possibility of massive blackouts due to the high demand for electricity caused by the heat wave.

Pope Francis has decided to auction his 1,585cc Harley-Davidson Dyna Super Glid for charity. The rocker bike was donated to the supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church in June 2013.

Disregarding strong public opposition and reneging on its own word, Japan on Wednesday has given Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), embattled operator of the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station, the go signal to revive its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear facility.

Google Inc. has been found not playing fair and square in Canada. The country's federal privacy watchdog said the Internet services provider violated Canadian privacy law through targeted online health advertising ads.