Vittorio Hernandez

After five consecutive up days, the local sharemarket is giving back some of its improvements. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down 0.4 per cent; however still is still 1.39 per cent firmer over the course of the week. Local stocks are also hovering around five year highs.

The photo of President Benigno Aquino III with Jeane Napoles, the daughter of the alleged brain of the pork barrel scam, created a stir in social media because of what it implied or indicated.

After a South African artist made an art installation from a former jail representing the vagina, a Brooklyn-based artist will host the Rub Out art mission on Sept 18. The objective of artist Christine Cha is to promote an open discussion of female sexuality, particularly female masturbation.

Australia logged a 5.8 per cent unemployment rate in August, up from 5.7 per cent in June and a four-year high record.

The Indonesian government approved on Wednesday a plan to purchase 1 million hectares of farmland in Australia to solve the country's beef supply problem.

The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) edged higher by 0.2 per cent; pulling back from the 5250pt level flirted with earlier in the session. This makes it not only five straight days of gains but also the best winning streak for Australian shares in two months.

The Australian share market is trading flat at lunchtime on Thursday, after testing five year highs during Wednesday's trade.

The saying that cats have 9 lives appears to be true for an 8-week-old kitten in Maine which allegedly was microwaved by two teenage girls, but survived.

The popular Philippine gay-themed soap opera normally makes cliffhanger endings on Fridays, but on Wednesday, Sept 11, it chose to shock viewers. Could it be the significance of the date, being the anniversary of the 9-11 bombings in New York that GMA-7 decided to likewise drop a bomb on viewers with Vincent Soriano's suicide?

Earlier speculations linking Janet Lim-Napoles, the pork barrel scam queen, with Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, was further fueled on Wednesday after a photo of the president with the controversial daughter of the businesswoman surfaced.

The Rinehart family feud that many Australians are following for its juicy details about the conflict involving the country's richest clan whenever there are court hearings, may soon be a close-door affair, if matriarch Gina Rinehart would have her way.

Running without clothes in a secluded area is OK, but gardening in the nude is not, a New Zealand court told naturist Andrew Pointon.

Several factors have combined on Wednesday to help regional stocks move higher on Wednesday . The ASX200 rose 0.4% to 5223.80, edging closer to a five-year high of 5249.6 last seen in May.

All eyes during the Sept 7 federal election in Australia were on the two male protagonists - Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Coalition leader Tony Abbott.

The Australian sharemarket is improving for the fourth straight day, the third consecutive month and both the ASX200 together with the All Ordinaries are above 5200pts. Should markets continue to rise a touch more, stocks could reach five year highs.

TransCanada said on Tuesday that its $12-billion East Energy line would be in the country's national interest because the venture, which aims to pipe Alberta crude to Canada's East Coast, could create at least 10,000 new jobs.

Pope Francis now has a second car. He already uses a Ford Focus, but was recently gifted by Fr Renzo Zocca, an Italian priest, a 20-year-old white Renault 4.

A tech Web site had leaked images of Nokia's rumoured first phablet which the Finnish tech firm allegedly will unbox before the company officially becomes a part of American giant Microsoft.

Microsoft sent out on Monday invitations to media for a major event on Sept 23 in New York City. The invite did not provide specifics, but technology media members believe that Microsoft would unbox the second-generation Surface Pro 2 tablet that day.

A fourth American porn star has tested positive for HIV, bolstering the need for adult movie performers to wear condoms for their sex scenes, which the porn industry has bucked prior to recent positive testings of XXX-rated ac

Photos and stories of two major Philippine celebrities became viral on Tuesday night as the two, presidential sister Kris Aquino and eight-division boxing champ Manny Pacquiao were forced to ride the public rail system due to the severe traffic caused by the early evening rainfall.

The Australian share market performed strongly today, as data showed Chinese production was at its highest levels in 17 months and Australian business confidence reached a two year high.

Australian shares have opened higher, following Wall Street´s gains overnight.

Sports experts believe the choice of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to select Tokyo as hosts of the 2020 Summer Games in a good one. They base their agreement on Japan's record in hosting international sporting events and the capital city's first-class transportation system, plus a well-regulated hotel sector that can accommodate athletes and visitors without overcharging them.

Although Philippine pork barrel scam queen Janet Lim-Napoles is being pictured as Miss Piggy in caricatures and memes, she is far from living in a pig sty at the height of her wallowing in luxury and wealth.

While the Samsung Galaxy S4, the original edition and the Google Play Edition, are the unanimous choices of tech experts for smartphones for September 2013, in the tablet category, the winner is the new Google Nexus 7.

Due to its net loss of $5.77 billion for the 2013 financial year caused by $6 billion asset write-downs and restructuring costs, Newcrest Mining executives took substantial cuts in their pay package and bonuses.

Australian Prime Minister-elect Tony Abbott had said during the campaign that he would stop the asylum boats from coming to the country's shores. On Monday, he called Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O'Neill that the incoming Coalition government commits to maintain the offshore processing system in Manus Island, also called Rape Island by male asylum seekers.

The Australian share market enjoyed a solid start to the trading week. The removal of election uncertainty, strong Chinese trade data and a successful Olympic bid by Tokyo also supported stocks in the region. Japan's Nikkei Index rose 2.5 per cent while the Shanghai Composite in China was up 3.5 per cent.