Vittorio Hernandez

A female civilian member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) filed on Thursday sexual harassment charges against Inspector Tim Shields, the attorney general of Canada and British Columbia's minister of justice.

As part of the cost-cutting measures initiated by the Bank of Cyprus, 1,370 employees volunteered to take part in its retirement programme. The number represents about 25 per cent of the bank's workforce.

In a classic example of online duping, a 21-year-old woman from Brisbane was scammed of $1,200 when she ordered online for two iPhones, but got instead two edible Apple fruits.

The survival of New Zealand's $9.4-billion dairy trade is under threat over the discovery of tainted whey used in dairy products to eight customers in Australia, China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.

U.S. President Barack Obama did the unexpected on Saturday, two days before the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) June decision on a patent infringement case brought by tech giants Apple and Samsung takes effect.

The technology world is waiting for next week's decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) on a patent infringement case brought by tech giants Apple and Samsung. The decision could result in the ban in the U.S. of the import of certain products of the two tech companies.

Canadian pop star Justin Bieber did it again - that is misbehave onstage. However, his latest caper was triggered by a hard-headed fan who threw at iPhone onstage in spite of Justin's request to refrain from throwing items to the stage.

Fonterra, the largest company in New Zealand, has issued a warning that some of products used in infant formula and sports drink may have the bacteria Clostridium Botulinum that could cause the deadly botulism.

A 1 per cent improvement for the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) made today the happiest Friday since 14 June for the local sharemarket. The Australian market has now gained ground for six straight weeks and has only eased on two of the past 10 trading sessions. The XAO is only around 120 points (or 2 per cent) away from a five-year high.

TransCanada will construct a pipeline from western Canada to link it with the east's refineries in its bid to seek more export markets. Once complete, the $11.6 billion Energy East line could transport up to 1.1 million barrels of oil daily.

Positive data out of the US lifted overseas stocks higher last night, providing a strong lead for local shares. The Dow Jones was up 128 points after the ISM manufacturing reading was higher than expected and lower initial jobless claims encouraged investors.

Reflecting its bullish outlook towards the yellow metal, ANZ Bank opened on Friday its second gold bullion vault in Asia at the Singapore FreePort. The facility, capable of storing 50 metric tonnes of gold, actually started operating in Singapore in July.

After using plastic as casing for so many of its devices, South Korean tech giant Samsung is reportedly planning to use metal for the next model of the Galaxy S5. The basis of the speculation is a Samsung patent filed in Seoul in 2011 and registered in the U.S. in 2012.

Ariel Castro, the 53-year-old school bus driver who kidnapped and raped three women for a decade, was sentenced on Thursday to life imprisonment. In addition to that, he was meted 1,000 for aggravated murder, kidnapping, rape and assault.

Despite Apple and Samsung's numerous legal battles, the Cupertino-based tech giant is still tapping its South Korean rival to provide it the high-resolution Retina display when it releases the next version of the iPad mini, The Wall Street Journal reported.

It was one plane ride you would not want to be caught in - that was Qantas Flight 48 from Santiago, Chile, which landed in Sydney, Australia on Thursday afternoon.

In a mixed day of trading today, the All Ordinaries (XAO) closed marginally higher, up by 0.2 per cent. The Australian market weighed encouraging news out of the local housing market and stronger than expected Chinese manufacturing data against lacklustre manufacturing data at home and speculation around new taxes in the banking industry.

After a volatile night on the US markets our market has followed suit today. The Dow Jones index traded over a range of around 140 points overnight and the ASX has now traded over a 40 point range so far today. After a strong start, where the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) up over 30points, the market has now moved into the red. The market fall was largely because of the sell out in the banks as rumors start to percolate in the markets of a possible bank deposit insurance levy.

The Canadian province of Manitoba will ban in 2014 the use of coal and petroleum coke for heating to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. It will also collect an emissions tax on industrial users of the two commodities other than heating.

Stories of avalanche or plane crash survivors eating human flesh just to live or earthquake victims trapped in rubbles drinking their own pee are stuff that media reports whenever a major disaster strikes a place.

Like pregnant asylum seekers in Australia who will still be sent to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea for processing despite the risk of exposure to malaria, gay asylum seekers would similarly not be spared from being resettled in the place now notoriously referred to as Rape Island.

Google is promising Starbucks customers in the U.S. Internet connection 10 times faster than the current speed they enjoy at the coffee shop chain. The speed could even be 100 times faster if the company-operated Starbucks is in a Google Fiber city such as Kansas.

Beware of sleeping in the nude and having a loose pet around. A 39-year-old paralyzed man from Arkansas discovered that it is a very bad combination.

Despite solid gains throughout the course of the day, end of month squaring saw the Australian share market close only modestly higher on Wednesday.

The global potash cartel just broke up on Tuesday when Uralkali, the major Russian player, announced that it just ended its export partnership while accusing its former Belarus partner of operating outside their deal.

Overnight US share markets closed mixed as cautious investing pushed the DOW down 1pt at the end of trade ahead of the outcome of the Federal Reserve meeting later tonight. There was a large sell-off in material and energy shares and a shakeup in the potash sector hurt the broader market but we have not seem too much of a reaction on our market today.

Information from the two data-recording black boxes of the ill-fated train that derailed in Spain last week said that the driver, Francisco Jose Garzon Amo, was on the work phone and consulting a map when the accident occurred.

Besides recently losing a substantial part of its tablet market share to rival Android and hair-raising stories of Chinese iPhone users being electrocuted while charging their smartphones, another headache is coming Apple's way from China.

Another controversy is expected to rock Australia's asylum policy amid reports that even pregnant women would be sent to Manus Island - now more known as Rape Island - in Papua New Guinea for processing.