Vittorio Hernandez

The Australian share market made it three wins in a row today, although it did shed earlier gains on the back of Chinese manufacturing data. At one point the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) was up by as much as 0.7 per cent after a quarterly earnings report from Apple in the US beat estimates. This week the All Ords is up 1.3 per cent.

The Australian sharemarket was up 0.7 per cent at one point, only to have most of the gains wiped out following worse than expected Chinese data at 11.45am (AEST). This is the third consecutive session of improvement, while both the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) and the ASX200 (XJO) still remaining above the 5000.0 point mark. The XAO is up 0.2 per cent.

Despite his nine-inch flaccid hotdog, this is one penis contest that Jonas Falcon would never win. After all, the winner or weiner is the guy with the smallest dick in Brooklyn, New York, who happens to measure just three inches short.

Although millions of young people from different nations welcomed Pope Francis when he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to lead the 15th international celebration of World Youth Day, some groups are not happy with his visit.

In November 2011, the Australian Human Rights Commission, in an audit report, put forward 31 recommendations to clean up the culture at the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA).

Queensland cattle raisers are eyeing the development of China as its new market for beef. The search for new markets to replace the income lost from its export trade with Indonesia was discussed at the Northern Stakeholder Forum on Tuesday held at Mount Isa in the state.

Three new Motorola DROID phones are being launched Wednesday, July 24, at Verizon. The 4G LTE phones made by Motorola Mobility are the 4.3-inch DROID Mini, 5-inch DROID Ultra and 5-inch DROID Maxx.

The Australian share market had a positive session on Thursday, thanks to a record high on the US S&P 500 Index overnight, strong gains in China and a rally in the gold price.

Both the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) and the ASX200 (XJO) are trading above 5000.0pts, for one of the first times in a few months. The XAO is up 0.5 per cent with almost all sectors trading higher. The energy sector along with the utilities are losing ground.

Remember this famous photo of then Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard knitting a toy kangaroo for the forthcoming baby of Prince William and Kate Middleton?

The technology world has barely recovered from the news that a Chinese woman died from electric shock when she used her iPhone while it was being charged. On Tuesday, a similar story jolted Apple users again.

With Aug 1 identified as the launch date for Google's Moto X and New York as the venue, the next questions on techies' minds is how much will the new smartphone be priced and how what does it look like?

A woman who sought to order from McDonald's drive through restaurant in Great Manchester on Saturday was not served because the fast food establishment's rules exclude people aboard horses from ordering at its drive-through window.

The frequently belittled Chinese tech company Huawei may just surprise techies and take centre stage in 2020 when it makes available 5G technology. The hint of being on the forefront of technological advancement from the Chinese tech giant comes even if 4G has barely landed.

One of the highlights of a tour of New Zealand's Parliament building in Wellington, more popularly called the Beehive, is a short video clip on the building being earthquake-proof.

The Australian government should make a bigger push to make the plain packaging of cigarettes uglier to cut the country's smoking rate. A study released on Monday found that more Aussies are thinking of quitting their nicotine habit not because of fear of acquiring lung cancer as the images and words on the cigarette packaging warn, but due to the ugliness of the wrapper.

The quarterly State of the States report issued regularly by CommSec once again named on Monday Western Australia as the strongest state in the Land Down Under.

The supportive tone seen in the early part of the local session remained in place over the course of the afternoon although the prospect of key company and economic reports in coming days, both locally and elsewhere kept buyers from extending gains. The end result paints a picture of the ASX200 index still consolidating around the 5000 mark.

Buyers have returned from the weekend with renewed vigour. Every sector measured by the ASX is higher at lunch time and a generally constructive note is in place throughout the region. This is somewhat at odds with the way regional markets finished last week.

This video clip of three Thai Buddhist monks leading the lifestyle of the rich and famous had opened the door for Thai authorities to investigate the source of wealth of the three who used a private jet to travel to a U.S., use Louis Vuitton bags and wore aviator glasses.

Pope Francis created on Friday another commission to fix the Vatican bureaucracy. This time, the target of the eight-member committee is the Holy See's financial system. The main task of the panel is to recommend ways to reduce waste, have better transparency and address the city's administrative weaknesses.

"Not tonight, honey. I have a headache." That's a standard comic line used in movies and TV sitcoms to portray the dwindling sex life of middle-age couples. However, while usually it is the wife who says those lines, a growing number of Australian males are using it as well to escape from their husbandly duties to their wives.

Share prices of Middle Island Resources (ASX: MDI) zoomed 42 per cent on Thursday amid reports that it purchased a gold mine in Niger. Besides its new acquisition, Middle Island has exploration prospects in two other African nations, in Liberia and Burkina Faso.

Fans of Man of Steel actor Henry Cavill will be ecstatic to know that the superhero will once more don his Superman costume in a new movie that will include the caped crusader, Batman.

The Moto X smartphone will soon became a reality from mere speculation. The official launch of the new mobile phone from Motorola Mobility is on Aug 1 in New York, according to Slashgear.

Glee Season 5 will air a week later, from Sept 19 to 26, because of the death on July 13 of actor Cory Monteith, who played Finn Hudson in the hit Fox TV programme.

Local stocks were unable to stage any form of eaningful recovery on Friday afternoon. The ASX finished within sight of the session lows. Over the course of the week the index is essentially flat. At face value this result appears unflattering. Although when seen through the lens of the major development this week, namely the communications from Mr Bernanke, a flat result is better than a pass mark.

It would be reasonable to feel let down by the performance of the local share market on Friday. Most boxes were ticked for a positive session given the developments in the US and Europe overnight. As result the ASX started in positive territory, although the gains were short lived. At its best levels the index was up 7 points. At lunch time the market was plumbing its lows of the day with losses in the range of a half a per cent.

Agricultural trade relationship between Australia and Indonesia is improving based on the Friday announcement of Australian Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon that Jakarta will increase the number of its cattle imports to 25,000 heads in the next three months.