Vittorio Hernandez

Filipino cartoonist Pol Medina seems not to have learned his lessons. After being threatened with a lawsuit by St Scholastica's College in Manila over a lesbian joke gone bad in his Pugad Baboy (Pig Sty) comic strip in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, he is again tapping into lesbian humour.

Father's Day is over, but children who failed to give their dads a present on Sunday could still catch up. One gift they could consider, if papa happens to be a techie is Barnes & Noble's Nook tablets which are being sold at reduced prices as an extension of the retailer's Father's Day sale.

The Australian share market managed to stage another recovery in late afternoon trade, but still closed lower. After hitting an intra-day low of 4750pts, the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) finished the day's session down 10.4pts or 0.2 per cent to 4794.

Treasurer Wayne Swan rolled out on Tuesday his own app, the Fix-o-Gram which allows his constituents in the marginal Brisbane seat of Lilley to send him photos of potholes, traffic jams or other local problems to alert him.

The Australian share market has reversed all of Monday's gains in the early session, as investors turn their attention to the US Federal Reserve's two day policy meeting which kicks off tonight in Washington. Market speculation over whether or not the Fed will wind back its stimulus program remains mixed.

The battle for a larger share of the smartphone and tablet market intensifies as three new devices are set for roll out soon.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard should expect tougher days ahead of the Sept 14 election since a growing number of Australian Labor Party members are pushing former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to break his promise and challenge Ms Gillard's leadership of the party.

Dubai made another world record last week with the opening of the Cayan Tower, the tallest twisted edifice built at the soaring cost of $272 million.

The yellow metal once considered a safe haven continues to plummet, not only in price but also in production. Reports from mining consultancy Surbiton Associates said that Australian miners produced 5 per cent less gold in the first quarter of 2013.

Is South Korean tech giant, the number one smartphone maker in the world, going the way of Motorola, BlackBerry, Nokia and Apple? That question is now on the minds of analysts who just reviewed the growth outlook for Samsung since almost 40 per cent of the 43 analysts downgraded earnings for the tech giant and shipments to 7 million from the initial 10 million units.

In the 1960s there was an American TV show titled The Flying Nun which starred a very young Sally Fields. Her flying, though was in the magical sense, made possible by her veil. However, three Thai Buddhist monks are now being criticised for flying high in the Lifestyle of the Rich and Famous tradition. A video of their lavish lifestyle was posted in YouTube and had gone viral with so far more than 85,000 hits.

The Australian market had a very volatile start to the week, with stocks rallying strongly in the dying minutes of the session. Stocks slumped by as much as 1 per cent in the first hour of trade, only to steadily rise from 11am (AEST) onwards and spike in the final 30 minutes of trade. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed 0.6 per cent higher.

After falls of around 1 per cent this morning, a comeback from the financial sector is helping minimise the losses. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is down by just 0.1 per cent after recording its biggest improvement of the year on Friday. The miners are the biggest contributors to the losses however this is being balanced by gains of as much as 1.6 per cent from the banks.

Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman, has slipped down in Forbes Magazine's listing of the World's Richest Women to fifth place. She used to be number one, but went down to second place in 2012 in BRW Magazine's separate list.

A new debate is shaping up in Australia's political scene. And it is not whether Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott or Kevin Rudd would make the better prime minister. It is whether the country's first female prime minister was appropriate in showing cleavage while in the legislature.

A Facebook invitation to a June 20 press event has led to speculations that the most popular social networking site would roll out a news reader, possibly based on trending articles on Facebook or more of an RSS reader-style product.

Sweden is imposing a total ban in 2014 on bestiality or sex between humans and animals. The move would amend current laws that make the act illegal only if cruelty to the animal could be proven.

Tech observers have noticed a music mobile app developed in Canada that has been downloaded 85,000 times in just 24 hours. Groove broke records and secured a top spot in 30 countries, topping the charts in the Canadian app store over other music apps, including Rdio and Songza.

There are five versions of the Samsung flagship device, the Galaxy S4, with the look identical, but with different price points and experiences offered to users.

Reform is underway for the troubled Vatican Bank after Pope Francis named on Saturday Monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca as interim prelate of the financial institution, known also as the Institute for Religious Work.

Many men want to have harder and longer-lasting erections so they can have and enjoy sex more, but a Newark trucker discovered too late hard on, especially ones that stay up very long, could be painful.

Fatherhood came too early for a pre-teener in New Zealand, who reports said, sired a child with a 36-year-old woman who is the mother of his school friend.

Reports said that Paris Jackson, the daughter of the King of Pop Michael Jackson, will spend summer at the Palmsdale, California ranch of her mother Debbie Row. Paris, 15, who attempted suicide last week, is set to be released from a Los Angeles hospital.

A new analysis of Internet search terms published by Mother Jones found an irony in the majority Muslim country of Pakistan because while the Asian nation is homophobic, it topped searches for gay terms in the Web such as shemale sex, teen anal sex and manf***king man.

The challenge for Australian Labor Party leader and Prime Minister Julia Gillard to stand down persists even if Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten has pledged his support for Ms Gillard.

While Hollywood celebrities like George Clooney have undergone Ball Ironing Procedure that Boosts the Male Clientele of a Sta Monica Spa, a Colombian poet is instead selling his testicles for $20,000 to fund a trip to Europe.

After a lacklustre run this shortened trading week, the Australian market recorded its biggest daily rise of 2013. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) jumped by a solid 1.9 per cent after two straight sessions of 0.6 per cent losses.

The Australian share market is rebounding in early trade on Friday, following gains on offshore markets and after local stocks hit 2013 lows during yesterday's trade.

France amended its Public Health Code that allowed the use of marijuana-based medicine. Decree 2013-473, published Friday, even permits the use of raw marijuana.