Vittorio Hernandez

The Australian share market is making gains in early trade, following five sessions of losses and a lacklustre offshore lead.

The commencement speech of an openly gay 18-year-old graduating student of Fairview High School in Ohio, U.S., has become viral in YouTube, with over 50,000 views so far.

Woodside Petroleum is set to announce that it will pursue a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant for its Browse project. By selecting that option, Woodside and its partners, Shell and BHP Billiton, are abandoning initial plans to construct an offshore plant at James Price Point which would have cost the company at least $50 billion.

From search engine, Google entered into manufacturing of devices and is now foraying into the wireless network business, completing the cycle of IT connectivity. Reports said that Google will fund and help run wireless networks in emerging markets, specifically SubSaharan Africa and Southeast Asia.

If the book version of Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno, had caught the ire of Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino for describing Manila as the gates of hell, the chairman would likely see red and would move heaven and earth to ban a film version of the novel.

Australia topped again for the third straight year the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development Better Life Index. Australia beat Sweden and Canada, which came in second and third places.

Because of Australia being a sexist nation, Dr John Gray, the author of famous relationship book Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus, has an unsolicited advice for Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Investors are having second thoughts about parking their funds in Australia's gas sector because of the escalating cost of doing business in the country. At risk are $100 billion worth of investments.

The new week has started the same way the last one finished, with sellers on the front foot. The debate about the US Federal Reserve exiting its quantitative easing program continues to dominate the bigger picture. At a local level the earnings picture is creating concerns with profit downgrades figuring prominently in recent weeks.

A survey conducted by Businessweek revealed startling results about sex at work. Vast majority or 84.6 per cent of the 2,500 respondents favoured colleagues belonging to the same company being allowed to have sex.

The Australian government plans to increase its food exports by $13.5 billion or by boosting the value of agriculture and food-related product by 45 per cent. The aim is to help feed China's non-stop booming population.

When Imelda Marcos was governor of Metro Manila in the 1970s, while First Lady at the same time, she was notorious for her mantra that only "the true, the good and the beautiful" should be seen by the world about the Philippines.

While Philippine Catholic Church officials have joined Metro Manila Development Authority Chairman Francis Tolentino in castigating Inferno author Dan Brown for describing the country's capital city as the gates of hell, the book earned positive reviews from major newspapers.

Despite a slight rise on the open, local shares are falling by 1.3 per cent, taking the losses for the week so far to more than 3.5 per cent. If markets continue in this direction for the rest of the session, we're set to have the worst week in a year.

First, there was the vibrating underwear for couples. On Friday, a startup company named Minna said it is in search for backers for its new creation - a couples' vibrator called Limon.

There is a big chance that Pope Francis would visit the Philippines in 2016 to attend the International Eucharistic Congress in Cebu.

Regional flights have been cancelled since Mount Pavlof in Alaska started to spew ash last week. Reports said the volcano, one of the most active in Alaska, spewed ash as high as 6.7 kilometres, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said.

Jeff Gordon, senior global online communication manager of HTC, explained that the Chinese version of its flagship phone has a microSD slot because it was designed specifically for smaller Chinese radio bands which provided more space inside the device to accommodate the slot.

Expect the buzz about the Samsung Galaxy S4 to be louder as another U.S. carrier announced the availability of the best-selling smartphone of the South Korean tech giant and amid a new TV advert that will surely catch the attention of young people.

Monstrous and never-ending gridlock like the video shown above is the bane of both Metro manila residents and foreign visitors alike. Throw in garbage and flooded streets during the monsoon season, and it is no wonder that Metro Manila despite the Philippines being a beautiful country is low in quality-of-life indices of different agencies.

Australia lost on Thursday a popular and well-loved former first lady, Hazel Hawke, who passed away at the age of 83 after a battle with complications of dementia.

The Australian sharemarket had its worst day in two months, pushed lower by Ben Bernanke's much anticipated testimony before congress last night. The All Ordinaries index (XAO) slumped by 2 per cent, adding to yesterday's 0.27 per cent losses.

Apple is again attempting to block the sale of the hot-selling Samsung Galaxy S4 through legal means. It filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California which will rule on Apple's request on June 25.

The Australian share market is being heavily sold off in early trade, following a volatile night on Wall Street.

With the way she handled the Greek debt crisis and the strong performance of the German economy amid the euro crisis, it is not surprising that German Chancellor Angela Merkel is the world's most powerful woman. Forbes magazine confirmed that by placing Ms Merkel no 1 on its annual list of The World's 100 Most Powerful Women.

To indicate her disbelief in the concept of global warming, former Republican Party vice presidential candidate and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin posted a naughty remark in her Facebook account.

The Central Land Council of Australia's Northern Territory started on Wednesday to cull 10,000 wild horses by shooting the animals. The killing of the beasts, which the NT government defended as the humane response to an environmental crisis, made animal rights groups angry.

Even though a Walton took her crown away as the richest woman in the world, Australian mining magnate Gina Rinehart is still the country's richest person, the BRW magazine confirmed on Wednesday.

With the exception of the first half hour of trade, sellers dominated the session on Wednesday. The news pulse in corporate and economic terms provided further encouragement.