Vittorio Hernandez

The Australian share market is trading slightly lower in the early session, despite record highs being reached on Wall Street overnight. The US Dow Jones Index made it 19 consecutive Tuesday wins, while the broader share market and NASDAQ Indices were higher for the 9th consecutive Tuesday.

Weather experts said on Wednesday that the tornado that hit Oklahoma on May 21, Tuesday, was stronger than the atomic bomb that hit the Japanese city of Hiroshima during World War II.

Raquel Pempengco, the mother of embattled Filipina singer Charice, insisted on Tuesday that all is well between herself and her 21-year-old daughter, contrary to media speculations that there is a gap.

Microsoft's well-received tablet, the Surface Pro, is scheduled to make its debut in several countries in Europe and other western nations, including Australia, before May ends.

Australian students who would enter the age bracket 9 to 12 would no longer receive free laptops in 2014. The federal Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations confirmed on Tuesday the scrapping of the five-year-old programme initiated by former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

In a review of the newly upgraded Asus Fonepad, tech experts found the £180 device too big with its 7-inch screen to function as a phone. As a tablet, the gadget is neither impressive and is hampered by a lackluster screen.

The selling that marked the early part of the session subsided in the early afternoon and the ASX200 was able to finish off the lows of the day. Although profit warnings from a number of companies saw investors reflect on the broader earnings picture at present.

Local stocks have come under selling pressure in early trade on Tuesday, despite predictions of a flat session.

Organisers of the Museum of Old and New Art's (Mofo) Dark Mofo Winter Festival canceled on Tuesday the early morning nude swim into the Derwent because of the objection of the Tasmania Police.

There is an ongoing big debate in Australia if starving cattle should be allowed access to national park for emergency feeding, with Queensland and animal rights group on one side and the federal government on the opposite side.

There is one contest that 42-year-old actor Jonah Falcon would definitely lose. It is the Smallest Penis Contest to be held on June 20 at the King's County Bar in Brooklyn, New York.

U.S. PC-maker Dell said over the weekend that it would begin to ship in July a thumb-sized computer called Project Ophelia. The Android-based device as big as a USB stick, will sell for $100.

Two months in his papacy, Pope Francis last week ordered resigned gay Scottish Cardinal Keith Patrick O'Brien for several months to do penance and prayer, while the Melbourne Archdiocese acknowledged on Monday that it took 18 years to remove a convicted paedophile priest from his parish.

Gold experts continue to see bleaker days ahead for the yellow metal, once considered a safe haven. Ric Deverall of Credit Suisse forecast the price of gold would further dip to $1,100 in 2013 and even plunge more to $1,000 in the next five years.

The afternoon session saw the local index retreat from its best levels of the session when it was seeing gains of more than 1%. The main event of the week sees the US Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke delivering a testimony to the Joint Economic Committee in Washington on Wednesday night local time. Whilst the purpose of the Mr Bernanke's chat is to update the politicians on the state of the economy, the key focus will be on Quantitative Easing.

The Australian share market has hit five year highs in early trade on Monday, following a strong lead from Wall Street and a weaker Australian dollar.

In a boon to Australian consumers, a mortgage rate war is underway following the recent 25 basis points overnight cash rate cut made by the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA).

Cliff Kluge, a George resident who claims to have found the secret Coke formula, sold the much sought after beverage recipe on eBay. The successful bidder is a 15-year-old teen who bid $15 million.

HTC North Asia will double its production of its flagship device, HTC One, this month, said Jack Tong, president of HTC North Asia. Production will continue to expand in June to meet the strong demand for the unit, which has merited favourable reviews by techies since its release in April.

Google will release a prescription version of its newly launched Google Glasses. The confirmation of the prescription edition came at the tech firm's I/O conference last week when several employees of the company were spotted wearing a pair of the trial specs.

Yahoo, which has started to recover following the takeover of Marissa Mayer as chief executive officer, is reportedly eyeing the purchase of popular blogging site Tumblr.

Will former Glee Star Charice Pempengco's family problem and apparent identity crisis affect her stellar singing career?

Despite the deafening silence from former Glee star Charice Pempengco on her plan to admit to the public she is a lesbian, more details about her alleged elopement with another female singer are coming out, fuelling more speculations about her gender preference.

The Australian market not only held onto its gains but extended them further this afternoon. The ASX200 Index jumped by 0.3 per cent, making it three stronger sessions this week. Despite the rise, local shares slipped by 0.5 per cent over the past five sessions. This makes it the first week of losses in a month.

Finally, after two straight days of losses the Aussie market is creeping higher. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.2 per cent or 8.8pts to 5,153.3. The gains are being recorded despite weakness in US markets, which slipped by 0.3 per cent however are still around all-time highs.

Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, topped the Billionaires' List of Bloomberg, released on Friday. He grabbed the title World's Richest Person from Carlos Slim of Mexico.

Gold continued to lost its luster as prices of spot gold futures for June delivery dropped 0.7 per cent and closed on Thursday at $1.386.90 an ounce on the Comex in New York. It is the sixth consecutive prices that the price went down, and the longest slump for the precious metal once considered a safe haven.

Gina Rinehart, the richest person in Australia, is renewing her criticism of the federal government's policies, hitting it for incurring debt levels that are unsustainable and for treating the mining industry like an ATM.

The New South Wales Parliamentary Committee recommended the approval of medical marijuana for state residents suffering from cancer, AIDS or other end-stage ailments. The proposed law would allow patients to possess and use up to 15 grammes of cannabis.