Vittorio Hernandez

In the US, personal income rose by 0.2% in September with spending down by 0.2%. Both results were slightly weaker than expected. The final reading on consumer sentiment in October was 86.9, up from 84.6 and at a 7-year high.

While other female celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence have threatened to file a $100 million lawsuit against Google for not removing their hacked naked selfie photos initially published by messaging board Reddit and 4Chan, comedian Chelsea Handler is angry at Instagram for removing her topless photo that she posted on Thursday.

Decapitations are not exclusive to Islamic State militants, even New Yorkers who are deranged also engage in beheading. However, in the case of beheading victim Patricia Ward, a 66-year-old former State University of New York professor, the axe man was not Jihadist John but her son Derek who had mental health problems.

The switch to a new type of fuel could have triggered the unexpected crash of Virgin Atlantic's space tourism rock on Friday during its test flight at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California.

Australian shares recovered this afternoon to make up for most of the earlier losses. The ASX 200 Index fell by 0.1 per cent following a 0.8 per cent improvement on Monday.

Australian shares are falling for just the second time in 11 days, with the ASX200 down by 0.4 per cent. Despite wiping out more than half of Monday's improvements, local stock are hanging close to one month highs.

US earnings season continues to deliver as expected - estimates have been low. However, 79.8% of those companies that have reported have beaten earnings per share estimates, and 60.5% have beaten revenue estimates.

Eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao arrived on Monday in Hong Kong to promote his Nov 22 fight in Macau's Cotai Arena versus American boxer Chris Algieri. He was mobbed by Filipino overseas workers and Hong Kong residents when Pacquiao visited Central Hong Kong.

Despite the $100 million lawsuit threat, tighter controls from sources and more vigilant celebrities, the Fappening scandal is far from over. Over the weekend, five female personalities allegedly became the latest victims of the hacked nude selfies leaked online via messaging boards.

Thousands of Hungarians protested on Sunday night in Budapest to express their disagreement with a government plan to impose an Internet tax of 150 Hungarian forint or equivalent of 62 cents for every gigabyte of data used started.

Crocodile Dundee's kin are probably in Florida hunting for reptiles. Last week, two such fellows captured a 346-kilogramme alligator measuring 4 metres. Besides the size of the reptile, what stood out is that the captors of the beast - Keithy Kelley and Kelly Sziy caught and killed the creature using their bare hands.

To make sure that Australia would continue to remain free from the Ebola virus, Canberra has ordered its embassies overseas to stop processing the visa applications in countries hit by the deadly virus.

In the US, pending home sales rose by 0.3% in September after falling by 1% in August. US building permits were revised higher to a lift of 2.8% in September (previously 1.5%). The Markit "flash" service sector PMI slipped from 58.9 to 57.3 in October - the lowestresult since April.

Monday afternoon provided more encouragement for market optimists with the ASX 200 remaining in the vicinity of session highs over the second half of the day. This fact was impressive for the fact that miners moved back into the red as a group following a recovery earlier in the morning.

Hoax makers continued to create confusion and fear as they said that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the US allegedly confirmed that the Earth would suffer six days of darkness in the last month of 2014. The Web site Huzlers.com identified the dark days from Dec 16 through 22.

Global markets are focusing on Europe this morning as results from the ECB's stress tests were finally released. The results were relatively in line with expectations despite announcing an overall gross capital shortfall of €24.6 billion. This equates to around 0.2% of the region's GDP and was spread across 25 banks. Regardless, the main takeaway was the fact some banks have already embarked in some recapitalisation and this has reduced the shortfall to a mere €9.5 billion (from 13 banks...

Beheading, stoning to death and now wakeboarding. Based on videos released by the Islamic State, the militant organisation is high on the list of breaching human rights, the latest of which is gorging a hostage with water and then placing extreme pressure on his midsection.

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III said over the weekend that he did not intend to insult the family of the Filipino transgender, who was allegedly killed by a 19-year-old American soldier after a sex encounter, when he did not attend the funeral of slain Jeffrey "Jennifer" Laude.

Convicted athlete Oscar Pistorius and his slain girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp didn't have sex because she was afraid to elevate their relationship to the next level, claimed Steenkamp's mother, June, in her book titled Reeva: a Mother's Story.

In 2012, Alfie Patten, a 13-year-old British boy, though he broke UK records by becoming the country's youngest father after Chantelle Steadman, his 15-year-old girlfriend, gave birth to a baby girl.

Apple has another PR crisis up its way for its newly launched iPad Air 2 courtesy of a YouTube user named Martin Macht who did a bend test on the device.

Risky sexual practices continue to fascinate couples even if they could end up in embarrassing and even life-threatening situations. Two such couples in the US were in that situation, causing them to end up in the emergency room with the men nursing swollen private parts.

Australian shares improved for the fourth time this week, taking the gains for the five days to 2.65 per cent. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by 0.55 per cent today with no sectors missing out on the gains.

Australian shares are rising for the eighth time in nine sessions and have completely made up for yesterday's pullback. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.3 per cent or 19pts to 5388. If the gains are maintained this afternoon this will be the best week for local shares since mid-February.

Equities bounced back strongly in a move triggered by a round of PMI prints from China and the eurozone. This eased some of the global growth concerns that had escalated recently and the gains managed to extend through US trade as earnings continued to impress. Results from Caterpillar, Microsoft and 3M were all strong, but Amazon didn't do particularly well after-market. Caterpillar is generally considered a bellwether for growth and while it's encouraging to see the company perform well,...

While whistleblowers in many countries are hailed for their bravery despite the threat to their life in exposing wrongdoings, especially when done by government officials, it is not the case in Australia. One was even sued for violation of the law which carries a maximum penalty of two years prison term. It is no coincidence though that the object of 21-year-old Freya Rachael Sommerville Newman's expose was France Abbott, the daughter of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

Kim Hye-Sook, a defector from North Korea, recounted to the UN the sufferings she and other prisoners suffered in the hands of their captors, including years of starvation, hard labour and torture. To indicate how bad food shortage is, Kim revealed that some women detainees had to eat babies to alleviate their hunger.

Was it because she disrespected a famous classical piece by Mozart or she shifted twerking to another body part that model Sara X received death threats after she posted the above video on YouTube? The clip has gone viral, garnering more than 1 million hits after one week.

With two professional fights in 2015 left to his six-fight contract with Showtime, unbeaten American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr is bent on becoming a trainer, even as questions loom who would be Money May's opponent in his last two fights.