Vittorio Hernandez

More than four months after the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 mysteriously disappeared on March 8 after it left Kuala Lumpur for Beijing, until today, various theories regarding the incident continue to swirl, with not one proven to be correct or dispelled.

Many signs point to the dream match between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather taking place in May 2015 despite both boxers focus is on promoting their Nov 22 and Sept 14 ring bouts versus Chris Algieri and Marcos Maidana, respectively.

Academy Award-winning actor Robin Williams has checked himself into a Minnesota rehab early this month to maintain his sobriety, various media outlets reported.

Following the success of the Abbott government to repeal the carbon tax law, BHP Billiton (ASX: BHP) is challenging the Coalition to also repeal another tax initiated by the past Labor government under former Prime Minister Julia Gillard - the mining tax.

It was another very quiet day on the Aussie market with total market turnover only at 2Billion shares well down own the daily average. Investors nervous about entering the market at present and larger investors sitting the day out from trading ahead of tomorrow´s June quarter inflation numbers (CPI).

Fairfax Media Chief Executive Greg Hywood reaffirmed the company's commitment to radio amid talks it is discussing a merger with Macquarie Radio Network. He said at a Melbourne Press Club event that the 180-year-old newspaper company is thriving, while adjusting to new commercial reality and creating new revenues.

Being picked by eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao to be his opponent on Nov 22 has apparently gone into the head of WBO junior lightweight title holder Chris Algieri. With the prospect of earning 15 times bigger than the $100,000 he got during his last bout against Ruslan Provodnikov, the unbeaten American boxer is setting his eyes on fighting Floyd Mayweather Jr after Pacquiao.

Usually a 2 points gain at the start of trade would not be seen as a strong start but since the SPI futures had our market set for a decline and we had weakness in overseas market this was a good start. But the joy was short lived with the market moving into the red within 30 minutes of trade.

Purdue Pharma LP's hydrocodone bitartrate tablet (HYD) is undergoing "priority review" by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company recently announced.

Only Shanghai gained 0.17 per cent or 3.48 points to 2,059.07 over the weekend at the close of bourses in the Asian market, while most of the major stock exchange in the region logged losses after the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was hit by a missile and crashed on Thursday.

Global macro concerns outweighed further bottom-up strength from US earnings overnight, as the Gaza-Israel conflict raged on and the squeeze on Russia politically saw its index take a further pounding.

European shares eased on Monday with investors concerned about ongoing tensions between Russia and western nations. Fresh violence has flared up in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The FTSEurofirst 300 index fell by 0.5% with the German Dax down by 1.1% while the UK FTSE lost 0.3%. Australia´s major miners were mixed in London trade with shares in BHP Billiton up by 0.1% while Rio Tinto lost 0.2%.

An Iranian defense expert opined that the reason why the Malaysian Airlines plane was shot while flying over eastern Ukraine on July 17, Thursday, was because the civilian aircraft was escorted by Ukrainian fighter jets.

The ugly head of exploitative groups and individuals reared again in social media sites as they try to exploit the second tragedy to hit the embattled Malaysian Airlines whose MH 17 flight was hit by missile while flying over Ukraine airspace, killing all 298 people aboard the Boeing 777 jet.

Almost $1.5 million would be deducted from Malaysian Airlines shaky finances as the embattled air carrier announced on Monday that it would grant $5,000 assistance to each of the families of the 298 victims of MH 17

The latest poll from Fairfax Nielsen, released on Monday, said that Opposition leader Bill Shorten leads Mr Abbott by 5 per cent as the preferred prime minister with ratings of 46 per cent and 41 per cent, respectively. In terms of being perceived as a trustworthy leader, Shorten even enjoyed a 10 per cent lead over the PM as he got a 45 per cent rating versus Mr Abbott's 35 per cent.

The Australia stock market finished the day higher as the ASX 200 added 8 points, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up 9.2 points. The volume was very light today and the public holiday in Japan also impacted international trading volumes.

On Friday night the fear and volatility index (the VIX) fell 17% from its highs on Thursday as the concern over Geopolitical risk started to reduce around the downed Malaysian Airlines flight 17 and the news Israel had sent ground troops into Gaza. On Friday US markets rebounded and finished higher the Dow Jones up 123 points and the NASDAQ up 69 points.

The body of radio icon Casey Kasem is no longer at Gaffney Funeral Home & Cremation Services, the lawyer of Kerry Kasem, Casey's daughter, found when he went to Tacoma, Washington, to give the funeral home a copy of a judge's restraining order.

US corporate earnings saw the US market finishing the week in the green and this trend looks to be continuing as several majors saw substantial improvement in the actuals.

In US economic data the leading index rose by 0.3% in June, short of the 0.5% forecast gain. The consumer sentiment index eased from 82.5 to 81.3 in July, short of the 83.0 forecast result.

The two houses of Australia's Parliament have passed on Friday legislation that would ease foreign ownership restrictions on flag carrier Qantas. However, the airline would still remain 51 per cent or majority owned by Australia.

Floyd Mayweather Jr and Manny Pacquiao may be separately promoting their forthcoming bouts against different sets of boxers slated for Sept 13 and Nov 22, respectively, but obviously their camps are setting their eyes on the dream match believed to take place in May 2015, possibly in Dubai.

Like the first Malaysian Airlines tragedy that rocked the global aviation history in March, the downing on Thursday, July 17, of Flight MH 17 is wrapped in mystery, resulting in several conspiracy theories about the downing and subsequent plane crash that took 298 lives.

The two Malaysian Airlines tragedies have produced heartbreaking as stories of pain and grieving over the loss of loved ones spread around the world. It has also spawned heartwarming stories of travelers having cheated death because of a last-minute change in flight or overbooked flight that resulted in lack of seats. Those whose lives were spared are so thankful for a second chance in life. However, for a Dutch cyclist, the gratitude is double because he was prevented from boarding two Malaysia...

While 298 lives were lost on Thursday when Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was hit by missiles from Ukrainian rebels, a few lucky lives were also spared because of last-minute decisions that these travelers would forever not forget.

Although employees of the National Security Agency (NSA) are professionals trained in the art and science of espionage and intelligence gathering, its young workers are no different from regular youth who still get aroused seeing naked images of men and women.

At least two passengers of the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 had premonition that something bad was going to happen to their plane based on a video that one of them posted on Instagram before take-off and a joke that another traveler wrote on his Facebook newsfeed.

A fact-finding mission from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is on its way to the crash site after it was granted access to the area, OSCE said in a tweet. It has been monitoring the crisis in Ukraine, which had denied that the missiles used to hit the Malaysian Airlines jet carrying 298 passengers and crew came from the country.