Vittorio Hernandez

The UPMC Presbyterian Hospital in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, is trying this May a new technique to save lives. For the trial of placing humans in suspended animation, all the blood of 10 patients with lethal wounds will be removed and replaced with a cold saline solution.

Even if Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott "snubbed" the invitation of Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to an international conference in Bali a few weeks ago, the icy diplomatic relations between Canberra and Jakarta have started thawing.

Liberal MP Bill Heffernan successfully showed on Monday the security flaw in Australia's Parliament building when he was able to successfully smuggle a fake pipe bomb and dynamite sticks undetected.

In an apparent play of words, Liberal Senator and Employment Minister Eric Abetz told unemployed Australians not to be picky with employment offers until they get their dream jobs. Rather, he advised them to pick fruits in Tasmania as his was of defending the embattled proposed federal budget.

The Australian share market started the trading week in positive territory, following gains on offshore markets on Friday. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed at its highs of the day, up 20.1pts or 0.4 per cent to 5490.4 points, while the ASX 200 (XJO) finished above 5500 points at 5512.

Local stocks saw a flat start to the trading week on Monday. Selling intentions harboured by participants were stymied by the strong finish seen for US stocks at the conclusion of last week which saw the broader US market end at record highs on Friday.

Equities managed to get into the weekend on a positive note, but developments out of the weekend remain on the European front. The dominant theme from Friday's session was modest US dollar strength with a solid new home sales reading helping sentiment along. The greenback enjoyed good strength against the yen and the euro, with USD/JPY nudging the 102 level. This puts the Nikkei in a very good position at the open today and we are currently calling it up 0.8% to 14,573.

In US economic data, new home sales rose by 6.4% to a 433,000 annual pace in April, above forecasts centred on result near 425,000. The weekly Economic Cycle Research Institute index eased from 136.3 to 135.1 in the latest week but is up 5.0% on a year ago.

A Sydney court started on Friday the trial of the first female genital mutilation case in New South Wales in which three people were accused of performing circumcision on two girls aged 6 and 7 in 2012.

Despite the many problems related to the opening of the FIFA 2014 World Cup in June, the international sports event nevertheless promises to wow viewers in Brazil and those who will watch on television.

Pope Francis may be unorthodox in so many ways unlike previous pontiffs. But he is definitely not endorsing a technology which has the potential to be a tool to control mankind and to fulfill scripture's prophecy of the mark of the beast.

Australia's richest family, the Rineharts, continue to be divided by their feud over the family billions of dollars wealth.

Despite May about to end in one week, an April Fool's Day joke by Virgin Atlantic founder Richard Branson fooled CCTV, China's state broadcaster.

Embattled Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott may have escaped the fury of students angry at the proposed 2014-15 federal budget when he cancelled last week an appearance at the University of Sydney. However, on Friday, he didn't escape the anger of teachers who heckled him upon his arrival at an event in Hobart.

The relatively unknown French Normandy village of Bretteville-le-Rabel created headlines on Friday when its 55-year-old mayor, Dominque Leboucher when he was castrated by the jealous boyfriend of a woman the town official was allegedly having an affair with.

Because Floyd Mayweather Jr has not categorically stated who he will fight on Sept 13, the speculations continue who will be his next ring opponent. But a different kind of match is being talked about in different fight circles and what's puzzling about this buzz is that Money May's next fight might not be in MGM Grand but in an octagon stage against a female opponent.

After a volatile week ,the ASX 200 has ended in positive territory, albeit by a small margin of 0.25%. The transformative event of the week was the improved reading on Chinese manufacturing on Thursday which provided the mining sector with a timely fillip following the selling seen at the start of the week. Miners ended lower as a group although this came after the strong gains seen on Thursday. Gold miners were one of the weak spots in the resource sector. St Barbara Limited (SBM), an Australia...

The Australian sharemarket continues to make up for the tough start to the week, with better than expected signs for China's manufacturing industry yesterday and modest gains in U.S. markets overnight helping. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 0.3 per cent, with only the miners and energy stocks losing ground at lunch.

Equities extended their gains in US trade on the back of some encouraging manufacturing readings, particularly from China and the US. China's HSBC manufacturing PMI reading hit a five-month high yesterday and triggered strength across the risk space in Asian trade. Meanwhile in Europe the readings were mixed with manufacturing mostly weaker resulting in further strain in the single currency.

In US economic news initial jobless claims rose 28,000 to 326,000 last week. US existing home sales rose by 1.3% in April to 4.65 million annual units. The increase marked only the second gains in nine months. Sales remain 6.8% lower than a year ago. The US Markit ´´flash´´ manufacturing index rose from 55.4 to 56.2 in April.

If inventor and YouTube sensation Colin Furze captivated the imagination of movie fans and fantasy lovers with his version of Wolverine claws, the man just released on Friday a new invention that allowed him to walk on the ceiling upside down.

Residents and consumers in Queensland are expected to benefit from the plan of supermarket giant Coles to open 31 stores across the state within four years. The move is expected to create 8,000 jobs.

Malaysian Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim accused on Thursday the Malaysian government of a cover-up in allegedly deleting from the manifest of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 dangerous cargo.

The official explanation of research company Millward Brown, which just declared Google the most valuable company, why Apple was dislodged from the top spot is linked to their brand values.

La Trobe University was appalled when it learnt that Australian porn actress Angela White filmed one of her X-rated scenes inside the library of its Bundoora campus in the early part of 2014.

WBC and WBA welterweight division title holder Floyd Mayweather Jr has indicated on Thursday that it would likely be a rematch with Argentinean boxer Marcos Maidana for his next scheduled fight on Sept 13.

More doubts are surfacing over the propriety of Frances Abbott, the daughter of Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, being awarded a $60,000 scholarship in 2011 by the Whitehouse Institute of Design.

Although the $7 co-payment is still a proposal in the 2014-15 budget still to be tackled by the Australian Parliament, Australian patients are showing their dislike for the plan by not showing up for their appointments with the GP.

Local stocks were able to add to early gains thanks to a better than expected reading on Chinese manufacturing. The ASX 200 ended the session within sight of the best levels of the session when the index was up by 67 points. Participation was solid with around $4.6 billion in turnover.