POLITICS & POLICY

A United Nations (UN) scheme to surreptitiously seize property rights from people worldwide and pack the world's populations into tiny micro-cities controlled by a centralized government has a new ally, Monsanto, which recently joined the so-called World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in pushing for the widespread implementation of the infamous "Agenda 21."

Prior to the November elections, Republican efforts to overhaul voter identification laws, according to the White House, congressional Democrats and most of the mainstream media, were nothing more than thinly veiled attempts to prevent legal Americans (especially minorities) from voting.

Every state legislator in the U.S. takes an oath to uphold their state and federal Constitutions. However, in the real world, those oaths can apparently be meaningless.

Some 16 young students of Brisbane Christian College have been plucked out into safety as the school bus they were riding got stranded in flash flooding near the intersection of Learoyd and Paradise roads at Acacia Ridge on Monday morning at 8.40am. All children were safely recovered.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar opened this morning above 1.0300 but has since fallen to similar levels seen at the end of last week.

Residents in Western Australia have been advised to take cover as Cyclone Rusty intensified on Monday to become a Category 2 storm. The development has forced the closure of major iron ore ports in the region, essentially derailing exports of the steelmaking key ingredient. Iron ore prices are likewise forecast to spike in the world market.

Iran announced over the weekend the discovery of new deposits of raw uranium sufficient to provide the requirements of the Middle Eastern country's nuclear programme. The Iran Atomic Energy Organisation said it has identified 16 more sites for nuclear power stations.

Barbecue-related activities and cooking in open stoves in public, densely-populated places in China would soon be prohibited to limit the smog but could be a bane to street food hawkers and vendors.

Majority of Australians believe that the September national election would be a contest between the Coalition and the Australian Labor Party. Which party would get a majority vote would determine who would be Australia's next prime minister.

Stocks continued to sink midday, after reports of manufacturing pullbacks in the U.S. and Europe piled on top of investor concerns over the possibility of an earlier-than-expected end to the Federal Reserve's stimulus programs.

Bell FX Currency Outlook:The Australian Dollar hit a 4-month low in early morning trade due to a number of issues which has dampened recent market confidence, but did find support at this key level.

At the rate that Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth of Britain, is hitting the news for his jokes, he could give any court jester a run for his money. On Wednesday, the Joke (Duke) of Edinburgh once more made the frontpages of British dailies when he joked that the Philippines must be half-empty because the other half is working as nurses in his country.

Residents in towns located across northern NSW have been advised to brace for a wet weather on Thursday evening going towards Friday morning in what could also potentially result to floods, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM).

A senatorial candidate in the Philippines, millionaire Jamby Madrigal, is on the hot seat due to an advertisement in her Facebook fan page account that if anyone "likes" her page, they will win a free Apple iPad.

Stocks held shallow losses after minutes from the Federal Reserve's most recent policy-setting meeting showed rising unease about its recent stimulus efforts

Australian voters who are tired of the months-long Julia Gillard-Tony Abbott word wars - which range from misogyny issues to the carbon and mining taxes - can temporarily heave a sigh of relief.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: Australian Dollar tumbles in morning trade as the U.S. established gains with the Federal Reserve minutes showing concern that more quantitative easing might be needed.

Formerly known as QR National, rail operator Aurizon Holdings Ltd. on Wednesday slashed its full year guidance for coal haulage volumes as it expects the January 2013 floods that affected Queensland would greatly impact operations and earnings.

A UFO sighting of three strange lights forming a triangle in the night sky was reported in video format to MUFON from Plano City in Texas. The footage was received a day after an old photo of the sky outside a Wisconsin house was submitted for scrutiny. Take a look at the photos and video to check out what the uploaders may or may have not missed.

The smog pollution that hit China's capital in Beijing, so massive that it even crossed borders over to Japan, has been found to contain cancer causing photochemicals.

No shots were fired. No one was injured. The robbery was over within minutes. That told, and eight hooded thieves have just pulled off what could be one of the biggest $50 million worth diamonds heist in a lifetime.

Probably nobody by now would question the effectiveness of social media networking site Facebook when it comes to locating missing people or raising charity for people or organisations in need. Yet this proven efficacy took another dimension for a mother who was contacted by local police of her son's death through Facebook.

The breaking of the Labor-Green Party coalition on Tuesday did not surprise political observers in Australia. After all, politicians follow the most important rule in the business, that is - In politics there are no permanent friends or enemies, only permanent interest. What pundits would observe is Greens leader Christine Milne's next moves given that the country's election is just a few months away. They are asking if Ms Milne would do a Nick Clegg and be a kingmaker, while at the same t...

On the 19th of February, leaders of two Southeast Asian countries informed that a new high-speed rail link would be build between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, the federal capital of Malaysia.

Bell FX Currency Outlook: The Australian Dollar was little changed for the second successive night in offshore markets. The AUD looks to the RBA rate cut expectations should recede further with the economic news trickling in.

Blue chips rose to within 1% of all-time highs, as reports of corporate dealmaking and an upbeat reading on German investor sentiment emboldened stock-market bulls. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 46 points, or 0.3%, to 14027 in mid-afternoon Tuesday trading as investors returned from the three-day Presidents Day holiday weekend.

Photo-sharing site Instagram has finally arrived! The popular site with more than 100 million members as of January 2013 was where the photo of a Palestinian boy with his head in the crosshairs of a sniper rifle was shared. The photo spared international outrage.

This time hopefully, with the aid of technology and satellite mapping, the much-hyped Titanic II would be able to make a full maiden voyage of the world and return back in one piece with all its onboard travelers still alive and breathing normally.

Queensland's great flood for the first quarter of 2013 may have already went past, but the effects of the recent floods caused by ex-cyclone Oswald apparently are still not. On early Tuesday morning, a two-storey building that housed a marine supplies business caved in a "sinkhole" in flood-ravaged Bundaberg where authorities fear could further swallow at least 10 more other business establishments along its way.