POLITICS & POLICY

The northern part of Queensland state in Australia could be in for a possible tsunami threat after a group of researchers discovered a collapsing sea floor at the Great Barrier Reef.

It was more than a spike in sales that they could have projected, at the expense of those killed during last Friday's Sandy Hook shooting massacre. Manufacturers of bulletproof backpacks specially designed to cater to children's sizes and needs have reported booming sales as parents continue to get anxious over the welfare of their children a week after a 20-year-old alleged mentally deranged man opened fire and killed 26 people in Connecticut, United States.

Dropping the budget surplus vow was “betrayal of public trust,” as insisted by the Coalition but Treasurer Wayne Swan maintained that embracing economic reality is the best way to handle the domestic setting.

Shopping towards this year's Christmas countdown has proven to be beneficial, as economy-wide spending spiked in November by as much as 2.2 per cent.

MySpace co-founder Tom Anderson drew applause on Twitter after answering back to a hater who says he was unable to "keep a social network alive." Anderson aka MySpaceTom was reacting on "fear over Instagram's terms change" via his @myspacetom account on Twitter. He describes the fear to be "ridiculous," adding, "Get real, folks!" User @polotapia tweets back, "says the guys that [sic] was not able to keep a social network alive."

It's Dec. 21 and Twitter folks are tweeting as usual, making jokes and sharing news links about the day's top headline: the world still exists. But wait, it is still Dec. 20 in other parts of the world, isn't it?

On the eve of Dec 21, supposed to be the end of the world by Mayan Long Count Calendar reckoning, Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan dropped a financial asteroid that would seem like a doomsday scenario for the country's coffers. His admission that the federal government would not likely delivery its promised budget surplus in 2013 spelled the end of the road for swift economic recovery.

In the wake of the recent Sandy Hook shooting, I reached out to my contacts in law enforcement, military and (retired) FBI over the last three days, asking three simple questions:

Shock-stricken school children of Sandy Hook Elementary School have been facilitated to come back to school on January 2 at a new building as the children, their parents and school officials reclaim normalcy back in their lives after that fateful shooting spree last week that claimed the lives of 20 children and six school staff.

The Malaysian Court of Appeal has dismissed the latest application for injunction filed against Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp by environmentalist group Save Malaysia Stop Lynas (SMSL), effectively enabling the mining firm to keep in its hand the controversial temporary operating license (TOL) on its $800-million rare earths processing plant.

Her boredom with the digitally enhanced photographs drove a 19-year-old Japanese girl to work on her artistic talent in body art. Student Choo-San from the Musashino Art University in Tokyo, Japan left an incredible impression when she painted attention-grabbing images on the human body.

Australia is actually witnessing a fierce battle being waged by two equally unpopular political leaders, one analyst said, essentially making the Julia Gillard-Tony Abbott tussle a contest of the best among the worst.

According to a new study by the National Intelligence Council, the United States will likely remain as "first among equals" in a multipolar world, but Asia's economy, military spending and technological investment will likely surpass that of the US and Europe combined by 2030.

The Philippines would strongly support Japan dropping its pacifist constitution to become a fully-fledged military force, said a government spokesperson.

Although majority of Australian online shopping retailers think they have yet to breach the mark of their online sales projections, the number of individuals who have resorted to online shopping have reached gigantic proportions forcing Australia Post to hire additional hand just to ensure every package and parcel gets delivered to its owner or shopper before Christmas Day.

News Corporation Chairman and Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch emotionally honored his mother, Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, at her memorial service this morning. The St. Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne was overflowing with family members and representatives from Dame Elisabeth’s numerous supported charities and arts organizations.

Bell FX Currency Outlook The Australian Dollar opens unchanged after a lacklustre overnight session. The Australian Dollar has opened little changed after a quiet night of trade on world markets. A night of limited price action saw most major currency pairs end at around the same levels, with the CAD being the exception.

Acting Australian Greens leader Adam Bandt has urged on the federal government as well as the entire Australian populace to ponder on banning the issuance and release of semi-automatic handguns in the resource-rich nation following the Connecticut massacre of innocent school children as well as school teachers in the U.S.

In a very rare coincidence, the troubles that more than wrecked havoc in the United States had also begun occurring in China which brings into fore the dangers of mental instability leading to violence.

Shares of beleaguered Australian retailer Billabong International rode on a high early Monday morning before being placed on a trading halt on rumors of a $526.8 million takeover bid by a consortium led by former director Paul Naude.

Australia's efforts to save the Great Barrier Reef will be judged by the United Nations' environmental arm UNESCO in 2013, a deadline that will likely push efforts to the limits as this would be a make or break for the tourist attraction if t it is deserving as UNESCO's World Heritage site and worth to be preserved.

School 'Gun Free Zones' are Death Traps: Why We Must Allow Qualified School Principals and Office Staff to Carry Concealed

If you're shaking your head after reading the headline for this article, you're not alone. The idea of taking away guns from all the law abiding citizens while concentrating them in the hands of deranged, psychopathic criminals isn't my idea, however. It's Obama's. And Bloomberg's. And Nancy Pelosi and everybody else who is now pushing for "gun control" legislation in the wake of the Newtown, Conn. elementary school shooting

Australia has launched over the weekend its first clean coal carbon capture plant technology in central Queensland, in a bid to lessen the country's mammoth contributions to the world's overall greenhouse gas emissions generated from coal-fired power stations.

Bell FX Currency Outlook The Australian Dollar has opened this morning in the mid 1.0500's as trading on Friday evening saw little change from the previous day.

The Obama administration wants the U.S. offshore wind industry to flourish. As it reposes hope in renewable sources of energy, it decided to award $28 million in grants to seven projects. Those projects are aimed at developing different kinds of power-generation technologies.

Google Maps, the world's most often go to map app by people because of its near authenticity and reliability, has been found also defective by Australian police authorities.

Opponents to the controversial Lynas rare earths processing plant in Malaysia now clamored for the resignation of the four ministers who approved the awarding of the temporary operating license (TOL) to Australian miner Lynas Corp after the latter denied the existence of a provision in its licence which states that the plant's residue must be shipped out of Malaysia.

Sky-gazers can still catch an amazing view of the 2012 Geminid meteor shower. Traces of the meteor shower will be visible this afternoon at about 2 p.m. (AEDT) while its peak is expected to occur once again at approximately 6 p.m. (AEDT).