Esther Tanquintic-Misa

The Keystone XL pipeline only has two options, either it's a go or no go. The massive project continues to tether as U.S. President Barack Obama decides whether to choose climate change over economics. Canadian support for the project, meantime, has gone cold.

Australia will be extending a US$50,000 cash assistance to the Tonga government to help survivors of the category five storm Cyclone Ian that lashed on the Ha'apai group of islands over the weekend.

Chinese netizens raged over the internet, unsatisfied over the suspended death sentence charged to a doctor found guilty of baby trafficking.

A day after volunteers worked to divest and re-float eight pilot whales on Tuesday, they were aghast to find the animals stranded again on Wednesday along the beach shoes.

Good news to those seeking jobs in the Canadian airline industry. Air Canada Rouge is on the lookout for additional flight attendants in 2014 to service its growing fleet as it expands its service to include Calgary and Vancouver this spring.

They were the very first who responded to the call for help when the Fukushima nuclear power plant got hit by a massive tsunami on March 2011. But never did the sailors aboard USS Ronald Reagan thought that they too would become victims of the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.

Same-sex relationships are now legally a no-no in Nigeria. Pres. Goodluck Jonathan has signed a bill on Monday criminalizing such unions.

China has held the first of what could be a series of tests to check on the speed of its new ultra-high speed missile vehicle, officials from the Pentagon said. They claimed the artillery aimed to distribute warheads through U.S. missile defenses.

Gillian Rodgers' last overseas trip was four years. And this month, she will be going to Blenheim. She decided to bring out her trusty, old suitcase to have it cleaned up and aired. Never did she imagined that in one of its pockets was a packet of drugs, discovered four years later.

Canada on Tuesday has launched the auction of several blocks of 700 megahertz (MHz) wireless spectrum to telecoms companies operating in Canada, where large players are expected to participate. At least one however has backed out due to lack of funding.

A radioactive drug against prostate cancer has been launched in the UK. Marketed as Xofigo, it contains polonium-210, the very same substance that killed Alexander Litvinenko, former KGB agent and Kremlin critic, in 2006 in London.

Caretakers who are also avid royal watchers, watch out. This could be your chance to closely mingle with Prince William and Kate Middleton, as well as their firstborn Prince George. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been reportedly scouting for a new nanny when they visit Australia and New Zealand.

Amid cost-cutting measures, Canada has closed seven of its 11 Department of Fisheries and Oceans libraries across the country. Around 1,000 scientists lost their jobs in the process. But what's saddening were the books which observers claimed never got digitized. They believed the books have been all together damaged and burned.

Fish caught in waters near the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant have been detected 124 times highly radioactive than the accepted limit, a report by the Asahi Shimbun said.

Australian soldier Captain Paul McKay who has been reported missing in the U.S. since New Year's Eve seemed had no plans of returning to his native Canberra.

Residents at Northern Territory have been advised to prepare necessary precautions as a cyclone could potentially ram into the region on Wednesday.

With the number of infected cases due to the H1N1 flu virus surging in Canada, stocks of vaccines have been feared to be slowly depleting.

Russia is now on high alert after discovering bodies in bomb-rigged cars near Sochi, host city of February's 2014 Winter Olympics.

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) announced on Thursday it will be performing a controlled nuclear meltdown project at a research facility in Ibaraki, north of Tokyo. The project aims to understand what causes certain malfunctions and how to prevent such occurrences from happening in the future.

Pope Francis has done it again. The charismatic leader of the Roman Catholic church broke protocol again on Wednesday when he spotted among the crowds at St. Peter's Square an old friend Argentinian priest who he had worked with in Buenos Aires. The good pope not only waved and acknowledged the presence of Father Fabrian Baez, he even invited him aboard the pope mobile. In an instant, he became a tour guide.

As if losing a child early to death isn't painful enough, a mother got the shock of her life when she discovered that the grave where she placed the remains of her dead son contained another dead child.

A new research from the University of Washington has revealed baby talking to infants can help them learn to talk faster and learn language skills earlier.

By end of 2014, China will no longer tolerate smoking in public places and the ban will be strictly imposed nationwide.

State health officials from California in the U.S. have debunked claims raised by an Internet video posted on YouTube which pointed out dangerously high radiation levels in the sands of Pacifica State Beach. The author of the video linked the radiation from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.

New Zealand's Fonterra Co-operative Group has lost its supply contract with French food company Danone over the milk powder contamination scare in late 2013. Danone will likewise slap appropriate legal action against the Kiwi company for NZ$492.9 million compensation.

At least one person has died in Canada from the fatal H5N1 avian influenza infection, the first ever also from the entire North America. The victim succumbed to the disease after recently travelling to Beijing, China in December 2013.

The deadly H1N1 strain of Influenza A has continued to spread to other parts in Canada, with the number of deaths likewise growing each day. The fatal strain has reached the province of Quebec. The threatening situation has prompted one Canadian regional hospital to revive its alert controls which it last used and implemented from the days of the SARS pandemic.

Until recently, news from China about its environmental concerns and problems were highly censored. But because it can no longer literally put a lid to control its spreading and unmanageable air pollution, China has admitted the smog haze situation in the country has already claimed thousands of lives.

China has announced it will be establishing three to five fully privately-owned banks in 2014 to help augur for the financial requirements of cash-starved smaller companies.