Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Canada's prevailing bitter cold temperature conditions has created a massive travel chaos all over the country, with air and road travel pretty much suspended on Tuesday. The freezing weather has likewise given birth to "frost quakes," giving off panic and tension to already anxious residents.

More than 350 people across 32 prefectures in Japan fell sick after eating food manufactured by a food company that has been alleged to have been selling tainted frozen food products.

China has started to hear the case of four health officials formerly connected with a hospital in northwest China's Shaanxi Province for alleged dereliction of duty after a hospital obstetrician was able to traffic seven babies.

A total of 6.15 tonnes of raw elephant tusks and carved ivory pieces were crushed in China on Monday in a seemingly very public display of its commitment to wean out illegal smuggling activities. It was a first for its kind in China. The world certainly hopes it won't be the last.

The fatal Influenza A (H1N1) virus, which became pandemic in 2009-2010 with at least 18,138 global deaths, has staged a comeback in the U.S. Should the world worry?

Canada's cloaked in a massive, deep and bitter cold weather conditions that has frozen everything it has touched with. It has disrupted flight plans of major airliners, prompted school bus service cancellations and yielded power outages. The prevailing weather condition is likewise threatening oil drilling and fracking operations.

No less than anti-gay controversy-laden Russian President Vladimir Putin road tested the various sites erected for the upcoming Sochi Winter Olympics by playing a game of ice hockey.

Russia has barred some 132 used Japanese cars from entering the country due to radioactive pollution concerns.

The year 2013 has been recorded as New Zealand's second hottest year, according to Auckland University climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger on Monday.

Officials have warned residents in Western Australia, particularly Perth, to take necessary precautions against the smog haze currently enveloping the state. The smoke emanated from a bushfire that started on Friday. Authorities have issued a corresponding alert versus life and property.

People wanting to travel to Canada have been advised to take necessary precautions as the country is currently beset with a growing number of the deadly H1N1 flu cases.

China has recorded that six babies died after receiving hepatitis B vaccines. The vaccination formed part of the government's drive to immunize its citizens against the liver disease.

About 11 people in north China's Hebei Province were quarantined on Monday after health authorities confirmed they had direct contact with chicken infected with H5N2 avian influenza virus.

A 22-year-old man from Oklahoma, U.S., has been charged with first-degree murder over the death of the 5-month-old child of his girlfriend. He allegedly killed the child during a football game on Dec 7.

The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) that has gripped Saudi Arabia since September 2012 has claimed another life, bringing to 56 its latest death tally in the kingdom.

Amphetamine abuse has been found increasing in Australia with users getting younger each day. This was according to the latest annual report released Monday by Odyssey House, a rehabilitation center.

Canadian holiday merrymakers, wanting to spend the holidays with loved-ones, have been stuck in the airports after a severe ice winter storm. The massive weather turmoil has snapped power lines leaving more than 430,000 households in Ontario and Quebec without electricity.

China has punished some 20,000 government officials almost a year after it implemented its anti-graft campaign drive, according to a statement from the Central Commission for Discipline and Inspection of the CPC, Communist Party of China's anti-graft watchdog.

Hershey Co, famous for the Kisses, Reese and its namesake chocolate bars, has expanded in China and purchased 80 per cent of the local iconic Shanghai Golden Monkey Food Joint Stock Co Ltd for $584 million.

China's campaign and crackdown to impose frugality and weed out corruption among its government officials have extended even to their dead.

Gina Rinehart, Australia's richest woman, has just received a US$694.4 million (AU$784 million) loan from the U.S.' Export-Import Bank to develop the Roy Hill iron ore project in the Pilbara.

Scientists from the U.S. and Australia have discovered a way to reverse the ageing process. Researchers from Harvard Medical School and University of New South Wales said they have tested the procedure on mice and it proved to be successful. They are now working to test the method on humans.

The state legislature of California in the U.S. is set to push in January 2014 a bill that would require smartphone manufacturers to input a mandatory "kill switch" technology that would render stolen phones inoperable.

China on Thursday announced that it will be building its fourth research base in the Antarctic, the Taishan summer field camp, according to the state-run China Daily.

China is no longer the stronghold of the world's supply of rare earths, according to a latest assessment released by the Pentagon of the U.S.' industrial base.

U.S. President Barack Obama has announced he will not be attending the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Moreover, he has approved to send a U.S. delegation that includes two openly gay athletes, in what seemed to be a strong and open message of solidarity with others against Russian President Vladimir Putin's anti-homosexual laws.

And so it can be told. Dec 18, 2013 was indeed just another day in the calendar. Apple Inc and China Mobile Ltd have yet to arrive an agreement. Or perhaps announce it.

Canada is set to introduce changes in its Telecommunications Act in 2014 that will lift restrictions and pave the way for increased foreign ownership in the sector.

A new bird flu H10N8 virus strain has been found in China, and it has killed one woman in the country.