Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Snapchat, a photo messaging application, has just flatly refused to be bought in $3 billion cash by Facebook. Just not this time yet, its inventors said. All because they believed a bigger company with a bigger offer could come along.

If it can be helped, China's netizens don't want any part of their country's money donated to the victims of super typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines.

It takes a natural disaster of major catastrophic proportions like Category 5 super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) for the world to literally stop, forget its selfish cares and unite for a common good.

Members of the LGBT community may now marry in Hawaii after the state's legislative chambers approved a gay marriage bill on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the Philippines has placed the official death tally from super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) at 1,833 dead.

Two midwives connected with Queen's Hospital, Romford, north east London have been accused of failing to provide appropriate clinical care to a baby who was found by another caregiver unattended and lying face down on its tummy inside a cupboard in the hospital.

Several Chinese government officials have acknowledged the country's 30-year-old one-child policy needs to be revised. If not abolished, some remained wary any new amendments would pose more hazards than good for the world's second largest economy.

Aside from the loss of lives and damages to infrastructure and livestock, the Philippines is expecting Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) will make an impact on its economic growth.

At least 104 homes were toppled when three earthquakes struck Tajikistan over the weekend. India's was likewise struck with temblors on Tuesday morning. No deaths were reported on both incidents.

If there's one very good thing that Pope Francis was able to initiate in his first eight months into office was that he was able to increase the number of wayward, non-active parishioners going back into the fold at Italian Catholic churches.

Filipino netizens have warned government officials to stow away their twitching palms as an influx of financial aid and other assistance from the international community poured into the country following the destruction and chaos brought by Category 5 super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda).

Category 5 super typhoon Haiyan, although already with a weakened intensity, continued to live up to its title of being the world's strongest typhoon in 2013. As it left the Philippines with much destruction and chaos, including an estimated 10,000 death toll, it continued to barrage towards China and Vietnam, lashing at the two countries with the same force and brute.

Tropical depression Zoraida has finally entered the Philippines, placing at least 30 areas under storm signal no. 1, barely a week after Category 5 super typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) ripped across the country.

The European Court of Justice, in a ruling that could have ripple effects in other countries, has ruled that members of the LGBT fearing for their lives just because of their sexual preference may now seek asylum in the European Union.

Eastern Japan, where the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant is located, has been shaken anew by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake on Sunday morning. Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco), operator of the embattled power plant, said the facility has suffered no abnormalities so far.

With 10,000 estimated to have died from the Category 5 super typhoon force that is Haiyan (Yolanda), people from all walks of life around the world have started comforting the Philippines, offering words of solace and hope in this most trying times.

Its people has yet to fully grasp the extent as well as recover from the damages wreaked by Category 5 Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). But the Philippines it seemed is in for another massive rainfall this week. The target areas remain to be the same as those hit by the world's strongest typhoon of 2013.

Super typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda, the world's strongest for 2013 being it a Category 5 Hurricane, has made a series of landfalls in the central part of the Philippines. And it is undoubtedly a force to reckon with.

China has lifted its regulations concerning air fare pricing, effectively allowing its airline players to sell cheap tickets to passengers.

Scientists are alarmed over the existence of Australia's Great Barrier Reef after a swarm of at least a million starfish has been discovered moving toward the southern side. A crown of thorns plague has wiped out one reef between Cooktown and Cairns, according to the AAP.

Pope Francis has just lived out the very essence of the name he has chosen since becoming the 266th supreme pontiff of the Roman Catholic church. As with St Francis of Assisi who kissed a leper, the current Francis heading Vatican likewise kissed and embraced a man with disfigured face suffering from neurofibromatosis.

Avalon Rare Metals has been granted by the Canadian federal government the green light to push through with its Nechalacho rare earth elements project.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has clarified no island composed of debris from the Fukushima tsunami is heading towards the U.S. coast of California.

Based on a new survey citing the world's most polluted places, the lives of at least 200 million people are at risk. These areas are believed severely hazardous to man's health spanning Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and Latin America.

Their call of profession is to save lives. Apparently, doctors in China also need to save their own lives from the violent attacks of their patients.

About 13 million Filipinos stand to get affected by the possible ill effects of Typhoon Haiyan (local name Yolanda), which has morphed into a Category 5 super typhoon, the world's strongest so far in 2013.

Pope Francis continues to shake the very portals of the Roman Catholic faith. In what could be a first for the secular religion, Catholics around the world have been summoned to respond to a global survey which has bravely listed questions on gay marriage, divorce and birth control, among others.

Japan has launched its largest 70 megawatt (MW) capable solar power plant, two years after radiation problems have gone overboard at the Fukushima power plant which was crippled by a tsunami in March 2011, following a magnitude 9 earthquake.

They might just be kids but there is no mistaking that these young children provide the most honest and truthful reactions and opinions to just about any subject matter presented to them under the sun. In the latest installment from the Kids React series, American filmmakers Benny and Rafi Fine delved on gay equality and same-sex marriage. The reactions they got from the kids were, basically, overwhelmingly positive.