Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Two monumental milestones had happened in the third week of October in the global commodities sector, namely uranium and rare earths. Jamaica has opened its first rare earths extraction plant, while Greenland has repealed its two-decades-old ban on uranium mining.

Britain has sounded the alarm bells to warn its residents to prepare for its worst storm in a decade, dubbed St Jude, a Stormageddon of its kind as described on social networks.

Pope Francis' fan base on online social networking and microblogging service Twitter has reached 10 million.

Japan has been hit again by a 5.5 magnitude earthquake on Monday.

A three-year-old toddler who contracted the deadly HIV virus while still inside her mother's womb continue to remain health and scot free of the infection even if it has been 18 months since she last received her treatment. Doctors hope the AIDS virus will go into permanent remission so the child can really live normally.

According to a study published in medical journal, The Lancet, there has been an increase of 25 percent in the last 20 years in the 20- to 64-year-old age bracket either affected or dying due to stroke.

Saudi Arabia has signified it will slap appropriate sanctions to protesters once they push through their planned Oct 26 mass action objecting to the ban against women drivers in the oil-rich kingdom.

Japan announced it has successfully test fired a space cannon specifically meant to shatter asteroids. The cannon, built by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), has been cleared for mission take-off in 2014.

Canada has admitted it will fail meeting its carbon emissions target by 2020 due to the continued growth and development of its oil and gas sectors.

Businesses in earthquake-damaged Bohol in the Philippines have resumed tour operations Thursday as survivors reclaimed lives amid the rising death toll that has reached 195. Cost of damages caused by 7.2 magnitude temblor had hit Php 1 billion (AU$24 million).

Despite China's contentious reception of its iPhone 5C in Sept., Apple still holds favorably the country as a prime market. It has included China in the list of select markets that it intends to launch the iPad Air with on Nov. 1.

Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei Darussalam, has sought to toughen the existing Sharia law penal code in the country. Effective April 2014, offenders of the revised law, such as adulterers face death by stoning, amputation of limbs for theft, as well as flogging for alcohol consumption and abortion, among other types of punishments.

India has gone into frenzy mode trying to locate what could be a massive pot of gold based on the dream of Swami Shobhan Sarkar, a sadhu or holy man. Mr Sarkar claimed he dreamt of once-ruler Rao Ram Baksh who allegedly told him where the latter kept his riches before he was hanged in 1858 after rising up against the British.

It may be difficult to believe, but a team of Australian researchers from CSIRO has found that in dry conditions, eucalyptus trees, as they search for moisture, can actually point to miners the location of massive gold deposits just by looking at their leaves.

Students from third grade through junior high in Fukushima who are unable to attend school because of their parents' lost income and job opportunities when the nuclear power plant got crippled in 2011 may now be able to renew their education in the central Japanese city of Matsumoto.

Thailand, known for its archaeological sites, sandy beaches, weekend and night markets, Buddhist temples and, of course, the traditional Thai massage, among others, wants to slap a 500-baht (AU$16.60) entry tax on tourists upon their arrival at the country. The government targets to implement the new fee effective January 2014.

A study by researchers from the University of British Columbia's School of Population and Public Health has found that at least 21,000 Canadians die each year due to air pollution.

Model of humility for the Roman Catholic religion, no less than its spiritual leader Pope Francis, has finally met on Monday Germany's extravagant Bishop Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst who allegedly spent a whopping $42 million on renovations to his home.

Chinese customs officials have finally given clearance to Rio Tinto to ship out its copper concentrate products from its massive Oyu Tolgoi mine to target customers in China.

Japan is now in a frenzy to hunt and rescue more survivor's from last week's Typhoon Wipha amidst warnings of another potentially disastrous strong Typhoon Francisco could strike the country in a few days.

Harbin City, capital of China's Heilongjiang province of 11 million people, has been enveloped by a chockfull of smog so thick authorities have been forced to cancel flights and suspend classes. Residents are scared out of their wits as the smog, expected to last for at least the next 24 hours, could become recurring as the country enters the winter season.

China's desire to curb the country's production of air pollution and clean the environment will be beneficial to many of its gas distributors. China Gas Holdings Ltd, the country's biggest distributor by a number of networks, said China's reduced coal consumption plan will help boost earnings by 2020 to about five-fold over the current figures.

Barely a week after the devastating 7.2 magnitude earthquake, the Philippines' Central Visayas region has again been struck by a 5.4 magnitude quake on Monday morning, one of the thousands of aftershocks of the original temblor.

More than 100 people residing in Edmonton in Canada's rural area of Alberta have been forced to evacuate after 13 cars owned by the Canadian National Railway Co (CNR) derailed on early Saturday morning. No injuries were reported. Two cars, which form part of a trainload carrying crude and liquefied petroleum gas, remain on fire.

The number of billionaires from Canada has grown by 33 per cent from a decade ago, according to the latest global wealth report by Credit Suisse. Retaining this number, however, is an altogether different story for the country.

Climate change brought by global warming will greatly affect the world's oceans and the effects will dramatically be felt by 2100.

Residents living in Bulgaria and Poland may want to consider relocating. The latest annual air quality report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) disclosed on Tuesday that the two countries have the worst and dirtiest air quality among all of Europe.

Tokyo Electric Power Corporation (TEPCO), operator of Japan's crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant, has again released highly radioactive water into the ocean, as Typhoon Wipha dropped heavy rainwater onto the plant.

For the second time in the past week, embattled Canadian telco firm Blackberry has received another round of lawsuit. On Tuesday, Blackberry shareholders in Quebec filed a class-action lawsuit against the company, alleging the company has been taking them for a ride by issuing statements that only allude to false hopes.