Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Pope Francis, pontiff of the Roman Catholic church, has called on all people of faith, regardless of religious sect or affiliations, to observe Sept 7 as a global day of prayer and fasting for Syria as he condoned the use of chemical weapons as a means to settle any domestic or international conflict.

China has suspended extending environmental approvals to future projects of the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group) due to their non-compliance to set pollution targets.

China has targeted to launch by yearend 2013 its first unmanned Chang'e-3 moon landing mission. The country's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence said the carrier rocket for the lunar probe has successfully passed pre-launch testing.

Investors fond of placing their bets on the safe haven yellow metal gold may well expect prices of the commodity to surge in the coming months as South Africa, the sixth-largest gold producer in the world, braces for an industrywide workers' strike that is sure to affect global production.

Syria apparently has won half the battle against the leaders of the Western nations who want to launch a military strike against President Bashar Assad's turf over its alleged illegal use of chemical warfare weapons. On Thursday, David Cameron, British Prime Minister, lost a bid to convince his parliament that a strike against the Western Asian country was essential.

"No one will win the war, see families only die... no war is worth your life.... But there is always a possibility for peace" so goes the lyrics of a song by American singer and songwriter Raheem DeVaughn. Pope Francis and King Abdullah II, heads of state of Vatican City and the country of Jordan, respectively, fully well know this. And in an urgent call to their fellow heads of state, both advised the current conflict involving Syria and its apparent illegal use of chemical weapons, which...

A mother from North Carolina has been slapped with a misdemeanor child abuse charge after her younger son told police authorities she had ordered him to beat his older brother because the latter was gay. Police said the mother could also face a mount of hate crime charges from the LGBT community for what she did to one of her children.

Tanzania, Africa's fourth largest gold producer, has been exposed as employing children as young as eight years old to work in its many gold mines, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) said.

At least $7.5 billion annually could flow into the coffers of the Canadian government should it decide to legalise and decriminalise the use of marijuana in the country, a report said.

Amid the chaos, there remains hope. And in a twist of events nobody expected, a video has surfaced which showed the moving reunion of a Syrian father with his toddler son who he believed was one of the fatalities of that fateful chemical attack in Damascus, Syria on Aug 21.

Amid the chaos, there remains hope. And in a twist of events nobody expected, a video has surfaced which showed the moving reunion of a Syrian father with his toddler son who he believed was one of the fatalities of that fateful chemical attack in Damascus, Syria on Aug 21.

After provoking Syria's contempt the past couple of days and inciting global market angst, the U.S. now seemed to dilly-dally whether to carry out or not its military strike threat against the Western Asian country over its alleged use of chemical weapons. On Wednesday, President Barack Obama said he has yet to make up his mind on pressing the strike button.

In what has been an unprecedented move for a country whose mindset is to put only males as leaders whether in the corporate or political streams, McDonald's Japan on Tuesday announced its top post will now be helmed by a woman in the person of Canadian Sarah Casanova.

A woman whose iPhone was stolen in Southend, Essex, just couldn't stop laughing when she narrated how she was able to retrieve her smartphone from her Apple-pickers. Because her iPhone had been subscribed to Photo Stream and iCloud, she was able to literally identify her thieves right from the photos they took using her smartphone.

Pandemonium has erupted on Tuesday amid the ongoing verbal tussle between the U.S. and Syria, following the chemical weapons attack in Damascus on Aug 21. Global markets went berserk as Syrian President Bashar Assad's turf gears up for a U.S.-led nation strike, warning a massive counter retaliatory attack could be immediately carried out on Israel.

China on Tuesday confirmed the discovery of a large 21 metric tonne gold deposit in Guangdong province.

An application has been launched in UK which specifically informs avid beach surfers and bathers about real-time warnings regarding their favorite beaches' pollution incidents.

Police in Pennsylvania, U.S., have arrested a 26-year-old woman who unceremoniously gave birth to a son in the toilet of a sports bar and then left the newborn to die inside the loo.

Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, personal secretary of Benedict XVI, former Roman Catholic pontiff, has flatly rejected claims of some media reports that the immediate predecessor of Pope Francis had experienced any mystical experiences which triggered his surprise abdication as leader of the 1.2 billion-strong secular faith in February 28, 2013.

Syria has "descended into hell," Archbishop Mario Zenari, Apostolic Nuncio in Syria, described on Monday the situation in the country. Meanwhile, Faisal Mikdad, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister, warned of terrible and more global chaos should the U.S. send troops or launch airstrikes to control the recent Aug. 21 savage chemical weapons attack in the Syrian capital.

Authorities in China currently are racing against time to rescue not only survivors from the rampaging floods, but also to retrieve crocodiles on the loose after the animals managed to break free from a farm in Shantou, Guangdong province.

Monitoring developments over at Japan concerning the tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility is like waiting for the ticking bomb to explode anytime. On Thursday, Japan's nuclear regulator Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) disclosed, or rather confirmed fears of experts all along - a new radioactive water leak has been found at the plant.

Fumes from vehicular traffic and home cooking fires using coal briquettes have been found to be the major culprits of China's burgeoning and worsening air pollution.

Hong Kong may not be directly affected by severe tropical storm Trami, which is currently battering China, but it surely still made its presence felt in the country. Trami's coverage was so wide that it trapped pollutants in Hong Kong's air to reach "very high" levels, prompting the government to issue health warnings.

Italian Stefano Cabizza couldn't quite find his voice and composure when one day he received that momentous phone call from no less than Pope Francis, pontiff of the 1.2 billion-strong Roman Catholic secular faith.

The death of a 21-year old Bank of America intern who worked non-stop for 72 hours straight has opened a floodgate of silent allegations and has put the world's banking industry in a hot seat.

The death of a 21-year-old Bank of America intern who worked non-stop for 72 hours straight has opened a floodgate of silent allegations and has put the world's banking industry in a hot seat.

Apple Inc’s once “sought-after” status is no more, at least in China. What used to be a 49 per cent dominance in China’s market for tablets in the second quarter of 2012 has slipped to 28 per cent in the same quarter this 2013. The culprit? The growing domestic tablet makers. After all, the Chinese being stingy aren’t known for nothing.China’s technology savvy consumers have resorted to buying cheaper tablets that uses the Android operating system of Google, a trend first seen among smartp...

A whopping 14.8 lb (6.6 kilos) baby born has been born in Mexico in August 14 who wears clothes meant for a 6 month old.