Esther Tanquintic-Misa

With the 28th World Day of Youth (WDY) just a mere six days away, the Vatican has released the itinerary of Pope Francis for the anticipated global event to be held in Brazil from July 23-29.

Shoppers almost always jump with glee the instant they learn their favorite shopping store or boutique has WiFi. But did you know that this in-store privilege is actually already stalking, err, tracking you?

Personnel working for South Korea's defence ministry have been ordered to paralyse the video and audio recording options from their respective smartphones in a bid to thwart possible leakages of insider military conversations and information to the outside public.

China's labour camps and its apparent systems and necessity are now put in the spotlight. A high court in the central Chinese province of Hunan has ordered authorities behind the labour camp system in Yongzhou to pay Tang Hui a total of $430 for sending her to labour camp in a bid to silence her following her protests against her daughter's rapists.

Apple Inc admittedly has its more than fair share of lawsuits. Most of them the smartphone maker could probably just be shrugging if off. But this lawsuit from a lawyer who complained Apple let him access porn from his Macbook, which eventually destroyed his marriage and career, it definitely is one for the books. Seriously...not?

Her parents knew they would be having a big baby, but couldn't quite believe how literally big baby girl Addyson Gale Cessna turned out to be. Delivered via C-section, the "little" bundle of joy's birth statistics were registered at 13 pounds and 12 ounces, and more than two feet tall at birth.

An Indian young man, presumably bitter for not being able to carry on his rape plans against the girl object of his desire, had set her on fire instead with kerosene over the weekend. But apparently, there is more than meets the eye to the tragic incident. The family of the victim claimed the man was also avenging the terminated wedding engagement of his older brother to the victim's older sister.

Apple's iPhone 5 is embroiled in another controversy, this time over the death of a 23-year-old Chinese woman on Sunday. The relatives alleged her untimely death was because she got electrocuted by the smartphone gadget when she tried to answer a call while its battery was charging.

Saudi Arabia has announced it will refrain from issuing visas to pilgrims who are medically unfit to observe this year's Hajj celebration this October, in light of the growing threat by the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) which has so far claimed 38 lives from the kingdom.

Paul Stoute of Portland, Oregon was surprised one day when he received a notification from eBay congratulating and informing of his latest acquisition from the online marketplace. He didn't remember buying anything lately that's worth $US242 ($A264). Turns out it was his 14-month-old baby girl who purchased the 1962 Austin Healey Sprite, which in turn he will gift her on her 16th birthday.

Thanks to his uncle, 8-month-old Xiao Bao was rushed to the hospital just in the nick of time to receive immediate medical attention. His uncle found him swimming in his own pool of blood after suffering 90 stab wounds all over the body. The aggressor? The baby's own mother who said she stabbed him because baby Xiao Bao bit her during breastfeeding.

'To infinity, and beyond!' That's what's most probably going on inside Leo Fernando's head when he accidentally fell from the open window of their bedroom, located 20 feet high above the ground, in their home in Devon, England.

Chinese netizens and human rights groups are fuming again over a latest infanticide case in the world's second largest economy, after a footage from a surveillance camera aired by a local TV station showed a bag containing an unwanted newly born baby girl was thrown out of a building window by her very own mother. And upon landing on the streets, the bag containing the baby was ran over by an unsuspecting driver. It would be a miracle for the baby to survive this ordeal, but no she did not.

Eight more cities in China want to limit the purchases of private cars in order to fight and manage the growing double whammy air pollution as well as traffic congestion menace in the country. The eight include Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Qingdao, Shenzhen, Shijiazhuang, Tianjin and Wuhan.

For U.S. Texas lawmaker Rep Steve Stockman, punishing school children just because they are mimicking characters with imaginary weapons and want to save the world is already downright killing their right to play.

Fukushima's highly radioactive groundwater could already be spreading out to the Pacific Ocean, Japan's nuclear watchdog, the Nuclear Regulation Authority said on Wednesday.

In full compliance to orders from the leader of the Roman Catholic church Pope Francis to practice austerity and simplicity at all times, a priest from Colombia has decided to sell off his white Mercedes Benz E200 convertible with a black top to the market for $63,000.

Apart from his birthdate, July 11, 2013 could well become one of the unforgettable dates in the life of the juvenile implicated in the December 2012 gruesome gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old paramedical female student in Delhi, India. On July 11, either the juvenile goes scathe-free and resumes life as always or serves time for the next three years at a reformatory home.

Concerned for the waning morale of its members, not to mention how the dwindling membership numbers are affecting the organization and its varied activities, the Yamaguchi-gumi, Japan's biggest crime syndicate, has published a magazine exclusive for its legion. Yep, it is not available on news or magazine stands for everyone to see.

Warning to parents - you may think a good luck case of genes plus healthy food, the right environment and a loving and supportive family are all there is to enhance and support your child's full brainpower potential. You might want to think again because apart from those mentioned, a regular sleep bedtime pattern will also help boost it more.

The United Nation's Committee on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) wants the Vatican, the seat of the Holy See and Pope Francis' bailiwick, to hand over the Catholic church's records as to how it dealt the child sex abuse cases against the church throughout the years.

If you set your mind to something, no one can stop you, the mother told the young heroine in 'Wadjda,' the first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia. Coincidental or not, those words may have also served as the filmmaker's guiding light to plan, execute and finish the movie, for it was a woman, Haifaa Al-Mansour, who actually directed the film amidst the kingdom's many stiff rules against women working in public.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." A woman rejected in love can be very angry and dangerous. But in the case of Leanne Black who falsely accused all her former lovers of rape every time she got ditched in the last eight years, her idea of revenge eventually backfired on her.

New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, wants to further dispose and liquidate three more old government buildings to raise needed funds to inject into its coffers.

Five months after the case hit the nerves of Chinese netizens, the son of a Chinese general is finally going on trial to face the gang rape allegations hurled against him and his friends.

An international study has confirmed the all too obvious - that the air pollution wrought by the excessive coal burning in China's north has affected the life expectancy of the people there, reducing it by as much as five years.

Governor Ibrahim Gaidam has ordered the closure of all secondary schools in the Nigerian north-eastern state of Yobe, following the senseless massacre on Saturday by suspected Islamist extremists in a boarding school that killed at least 42 people, including 22 students.

A U.S. consular official posted in Guyana has been sacked following allegations he had been selling visas for sex and money in what was believed to be a massive human trafficking operation. The U.S. State Department has confirmed it is now currently investigating the claims.

For three days now, five Indonesians have managed to hold on for life perched atop on one of the trees in Gunung Leuser National Park located on Sumatra Island. Not that they got lost in the wilderness. The men scrambled for refuge among the tree's top branches to risk being devoured by the giant Sumatran tigers down below.