Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Two female overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who claimed to have been sexually abused by a former Philippine labor official assigned in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia have surfaced. The women, currently in Jeddah, are determined to press charges against the labor official once they set foot back home.

The death toll in Saudi Arabia due to the new SARS-like Middle East Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV) has reached 34, the kingdom's ministry of health said on Monday.

The bad weather composed of heavy rain, strong winds and high tides hitting Australia's state of NSW is expected to get worse through Tuesday until Wednesday.

Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has done what most global leaders today find hard to do - to humble himself and his nation before their neighbors for a clear and visible wrongdoing. On Monday, Mr Yudhoyono formally apologised for the smoke haze that is now choking Singapore and Malaysia.

Guilty. Former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has been made to face the full wrath of Italian law and was slapped with a 7-year jail time for having sex with an underage prostitute.

The alleged prostitution sex ring involving Philippine representatives and distressed female distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in foreign lands have been confirmed by at least three Filipinas who got stranded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The alleged prostitution sex ring involving Philippine representatives and distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in foreign lands have been confirmed by at least three Filipinas who got stranded in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

In a bid to seal and formalise the recent passage of the same-sex marriage equality law, Tourism New Zealand has launched a search for the first Australian same-sex couple to be wed on the Tasman shores.

The giant pandas held in captivity in China's Sichuan province has given birth to twins.

Effective June 29, Saudi Arabia will be observing a Sunday-Thursday work week, with Friday-Saturday now its official weekend days.

As Singapore got to experience clearer skies over the weekend, the smoke haze from Indonesia's forest fires has shifted this time to Malaysia.

Floods that have inundated Canada's oil capital of Calgary over the weekend have severely affected power lines so much that authorities warned power outages could be experienced for months.

Singapore's air-pollution index has breached 400 on Friday after five full days of non-stop smoke billowing from neighbor Indonesia due to the latter's forest fires. And with the smog expected to last through for the next two weeks, citizens have been forced to improvise safety nets to protect themselves in the face of dwindling stock of surgical and gas masks.

At least 1000 individuals are feared dead in India in the floods following the monsoon rains that started lashing out at the country since last week.

Insurance claims in New Zealand have started to pile up following the polar storm that have disrupted air flights in the country, cut off power lines as well as forced the closure of schools.

Australia's Melbourne's northeastern suburbs have been stricken by a minor 1.5 magnitude quake just before 7am (AEST) on Friday. Residents reported first hearing a loud explosion before feeling that the ground actually shook underneath.

The American Medical Association (AMA) has lashed out against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), labeling the latter's lifetime ban against gay men donating blood as "discriminatory" and "not based on sound science."

State as well as federal Australian governments ought to get their act together to coordinate and work on preventive measures and investments that could help mitigate the impact of post-natural disasters in the country. A white paper released on Thursday forecast the cost of post-Australian natural disasters will rise four times by 2050.

After reporting an alleged rape that occurred to her right inside her campus room, the victim got the shock of her life when she received a letter from the college administration that she's been recommended for exclusion on grounds that she brought the college "into disrepute."

Gay or same-sex couples who got married in Canada but now want to divorce their partners may well heave a sigh of relief as the same-sex divorce bill is slowing clawing its way into the Canadian Parliament. On Tuesday night, Canada's House of Commons approved Bill C-32, a legislation that authenticates same-sex marriages under Canadian law while at the same time allowing non-resident gay or same-sex couples to divorce.

Australia warned locals specially those residing in Victoria state of the escape from prison of two of its worst sex predators.

It's been two years since a devastating magnitude 9 earthquake hit Tōhoku, Japan in March 2011, of which a resulting tsunami erupted and seriously impacted the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Japan is now grappling after it found out that the groundwater at the nuclear plant contained above average levels of a radioactive substance called strontium-90.

Bundaberg, severely hit by massive floods brought by ex-tropical cyclone Oswald in early January, has recovered. On Wednesday, after more than five months forced suspended operations, one of Queensland's biggest sugar exporters was able to export the raw commodity again.

This year's current outbreak of legionnaires' disease at Australia's Wesley Hospital could be linked to a death two years ago.

Russia's Lower House of Parliament, or the Duma, has unanimously approved to support a bill that bans foreign gay, same-sex couples to adopt Russian orphans. The bill is also expanded to prohibit single foreign nationals from adopting as long as they came from a country where same-sex marriage is legal.

A double suicide bombing spree inside a Shiite mosque in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad on Tuesday has killed 31 and wounded 57 others.

Officials in the embassies of the Philippines located in Jordan, Kuwait and Syria have been alleged to have formed prostitution rings to sexually abuse female distressed overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in exchange for their repatriation.

Australia was able to preserve the World Heritage Site status for its renowned Great Barrier Reef, but only for until 2014. And unless Canberra can present concrete ways and measures to satisfy UNESCO on how it plans to protect the reef, the World Heritage Site status could easily be changed and included into the body's list of endangered places next year.

At least more than 50 people in northern India are feared dead after their homes were swept away by ravaging floods brought about by incessant heavy monsoon rains over the past days. The worst hit were the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.