Esther Tanquintic-Misa

A 40-minute, mile-wide tornado that swooped down the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore on Monday afternoon has killed 51 people. Almost half of the fatalities were children. Officials expect the death toll to rise.

Desperate to gain a foothold in India, one of the world's fastest growing population and urbanizing economies, Apple Inc has been adjusting its marketing strategy in that country, even tweaking its notoriously high prices to gain market share.

Australia is on the radar target of drug traffickers, based on data released on Monday which showed a whopping 154 per cent growth on the amount of illegal drugs confiscated in 2011-2012 versus a year ago.

The growing women empowerment in Saudi Arabia has expanded to include the plight of foreign nationals, specifically Filipina maids. On Monday, the Middle Eastern nation signed a bilateral agreement with the Philippine government, vowing to protect the rights of its women who work as maids in the oil-rich nation.

Former Australian businessmen Matthew Joyce and Angus Reed have been slapped a 10-year imprisonment by the justice courts in United Arab Emirates following convictions of property fraud charges over a Dubai Waterfront project in 2009.

China has ordered an embargo of lamb mutton and beef meat shipments from New Zealand after Chinese officials discovered problems with the accompanying paperwork on the food items.

An unemployed 48-year-old divorced British father is now detained in France for admitting the murders of his two very young children by slitting their throats, abruptly terminating what could have been the start of a series of father-children bonding moments without a third party.

In what could be a further testament to the growing culture of women empowerment in Saudi Arabia, a Saudi woman has conquered not only her fears but also the planet's highest mountain, Mount Everest.

Australia's state government of Queensland has laid down a new set of changes to securing and renewing driver licenses for old-timer and new entrant drivers.

At the crack of dawn on Sunday morning, Iran hanged two Iranian men for allegedly being agent spies of the U.S. CIA and the Israeli's Mossad, passing on classified and vital information to the latter agencies in exchange for money.

Australia's flood prone state of Queensland is facing a new flood tax proposal.

Despite the global gold demand trade decelerated in the first quarter of 2013 compared from the year ago, the actual exchange of gold among small-time investors in the Middle East, India, and China was very much alive through jewellery in the same period.

For the past ten years, in what could be America's most sensitive health topic to date, a report has disclosed that the number of mental health cases in the world's freest economy is rising.

Experts and researchers working with marine mammals are now being advised to wear protective suits and gear as the dreaded influenza A H1N1 subtype virus has mutated and had been detected present and active in elephant seals off the coast of central California.

LinkedIn does not want to be associated with people whose work employment or main source of income is that of being a prostitute or escort.

Effective October 2, Emirates will now be flying four times daily to Brisbane.

It won't be long before the essential raw minerals and commodities of the planet's Far North such as rare earths, oil and gas get gobbled up by the industrialists.

A low-cost diarrhoea vaccine for children has been developed by India, enabling parents all over the world to avail of a cheaper alternative medicine that could cure and save their children from the deadly Rotavirus.

For couples who are working out to become parents, this is not for you. But for those who aren't ready yet to become parents, watch out on those condoms they might be more defective than they ought to be. Specially if it came from China.

Harold Camping, who first received his taste of celebrity status when he predicted the world will end on May 21, 2011 and then became infamous for his failed prophecy, is now facing his own doomsday with the nearing demise of his Family Radio ministry.

On Monday, Christopher Rad, the 44-year-old Texan convicted of organizing and leading a conspiracy to commit securities fraud through the use of botnets located throughout the world, has been sent to prison to serve a 71-month or roughly six-year jail time.

China now has at least two subtypes of the Influenza A viruses lurking and circulating around its perimeters. And as more members of the poultry and fowls industry get culled, not only food sales get affected but also sales of badminton's shuttlecocks and apparel's down jackets.

A month after the ill-fated shooting, the father of Brandon Holt's accidental killer has been charged responsible for the death of the 6-year-old. Anthony Senatore of Toms River, N.J. was charged with several counts of endangering the welfare of children after law enforcement agencies found multiple unsecured weapons laying around in his house which are very much accessible to kids.

While China continues to wrestle H7N9 which had so far claimed 35 lives, it has succumbed to yet another subtype of the Influenza A viruses, this time the H5N1. The country had reported an outbreak in its southern part Tibet, where a child has died and 64 other children remain infected.

On Tuesday, Saudi Arabia added six new cases of the SARS-like novel coronavirus in its Eastern Province, where two of those infected were hospital healthcare workers, immediately creating anxieties that hospitals are no longer even safe places to go to in times of medical distress.

Apple picking has become so much lucrative in New York. But consumers aren't happy, so are police authorities. Apple picking in New York meant smartphone theft, and no, preferential treatment is not only exclusive to Apple's iPhones.

Saudi Arabia, a country where women finally got allowed, albeit partially, to ride bicycles and motorcycles only this year and allowed to vote and be voted for in 2011, has allowed the publication in local newspapers of a highly controversial advertorial that called for the criminalisation of domestic violence among its female population.

When prices of gold fell in India to Rs 27,520 (AU$503.50) per ten grammes, a gold-buying frenzy ensued, giving testament that India prefers buying the safe haven yellow metal gold more on religious holidays.

France, a nation where people mostly spend their free time visiting museums and attending art events, wants to tax smartphones and tablets manufacturers, specifically Apple, to fund its cultural passion.