Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Contributions led by emerging Asian economies such as Indonesia, Mexico, Turkey and China have catapulted Asia to become the leader in cutting carbon emissions for better environmental conditions. However, on a per country level, Australia listed way down below.

Residents in retirement villages, for the very first time, as well as low income earners in the state of NSW are poised to receive energy rebates to assist them manage their respective escalating power bills, the state government announced on Tuesday.

The state government of ACT on Tuesday unveiled plans to extend Canberra's central business district, which will include a set of new swimming facilities, residential apartments, commercial spaces, a convention centre and a sports stadium.

Global coffee company and coffeehouse chain Starbucks Corporation had forecast China will become its second largest coffee-drinking market by 2015, possibly bumping off Canada. To facilitate this, it plans to open a whopping 1,500 number of stores across China in the next two years, to turn the tea-loving nation into a coffee-loving one.

The inclusion of pieces of plastic in Nestle's top-selling brand Kit Kat has forced the Swiss food and nutrition products manufacturer to voluntarily recall at least four of its variants in eight countries.

Westfield Group has divested half of its controlling shares in six malls in Florida, United States for US$700 million as part of its continuing strategy efforts to reallocate shopping center interests. The sell-off was made to U.S. real estate firm O'Connor Capital Partners.

Crews of Queensland Rail are working overtime to clean up some 147 tonnes of zinc concentrate that toppled on the rail over the weekend before it causes further damage to the rail and to the immediate environment.

A New Zealander mum has escaped facing potential charges after leaving her newborn baby in her locked car in a car park outside a New Zealand supermarket so she can do some shopping.

Swedish fashion retailer H&M is set to expand in Australia, with its first store probably located in Melbourne, sometime in 2014.

McDonald's China has launched for its Chinese patrons the Sausage Double Beef Burger. Innovative? Perhaps. But is it healthy? Health experts surely think otherwise.

Massive population numbers could perhaps come quite handy at times as the world's most poplous country, China, overtook Japan in 2012 to get ranked as the world's second-largest movie market, next to the United States.

Combined forces led by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and local state police of Victoria have arrested 27 people in a year-long bust operation that involved a South East Asian drug syndicate based in Melbourne and Sydney.

At least 20 people were injured, two of whom are in critical condition, after tornadoes and powerful storms slashed through Victoria's northeast on Thursday night. It also toppled trees and ripped off roofs and shattered glasses from windows of dozens of homes and businesses.

"I hope you're ready, Sydney! This Saturday I wanna meet you. Details coming soon!" Hollywood talk show chatterbox Ellen DeGeneres said on her Twitter account, in a final confirmation that her Australian fans will indeed be seeing her this coming weekend.

Rev Fr Francisco Jalics, one of two living Jesuit priests kidnapped in the 1970s by the Argentine military junta, had come to the defense of the newly-installed 266th pontiff, Pope Francis.

Excitement is building up in the Philippines, the country with the third largest number of Roman Catholic believers in the world after Brazil and Mexico, as well as one of two predominantly Catholic countries in Asia, as Pope Francis could potentially visit the archipelago in 2016.

Alibaba Group, China's largest e-commerce company, is mulling to hold an international public offering (IPO).

China's growing dominance on a lot of things has been seen to also extend to the global online market by 2020, according to McKinsey & Co, a global management consulting firm.

A study released by the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID) on Wednesday has urged Australians, particularly those from West Australia, to take extra precautionary measures when travelling overseas, especially if it is to Bali, Indonesia.

Now that he is officially installed as the 266th pope of the Roman Catholic church, Pope Francis has no other way to go but sit down and assess just how he will go about doing his priestly vocation to shepherd people into the faith as well as maintain integrity in leading a crisis-reeked religious institution.

Leigh Nugent of Swimming Australia has resigned from his post as head coach amid reports he will be sacked from the post by the Australian sports body.

Mining companies Rio Tinto and Xstrata have announced job cuts in their respective coal divisions spurred by weak prices in the global market, rising administrative and operation costs as well as the high Australian dollar.

Failure to provide a safe working environment has cost global miner BHP Billiton some $130,000 as a Perth court ordered it to pay the amount to the family of a worker who died in July 2008 at its Port Hedland iron ore operations in Western Australia.

"Protect creation. Protect and respect the environment. Protect the people. Protect the children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about. Build sincere friendships in which we protect one another in trust, respect, and goodness. We are all responsible for protecting one another. We should all be protectors of God's gifts!"

Shares of Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corp surged by as much as 2 per cent as of 1315 AEDT on Tuesday over its latest win versus the protesters who are against the presence of its processing facility in Malaysia.

To further imprint the down-to-earth style of his papal tenure, Pope Francis has chosen to rehash an earlier design as his Fisherman's Ring, one that is made of silver and not of gold.

Perhaps already missing so much his native Argentina, newly proclaimed Pope Francis was so happy to have received a gift that would remind him of his birthplace. He was so happy that he even kissed the cheek of the gift giver, who happened to be none other than his political nemesis when he was still a former cardinal, the president of Argentina, Cristina Kirchner.

Followers of the Roman Catholic faith and the rest of the global populace have seen how Pope Francis, in just a few hours after he was proclaimed heir to the 266th throne of St Peter the Apostle, behaved and conducted himself. Perhaps not meaning to gain attention, but the new pontiff had indeed imprinted his mark as to how he would most probably steer his leadership style within the halls of the Vatican and on the 1.2 billion Catholics all over the world.

Owing to its growing population and urbanization, China's requirement for key steelmaking ingredient iron ore will continue to keep improving until the next decade, Murilo Ferreira, Vale's Chief Executive, said on Monday.