Esther Tanquintic-Misa

How ironic that as the Philippines battles its sovereignty claims with China over portions of waters and islands at the South China Sea, local bookstore chains in the former had been unknowingly selling globes to schools, offices and homes that had already depicted China as the rightful owner of those highly contested territories.

Shares of Alumina Ltd jumped as much as nine per cent on Thursday as China's largest state-owned investment company, Citic Group Corp, announced it will buy off a 13 per cent stake into the Australian alumina refiner.

Men, beware! If you're already a hundred percent sure she is already the one, but can't seem to figure out how to pop the big question to her, along with the works, then you ought to know that women start losing patience after two years and half into a relationship and would almost always dump a man who hadn't proposed after five.

Dating or not, single or not or freshly heart wounded or not, best take time out to watch this video and view Valentines day from the eyes of child.

Papabili or potential pope Philippine Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle said on Wednesday that Catholics all over the world should not confuse or mix up the notion that not eating meat on Ash Wednesday is tantamount to dieting.

There are no guaranteed statistics as to how much in the global population look forward to this day of hearts, but there is a huge part still of the Earth's inhabitants who despise this day of love. So while others bask in the love of their partners, special someone or significant other, there are some who will prefer to hide behind their bedroom doors, literally, and just wish that the day ends soon.

Siam, the oldest elephant held in captivity in Australia, has died on Tuesday due to kidney failure.

Shark attacks in Western Australia is highly preventable if only people avoid areas and times where sharks are most common, according to the University of Florida's International Shark Attack File report as it listed the state Down Under as the world's number two hotspot for shark attacks.

German supermarket chain Aldi has plans of adding as many as 110 stores across South and West Australia as it boosts its 300-strong supermarkets portfolio all over Australia.

Australia got enmeshed in a nasty human rights violation scenario as 23 Indonesian minors prepare to file a civil suit against the federal government on allegations they were locked up in adult prisons where they suffered abuse.

A day after reports flew that Russia has become the world's biggest buyer of the safe haven yellow gold metal, the country's Gold Producers' Union said Vladimir Putin's turf is poised to become the world's third biggest gold producer by 2015.

About 30 tourists out to visit the breathtaking ice glacier known as Perito Moreno in Argentina's Patagonia region got more than what they came for when the ice started to crack and fell into the lake.

As the world ponders and debates the motive and sincerity of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, names of potential successors to become the 266th Pope have also cropped up. And this time it seems, the papacy is ripe to break traditions and give a non-European a chance to lead the Catholic Church struggling for relevance these days.

The world's reaction to his resignation as head of the Roman Catholic Church was nuclear bomb explosion epic proportions. Even non-believers of the secular religion were dumbfounded by Pope Benedict XVI's shocking statement on February 11, 2013, one that surely is already imprinted in world history.

Overall lack of supervision and an improper teacher-child ratio. Had these factors been properly filled up, the sex scandal that rocked the community and parents of children studying at the First Lutheran Church of Carson School in California may not have happened.

Members of Australian parliament have summoned for questioning IT giants Apple, Microsoft and Adobe to explain why their products are sold for much higher in Australia compared to other parts of the globe.

Organizers of the annual 'Cool Summer' music festival have been forced to cancel the event as bushfires continue in Victoria, particularly in the area around Mt Hotham where the local music festival was supposed to be held.

Effective 2014, parents residing in Victoria, Australia, could be slapped with a $70 fine for the unexplained or habitual absences of their children from school, in a proposed law where parents become more the targets of their children's poor schooling attendance behaviour.

Philip Goodman, chairman and sole director of Rivers Australia, is again on the hot seat after a former employee has lodged a sexual harassment claim, his second in a span of two years.

Australians who have travel plans to China are advised to take precautionary measures as the country's health ministry announced two people have been inflicted with the H5N1 bird flu virus.

The Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) has assured Australian stakeholders and consumers that there would be no hike in insurance premiums even as it faces some $674 million worth of claims from victims affected by the recent floods and fire disasters that hit at least three various states of the country.

Just when most women thought that drinking diet sodas help cut down the calorie intake, a new study has revealed that the artificial sweeteners put into them could actually result to an all-together different sickness of type-2 diabetes.

What could have otherwise been a routine, perhaps boring visit of a state official, no less than by incoming Premier Li Keqiang, in China's poor areas became a source of amused and giddy laughs when a bare bottomed Chinese boy stole the limelight during the interview video that was flashed all over the country.

Snaggletooth, which is similar to having imperfect whites due to some protruding ones is the new craze in Japan.

For young children, the icing on every birthday party is when the people start singing happy birthday and then the celebrant gets to make a wish before blowing the candle on the cake. But Australia's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) found this unhygienic and therefore banned candle blowing on shared birthday cakes. Really now?

At least six people have died and thousands more were displaced by the tsunami that struck the Solomon Islands on Wednesday, just a few hours after it experienced a powerful 8.0 magnitude undersea earthquake.

In what could be a final sign of desperation to remove the presence of the rare earths processing plant of Lynas in Kuantan, Malaysia, Wong Tack, one of its strong opponents and president of the Himpunan Hijau, has allegedly threatened to burn it down.

The salvaging operations on the stranded minesweeper USS Guardian off the Tubbataha Reef in the Philippines has started on Wednesday, with the crane ship Smit Borneo finally allowed to sink its anchor into the Sulu Sea.

Real life Canadian astronaut Commander Chris Hadfield is all giddy to make a milestone in the history of space science as he converses for the first time via a scheduled space chat rendezvous with fellow Canadian and actor William Shatner, more known as Star Trek's 'Captain Kirk,' yet another prominent icon in the global movie and television history.