Esther Tanquintic-Misa

A new research conducted by accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has forecast that the flame of economic high that Australia is currently enjoying will fizzle and burn out by 2050.

Tasmania is on the road to recovery. After experiencing its catastrophic bushfire incident early this year, Tasmania struggles to recover, with the first shipment of its cherry export already bound for China.

The Country Fire Service as well as other emergency services have warned residents in South Australia to prepare for what could be a fire disaster on Thursday after authorities said extreme and severe fire dangers loom across the state.

Japanese researchers from Nippon Light Metal Co. Ltd. had discovered high concentrations of rare earth elements in the red mud of Jamaica, the latter's Minister of Science, Technology, Energy & Mining announced on Wednesday.

After 40 years, commuters may well experience traffic congestion easing up in Melbourne with the scheduled opening of the Peninsula Link on Friday.

Stocks of gas face masks as well as air purifiers have sold like hotcakes in China early this week as the Asian country fights and cleans off its worst yet smog pollution which hit large parts of Central and East China over the weekend. Such a price the country has to pay in exchange for global economic supremacy.

Since vintage-themed events is a fad these days, from weddings to birthdays and even corporate events, perhaps expectant parents would also consider giving their would-be born babies vintage names as well this 2013.

In what seemed to be a subtle way of overturning Google's dominance in the search engine arena on the World Wide Web, Facebook launched on Tuesday its New Graph Search that enables its more than 1 billion users discover people, photos, places and interests. Well, at least for now.

Effective March 15, 2013, Microsoft will no longer be using Windows Live Messenger and instead advised users to log in using Skype.

Australian gambling critics are up on their toes after a virtual poker machine game has been named as the country's highest-grossing phone and tablet app.

The U.S. government, through its Department of Energy, will allot some $120 million to fund the creation of a rare earths research facility that will aid the economic leader lessen if not totally cut off its dependence from China, the world's stronghold of the essential 17 precious elements.

An independent review that looked into cycling in Australia has urged to its governing body to implement stricter anti-doping testings in the wake of scandals that marred the sector in 2012, also relatively linked to those of U.S. cyclist rider Lance Armstrong.

Despite tough national controls and a guns buyback program instituted by then Prime Minister John Howard, the number of Australians owning guns have risen and are already actually parallel to the number in circulation prior to the 1996 Port Arthur shooting massacre.

The main building facility housing the telescopes of Australia's Siding Spring Observatory remained unscathed and intact despite a raging bushfire in New South Wales that have destroyed at least 12 homes in the Warrumbungle National Park area over the weekend.

Ellen DeGeneres is Australia bound! The Hollywood talk show chatterbox, Ellen, who has a fan base even in the Asia-Pacific, is bringing her light and easy banter Down Under like contemporary Oprah last year.

A survey released by the U.S. Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal on Friday titled 2013 Index of Economic Freedom has placed Australia on the third spot, with Hong Kong still on the lead for the 19th straight year.

Airline travellers taking Virgin Australia this weekend may have to come in early at the airport and expect some disruptions as the airline carrier effects a new check-in and booking system.

Parents of avid video gamers may well heave a sigh of relief as the Australian Government Classification Board made good its promise to include video games in monitored forms of media receiving children's attention and patronage. The first casualty of the expanded law which took effect January 1, 2013 was the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge meant for Nintendo's Wii U console.

Donations to victims affected by the first catastrophic bushfire in Tasmania, Australia have reached past A$2 million, with Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, among those who donated a significant amount.

While other state parts are being ravaged by simultaneous bushfires, residents off the northern coast of Western Australia prepares for tropical cyclone Narelle, the country's first for the Dec-April tropical storm season.

Deep purple and pink. These two colours have just been added by Australia's Bureau of Meteorology in its forecasting colour wheel maps to aid weather temperature projections exceeding 122 Fahrenheit or 50 degrees Celsius.

For those whose homes and properties were spared from the raging and equally ravaging bushfires that continue to devour states in Australia, reclaiming normalcy in their lives after the fire may start off far better than most. But health experts see this is far from the case.

China's first production quota of rare earths for 2013 has been set at 46,900 metric tonnes, according to the country's Ministry of Land and Resources.

Barry O'Farrell, NSW Premier, announced that the fire crisis in NSW "hasn't gone away" and that residents should remain cautious and vigilant of their properties and surroundings.

Australian shoppers on the lookout for great, massive bargain finds may well ought to splurge these first few months of 2013 as retail businesses prepare to further slash already discounted items for sale just to be able to overcome the sector's burgeoning sales slump and somehow boost profit.

The Australian summer had been made more agonizing by the bushfires. The country's continued rising temperatures had been the crux of insurance companies as incidence claims have now surged by more than $42 million and yet more still likely to come in as the blazes unexpectedly occur with the dry weather.

With bushfires happening left and right in Australia, the Bureau of Meteorology is now analysing data to support theories that the series of successive high temperatures this January 2013 alone already broke the country's past scorching records.

Local NSW police have started to alert the residents of Kybean Valley of potential exposure to a raging bushfire that started near the Mount Forest Road, Carlaminda area.

Arguably, any plan of any government to raise prices of commodities automatically creates pandemonium on its voting populace. But in Australia, the proposal to increase the prices of cigarettes has been considered a welcome move. Apart from the end goal of increasing the national government's coffers, the plan could help severe the rising number of lung cancer deaths in the country brought by excessive smoking.