Esther Tanquintic-Misa

Barely a few days into the first month of the new year 2013 and Australia has experienced its first worst bushfire catastrophe in the state of Tasmania where more than 100 people have been reported missing and more than 100 properties ravaged down by more than 40 burning bushfires.

Australian Olympic boxer Damien Hooper got himself embroiled in a tight fix during the weekend after a night of clubbing at a Queensland nightclub.One of the country's finest boxers is now facing charges before a court of law because of a gruesome night of misbehaving.

Shares of Australian rare earths miner Lynas Corporation jumped as much as 7.2 per cent in early morning trade at 1146 AEDT as the mining company disclosed its highly controversial processing plant in Malaysia continued to post significant progress in the production of the precious metals which are essential components to a number of technological advancements.

A month after Australia implemented the nationwide plain tobacco packaging law, the state of New South Wales has leveled up the anti-smoking campaign by prohibiting smoking in public places. The new anti-smoking law became effective on Monday, January 7.

Transactions paid through credit cards may soon become a bygone era in Australia as telco carriers in the land Down Under study the possibility of enabling consumers to pay for purchased goods by using one's very own mobile phone or tablet.

Scientists from Australia have started laying down development works on what could become the world's largest and most capable radio-telescope which would see the federal government injecting at least $19 million just to put the project into reality.

Chevron Australia has unlocked more gas discoveries in the Carnarvon Basin, off Western Australia, bringing its total discovery haul to 19 just in the area alone.

Taiwan, one of the countries laying territorial claims over the islands of the South China Sea, has laid down plans to start exploring for oil and natural gas resources in the waters around Taiping Island in 2013.

A study of the activity in the South China Sea reefs had shown the coral reefs in the area greatly deteriorated at the expense of the economic growth activities in mainland China.

Retail therapy may be slow and down, but credit card transactions during the 2012 Boxing Day Sales nonetheless have increased by as much as 30 per cent for the National Australia Bank, it said on Thursday.

China's biggest rare earths producer, Baotou Steel Rare-Earth (Group) Hi-Tech, declared middle of this week it will continue to extend its self-imposed production suspension of firing, smelting and separating of rare earths to another month, spurred by the continued dropping prices of the precious commodities in the world market.

Australia's new plain tobacco packaging law seems to have been implemented just in the nick of time to persuade smokers to come up with a healthier New Year 2013 resolution after having been exposed to the vivid graphic images of the potential effects of smoking to one's health.

Warren Richard Rodwell, an Australian national kidnapped by the Philippine extremist Group Abu Sayyaf in 2011, has resurfaced in a video to say that he is still alive. However, he also said he has lost faith in the system of his government and whatever rescue efforts, if at all, are being made for his release.

It won't be long, but the tradition of the mad dash for the Boxing Day Sales could become a thing of the past. For one, counterpart Web sites of retailers that participated in the annual discounted selling spree had laid down their wares much earlier as Australians get all the more hooked on online shopping.

And so it can be told. The end of days on December 21, 2012 never happened. Neither was it predicted to happen anyway. But cultists, for some reason, still can't get over the hangover of the failed Armageddon, so much so that they have forecast the world's annihilation has been rescheduled, this time on 2017.

The state of Queensland's Barrier Aviation airline has been grounded by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) after the airliner has been found to contain "serious and known defects." Effectively immediately, the suspension will last for five working days.

Beleaguered Australian retailer Billabong International Ltd. has opened its financial books to a new takeover suitor group led by former Billabong director and president of its American business, Paul Naude, and his backers, Sycamore Partners Management and Bank of America Merrill Lynch. The consortium offered a takeover approach of $1.10 cash per Billabong share or roughly $526.8 million.

The world, especially those who live along the coastal areas, either evacuate this early or arm themselves with better and definitive actions concerning their homes and sources of livelihood as a recent study released over the weekend showed the ice sheet off the western part of Antartica is warming faster than earlier projected, and that sea water level forebodingly rising is not only a threat but could be the inevitable scenario in the very near future.

Scientists from the West Australian Department of Fisheries are looking into the odds that the rising high temperature of the sea waters in the state are what caused sharks to swim near the shore and eventually attack humans.

Both Australian retailers and shoppers alike are gearing up for a busy and frenzy Boxing Day post-Christmas sales middle of this week.

Mobile costumers of Telstra who were ripped off with excessive global roaming charges are set to receive refunds from the telecoms carrier.

Nokia, the world's leader in mobile phones for over 10 years, has been beaten by Korea's Samsung to become the preferred mobile phone for 2012.

Exports of rare earths by the world's stronghold of the precious gem, China, will remain relatively unchanged for 2013.

Facebook, after losing millions in its failed IPO, has started to implement in the United States the $1 trial run of its paid messaging system scheme, where non-friends who want to contact you must pay in order for their messages land in your Inbox folder rather than in the Other folder.

The northern part of Queensland state in Australia could be in for a possible tsunami threat after a group of researchers discovered a collapsing sea floor at the Great Barrier Reef.

It was more than a spike in sales that they could have projected, at the expense of those killed during last Friday's Sandy Hook shooting massacre. Manufacturers of bulletproof backpacks specially designed to cater to children's sizes and needs have reported booming sales as parents continue to get anxious over the welfare of their children a week after a 20-year-old alleged mentally deranged man opened fire and killed 26 people in Connecticut, United States.

Shopping towards this year's Christmas countdown has proven to be beneficial, as economy-wide spending spiked in November by as much as 2.2 per cent.

How lucky for those new students entering the University of Western Sydney in 2013 as the school had committed to issue iPads to support the school's IT-related teaching curriculum.

Australia's competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has on Thursday awarded a conditional approval to the partnership of Qantas Airways with Emirates as the former reclaims its fading glory in the global airline industry.