Vittorio Hernandez

The futures markets are forecasting positive prints for the Asian region as Europe and US reversed Friday's negative prints to see green on screens by putting the Ukraine fears and a slide in commodities to one side.

In US economic data, the pending home sales index rose by 3.4% to 97.4 in March while the Dallas Federal Reserve Business index rose from +4.9 points to +11.7 points in April.

Will Sau Paolo be another Sochi, replete with horror stories of unfinished hotels, fireworks that go kaput, lack of water in taps and hopefully not, two toilet bowls in one cubicle? The question is probably in the mind of FIFA officials since it is only 50 days before the first football match will be held on June 12 in the South American country of Brazil, and four stadiums are still incomplete, including the Arena Corinthians in Sau Paolo where the opening game will feature host country Brazil ...

Naughty Filipino minds are at work again, and this time the object of their memes is the controversial sister of Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, TV host and actress Kris Aquino. On Monday, the day that the Mr Aquino welcomed U.S. President Barack Obama in his first state visit to the Philippines, a photo from satire Web site So, What's News? was posted in Twitter and elicited a lot of laughter from netizens.

After 52 frustrating days of searching for the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 jet and zero results, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that the country would enter the next phase of the search by expanding the search area.

The Australian sharemarket peaked at around 1.30pm (AEST) today, only to give back those gains in late trade to finish flat. At the high point the XAO was up 0.25 per cent while the index was down 0.2 per cent at its lowest level. The market is still hovering around near six-year highs.

The Australian sharemarket has returned from the three-day long weekend a little uninspired, with local stocks largely unchanged. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) is up 4pts or 0.08 per cent and remains above the key 5500pt mark. The XAO is rising for the seventh consecutive trading day and is near a six-year high. This is the first full trading week following both the Easter and Anzac holidays over the past fortnight.

Thursday saw the ASX make another near six year intra-day and closing high, as trading in the blue chips continued to push the market to levels not seen since mid-2008.

In US economic data, the ´´flash´´ services index fell from 55.3 to 54.2 in April. The composite purchasing managers index eased from 55.7 to 54.9 in April. But consumer sentiment rose from 82.6 to a 9-month high of 84.1 in April, ahead of forecasts centred on a result near 83.0.

Yahya Abdi, the Santa Clara teenager who stowed away last week in the wheel well of a Hawaiian Airline jet bound for Hawaii and survived the incident, was in search of his mum who is in a refugee camp in Ethiopia.

In the last Labor-led government, industries had to pay $24 per tonne carbon tax to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere. Under Abbott administration, the government would instead pay Australia's heavy industries $2.5 billion to reduce their carbon emissions to meet the federal government's target of 5 per cent reduction or 421 million tonnes of carbon dioxide by 2020.

Eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao welcomed on Sunday, April 27, his fifth child with wife Jinkee Pacquiao, also the vice governor or Sarangani province.

All roads led to the Vatican City on Sunday, April 27, as the Catholic world witnessed the canonisation of two former pontiffs - Pope John Paul II and Pope John XXIII.

All eyes on Sunday are on two holy men who led the Roman Catholic Church as pontiffs, ushering the 2,000-year-old church into the modern times. Besides both serving as leaders and being well-loved by the faithful, the two men are actually studies in contrast.

Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitscho knocked out Australian pugilist Alex Leapai in Round 5 of their heavyweight championship bout on Saturday in Oberhausen, Germany, ending Australia's quest for a boxing title.

They have been collectively known as the passengers and crew of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, the subject of an intense international search operation that has been going on for almost two months.

In an effort to appease angry relatives of the 150 Chinese passengers of the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Friday that the country would release a preliminary report on the missing jet.

A 21-year-old Italian man literally bore his own cross to death when the 100-foot high crucifix in the mountain village of Cevo crushed him to death.

The buying spree continued on the final day of the shortened trading week, with Australian stocks once again closing at their best levels in almost six years.

The Australian share market continues to trade at near six year highs in the early session, despite a negative lead from Wall Street. Investor sentiment has been boosted however by strong earnings reports from Facebook and Apple in the US, after the bell, which has sent both companies' share prices higher in after-hours trade.

The equity rally we've been seeing in the US finally came to a halt on the back of mixed earnings and some disappointing economic data. The US flash manufacturing PMI and new home sales both missed estimates and contributed to dampening sentiment. While earnings weren't great in US trade, after hours trade has seen some monster results from tech giants Apple and Facebook. In fact, US futures are up 0.6% in after-hours trade and this is likely to also translate to good gains in Asia.

In US economic data, new home sales fell by 14.5% to a 384,000 annual rate in March, an 8-month low and below the market expectation for a result near 450,000. The Markit manufacturing index eased from 55.5 to 55.4 in April, below forecasts for a result near 56.0.

More battle for supremacy in the jungle continues to take place, and this time the featured video pits the snake against a spider in Cairns, Australia

A TripBarometer survey by travel site TripAdvisor among 50,000 people from different countries named Australia and Italy as their top dream destinations with the two nations tied for first place.

Flesh trade workers in Germany have gone high-tech, tapping the newly released Peppr app to get clients. The app works like a dating site which matches customer and prostitute, making it the Tinder of the sex industry.

Although Filipinos are found in 200 countries, the United States remains a land of milk and honey for many of them. Thus, when a news report came out that the State Department announced on Monday of a new policy that could be life changing for Philippine residents, many were happy.

In the eyes of boxing experts, eight-division title holder Manny Pacquiao was able to prove to the world that he is one of the best pugilists in the world after he took back on April12 the WBO welterweight belt from once-undefeated American boxer Timothy Bradley.

Susan Ryan, Age Discrimination Commissioner of Australia, warned on Wednesday that a federal government proposal to raise the pension age to 70 from 67 would be bound to fail if Aussie companies continue to refuse to hire workers who are 50 years old and above.

The Australian sharemarket maintained most of its gains this afternoon to close near six-year highs and improve for the fifth straight day. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) closed above the 5,500 point mark for the first time in 2014, with the XAO rising by 0.64 per cent to 5502.2.