Vittorio Hernandez

Young men, beware of the consequences of teen pranks such as squeezing your pal's testicles. In the case of a 17-year-old Irish student, the joke gone bad led to the doctors treating him to place the youth in a state of induced coma.

For kids aspiring to acquire wizardry knowledge and skills, inspired no doubt after watching the Harry Potter series, they can now enroll for free at a nine-week online training course.

The Australian sharemarket closed above 5400pts, partly boosted by a slightly better than expected Chinese economic growth. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) jumped 0.6 per cent to 5412.6. On Monday the local market sank to three-week lows. Volume has been subdued due to public holidays.

The Australian share market is continuing to add to Tuesday's gains in the early session on Wednesday, after US markets rode out a volatile session on a high note.

Global equities were mixed with US markets continuing their recovery, while European and emerging markets struggled. US markets struggled early as China growth fears and Ukraine concerns weighed on equities, but they managed to reverse on earnings optimism. Earnings from Johnson & Johnson and Coca Cola impressed, while Intel came in mildly better than expected.

In US economic data, the headline and core measures of consumer prices (the latter excludes food and energy) both rose 0.2% in March, above forecasts for a 0.1% gain. The New York Federal Reserve manufacturing index eased from +5.61 to +1.29 in April. And overall capital flows into the US lifted from US$83 billion in January to US$167.7 billion in February.

Is it a case of lost in translation or a deliberate marketing gimmick to be talked about? Such questions would likely pop in the mind of fast food lovers when they read a particular item on the menu of a Burger King branch in China - the PooPoo Smoothie.

It is not just eight-division titleholder Manny Pacquiao's guaranteed $20 million purse that Philippine taxwoman, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) Commissioner Kim Henares, is after but also the winnings of Filipinos who bet on the Saranggani representative's victory in the ring.

In a show of support to a 14-year-old Dutch girl who made a bomb threat joke to American Airlines, dozens of fellow teens are tweeting similar bomb jokes to the same air carrier.

The German city of Munich would be the haven for naturists and at the same time a paradise for peeping Toms. The third largest city in the country just legalised public nudity after the lapse last autumn of statewide laws banning nude sunbathing.

Thousands of Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) customers were angry at the lender on Tuesday because a network hardware failure caused an outage that made it impossible to withdraw money. The clients vented their ire on social media.

The Australian sharemarket partly made up for the substantial losses recorded on Monday. The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) rose by 0.5 per cent after recording its worst performance in four weeks yesterday. The index failed to finish above the key 5400pt level. It was a quiet session on the volume front, with only $3.9 billion worth of shares changing hands leading up to a number of public holidays.

The local share market is trading higher in the early session, rebounding from Friday and Monday's hefty losses thanks to strong gains on Wall Street overnight.

She captured global attention during the Saturday rematch of her son Manny Pacquiao against American boxer Timothy Bradley with her unique way of assuring the victory of the Filipino boxer through prayer. Western media, however, has mistaken the caricature-like character of Dionesia Pacquiao, also known as Pacmom or Mommy D to Filipinos, as casting a hex on Bradley

Surprise earnings from Citigroup have certainly managed to snap the S&P out of its downward trend. The S&P registered its worst week since January last week, but snapped back on Citi earnings and better-than-expected retails sale.

In US economic data, retail sales rose by 1.1% in March, ahead of forecasts for an increase in sales of 0.7%. It was the biggest gain in sales since September 2012. Excluding autos, sales rose by 0.7%, ahead of forecasts for a gain of 0.5%. Business inventories rose by 0.4% in February, largely in line with forecasts.

A couple fighting in public is quite a common sight that such a scene would often only merit a few seconds of glance, nod of the head to indicate disagreement with the public display of disaffection and then moving on towards one's destination. But it would be a different case if one of the couple was shouting out loud and the woman was continuously slapping her boyfriend while the man is down on his knees.

Western Center for Journalism writer Kris Zane resurrected a tidbit of information that became viral toward the end of March but has died down as the days passed and the disappearance marked its first month.

Hollywood actors such as Eva Longoria, Gwyneth Paltrow and Amy Adams have been caught on camera show their bush or tush or allow other private body parts to peek intentionally or unintentionally at the front and back bumpers or crotch areas. Rather than imitate these celebrities, Kerry O'Brien decided instead to make her own underwear line for women using materials and design that shows no visible panty lines when wearing figure-hugging bottoms or cuts through the skin because of the tight ga...

On Sunday morning, there was one more very significant and noticeable change in Pacquiao from the old Manny who loved to hold a mini concert after a ring battle. Pacman still held a mike that Saturday night, but he no longer belted his favourites such Sometimes When We Touch.

While spin doctors of the Abbott government would probably use last week's data from the Australian Bureau Statistics' unemployment rate to boast of the government's economic management style, a look at youth unemployment figures is cause for alarm.

The losses worsened throughout the day, with local shares finishing around intra-day lows (and 3-week low). The All Ordinaries Index (XAO) slumped 1.29 per cent; finishing below 5400 points for the first time in two weeks and recording its biggest daily tumble in a month. Investors are likely to remain a little quiet this week due to the shortened Easter trading week.

The Australian share market has started the trading week in the red, following more selling on Wall Street on Friday. Investors continued to book profits in technology, biotech and pharmaceutical stocks sending the NASDAQ Index lower by more than three per cent over the course of the week.

Sentiment is little changed from Friday's US close, when most major markets continued to lose ground. Once again focus remains on the upcoming reporting season after JP Morgan's results disappointed. Investors will always be concerned that earnings will not match valuations, and at the moment tech stocks and major banks are enduring the brunt of the selling. Regardless of the equity sell-off, it hasn't been a dominant risk-off theme as most major FX pairs remain fairly mixed.

In US economic data, producer prices rose by 0.5% in March (forecast +0.1%) with core prices (excludes food and energy) up 0.6% (forecast +0.2%). It was the biggest lift in prices in nine months. Consumer sentiment rose from 80.0 to a 9-month high of 82.6 in April, above forecasts centred near 81.0.

Which could be more humiliating - suffering a loss in the ring or being proclaimed winner but being doubted by sports fans that the athlete deserves the title?

With the April 12 convincing ring victory of eight-division titleholder Manny Pacquiao over the once undefeated American boxer Timothy Bradley, the Filipino congressman once more regained his stature as a boxing legend.

It is not just in planes, libraries and places of worship where mobile phones should be closed or placed in silent mode. Add to the list many court rooms, including Courtroom 1at San Jose, California, where Judge Lucy Koh presides.

A proposal from Hong Kong-based Energy World Corporation is sure to invite opposition from green groups and local residents in Queensland because of its probable impact on the environment.