Vittorio Hernandez

To approve or reject - those are the options suggested by the Queensland Land Court to the state government on the planned $6.2-billion Alpha Coal Mine in Galilee Basin. The project is a joint venture between Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart and GVK, an Indian conglomerate.

Despite the shade of legality that medical marijuana has recently acquired from courts and even stock exchanges, the warning of experts that it is too early to place a person's well earned money in the industry via shares acquisition has some truth to it.

One of the promises of the just signed free trade agreement between Australia and Japan is lower prices of high-tech products from Japan. However, trade experts warn that price reduction on mobile phones, TVs, cameras and computers may not happen at all, reports the Australian Financial Review.

The batteries of what is suspected to be the black box of the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 jet appears to have died after a month the aircraft disappeared mysteriously. Reports said that no pings had been received by search vessels in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Australian share market closed only modestly lower on Tuesday despite big falls once again on Wall Street overnight. Investors continued to sell out of biotech and technology stocks on fears they are overpriced.

The Australian sharemarket is losing ground for the second day, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.4 per cent and trading below the 5400pt level. Local shares are now down by just 0.16 per cent so far in April; however are still 0.75 per cent firmer since the start of this calendar year. Volume was significantly held back yesterday due to a Chinese public holiday. Sharemarkets in China are resuming normal trade today. U.S. stocks slumped for the third day overnight, with the tech specifi...

With the NASDAQ logging its worst three days of trade since November 2011 last night, the growing roar of the bears was easy to see. The bears point to several reasons for their calls on tech stocks, including technical breakdowns, over valuations and the fact that these stocks have been some of the best performers of the last 24 months; profit is glaring.

In US economic data, the employment trends index rose from 117.01 to 117.52 in March. Consumer credit rose by US$16.49 billion in February, above the forecast for a US$14.09 billion rise..

On Monday, RYOT reported another reptile war between a hungry alligator and an electric eel. The battle wasn't lopsided in favour of the gator which is bigger in size than the fish.

Before Argentinean boxer Marcos Maidana came into the limelight after unbeaten boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr picked him over British pugilist Andre Khan, most of boxing fans view Money May as some sort of the ring's Superman cloaked with invincibility. His 45-0 record spoke for itself that almost automatically his next opponent was viewed as a sure loser.

It is not just the Wolf of Weed Street who made a lot of money on trading medical cannabis stocks. Early traders of Tweed Marijuana (TWD) shares on Friday, when the company became the first publicly traded producer of medical weed at the TSX Venture Exchange in Canada, also got a financial high.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott signed on Monday evening in Tokyo the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The multi-billion dollar agreement would cover the next 20 years and open doors for both Australian and Japanese markets for each others' products.

Indications that three pings received by a Chinese and Australian vessel are from a black box are raising hopes from the international community that it would finally lead to the location of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 jet believed to have crashed into the Indian Ocean.

The Australian sharemarket kicked off the week a touch lower, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) down 0.2 per cent; remaining modestly above the 5400pt mark. Tomb sweeping day in China is being observed today, resulting in the closure of China's markets. Last week, the XAO rose by close to 1 per cent, making it the third straight week of improvements.

The Australian share market has started the trading week in the red, following weakness on Wall Street on Friday.

We saw an interesting reaction to the non-farm payrolls on Friday night, with a read of 192,000 - short of the consensus read of 200,000. However, it was the first time the ADP read and the official read had been with in 2000 of each other in over two years. It was also interesting considering the consensus print had been bid up on some calling for the possibility of 300,000 jobs to be added.

In US economic data, non-farm payrolls (employment) rose by 192,000 in March, just short of the median forecast tipping a rise of 200,000 jobs. The unemployment rate was steady at 6.7%. Average earnings were flat and the work week rose from 34.3 hours to 34.5 hours.

While sports fans are eagerly anticipating next week's rematch between eight-division titleholder Manny Pacquiao and unbeaten American boxer Timothy Bradley to find out who's the better boxer, a Philippine government office is waiting for the same bout for another reason.

A 35-year-old disaster consultant quit his job in December after making $515,000 so far in trading marijuana stocks. Thanks to the legalisation of cannabis in some states, trading in the once-prohibited drug - both in real leaf and on paper - is becoming a growing subsector in international stock trading.

Because of the painful bee sting on his nose, Michael Smith, a graduate student of Cornell University, was almost unwilling to have a third sting on his proboscis unlike 24 other body parts where he was bitten 5 times each as part of a science experiment.

This early, Filipinos have been told to prepare for another typhoon whose strength could be as strong as Haiyan (Yolanda) which hit the Philippines in November 2013. The strongest typhoon on record, Haiyan killed about 6,000 people and destroyed a lot of homes and infrastructure in the Visayas region, and until now, families are still rebuilding their lives and homes.

As frustration start to creep in international efforts to search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777, hoax news makers continue to attempt to make money out of the confusing situation. The latest fake news is that Flight 370's black box has allegedly been found, according to a Web site called D'AmazingNews whose so-called video in Facebook, when clicked, would seek access to the member's public profile, friend list and email address.

A viral video of Russian factory workers kneading cheese while shirtless with a dirty looking production area has logged more than 300,000 hits on YouTube, leading investigators to probe the unhygienic practices in the plant.

Unbeaten American boxer Floyd Mayweather Jr is getting back from ex-girlfriend Shantel Jackson most of the expensive gifts he has given her such as jewellery and a car. Recently, he even bought buy back a Birkin bag she pawned for $31,000 because she is now reportedly financially broke.

Australia is the top place to be a teenager, according to a study by the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the International Youth Foundation. The two organisations drew a Global Youth Wellbeing Index that it released this week.

The Australian sharemarket rose modestly for the third time this week, with the All Ordinaries Index (XAO) edging 0.1 per cent higher by the close. The XAO finished above the 5400pt mark, helped by the fourth consecutive record close for U.S. markets last night.

The Australian sharemarket is treading water ahead of the all-important non-farm payrolls report out later this evening. This is the most important piece of insight into the state of North America's employment market.

In US economic data, the ADP Private Employment report showed job gains of 191,000 for the private sector in March mostly in line with forecasts. The February result was revised up from 139,000 to 178,000. US factory orders jumped 1.6% in February. Shipments of new orders lifted by 0.9% in February - the biggest gain in seven months. However the prior January result was revised to show a larger fall of 1%.

The EUR has crossed below its 50-day moving average for the first time since February, as Mario Draghi and the ECB board uses much grittier and direct language, giving the market a real sense that QE is coming.