BANGKOK (AP) – Thailand’s government began handing out 2,000 baht ($55) checks to millions of low-income workers Thursday to stimulate an economy battered by the global financial crisis.

JAKARTA – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations announced Wednesday it has revamped the structure of its secretariat as part of its bid to form an EU-style community by 2015.

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna, Philippines – A lone gunman killed a female militant leader and wounded one of her colleagues in Sta. Rosa City, Laguna Monday morning, police said.

GENEVA (AFP) – – World trade volumes are expected to drop by an average of nine percent in 2009, the sharpest fall since World War II, the World Trade Organisation said Monday.

GENEVA (AFP): The state of the global economy remains “extremely worrying and difficult,” IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn said yesterday as optimism surged worldwide thanks to a new US banking plan. “The situation remains extremely worrying and difficult. It is the first setback for the world economy in over 50 years,” Strauss-Kahn said during an International…

Scientists say there is a need for proper regulation of the new technology.

The Board of Investments has identified nine areas of activities or a negative list that are not qualified as “job saving” under the Contingency List of the 2009 Investment Priorities Plan (IPP), which the Board has approved for Malacañang’s signature.

Local job losses daily declined to 397 this month, the lowest since January 2009, after several Filipino workers here and abroad were displaced by the global economic crisis, the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Monday.

Kairiki Energy of Australia said yesterday that it has signed a conditional agreement with a private oil and gas investment company to sell its 17 percent interest in a portion of service contract 54 in northwest Palawan.

Intex Resources Philippines Inc., a unit of Intex Resources ASA of Norway, yesterday signed a $2.95-billion agreement with the Philippines to develop a nickel reserve on an area straddling Occidental and Oriental Mindoro provinces.

SENATE and House leaders have agreed to restore the state’s power to compel landowners to sell their land under the agrarian reform program, but exempted vast tracts within sugar and coconut plantations.

MANILA, Philippines — Over 5,000 jobs will be at stake in a job and livelihood fair to be held by the Quezon City government on Friday, Mar. 27, at the Quezon City Covered Walk, an official announced today.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine National Police (PNP) on Tuesday claimed the 24 journalists’ murders the media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) tagged as “unsolved” have already been cracked, at least by the police’s own standards.

MANILA, Philippines – A government official announced that Malacañang is considering the possibility of granting cash benefits to citizens who lost their jobs due to the current economic crisis, reports said today.

MANILA, Philippines – Sen. Mar Roxas announce today in a press statement that he is setting up camps nationwide that would help fresh graduates seek employment.

MANILA, Philippines – The La Loma police have come up with a unique way of dealing with “colorum” tricycle drivers in the area.

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) — The country’s manufacturing sector slowed down with January’s factory output declining by 19.9 percent on year, the National Statistics Office said today.

MANILA, Philippines – The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved last March 19 an additional $10-million loan to finance the completion of critical infrastructure components of the Second Agrarian Reform Communities Development Project (ARCDP2) which was launched in 2003.

MANILA, Philippines – Despite the global financial crunch, job opportunities in Clark freeport zone continue to expand as 3,000 new jobs are about to open after four new lease agreements were signed recently.

MANILA, Philippines – Countries in Southeast Asia including the Philippines are likely to find it difficult to fully benefit from their economic stimulus programs because of their high government debt ratios, Moody’s Economy.com, a unit of Moody’s Investors Service, said in a paper on stimulus spending.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines remains in 6th spot among 14 countries with the highest number of unsolved journalists’ killings.

The first job, like first love, is a milestone in a young person’s life. A great sense of accomplishment accompanies first time employees, a vindication of the college diploma and a demonstration of self-worth.

Japanese Ambassador Makoto Katsura will sign nine grant contracts for various economic cooperation projects in Mindanao’s conflict-affected areas under the Japan-Bangsamoro Initiatives for Reconstruction and Development (J-BIRD). This is the third batch of assistance of the Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) under the J-BIRD.

AMID rising consumer complaints, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) plans to amend the rules on service performance standards for Internet access of telecom companies.

There is good news in the offshoring and outsourcing (O&O) industry for 2009 but companies and parents/schools need to wake-up to cultural challenges and career opportunities present in the industry.

Beijing: State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC) said it plans to infuse a proprietary technology in the country’s power grid to transform it into a model power transmission system for the region.

Dear PAO, I am a Human Resources practitioner, and I want to know: 1) Does the Labor Code contain any provision relating to the kind of employee who should be monthly paid or daily paid?

House Speaker Prospero Nograles reported that 100 local bills proposing 100 new national high schools nationwide are only waiting for the President’s signature, saying “this is a constitutional mandate we will never deviate from.”

THE National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said it would recommend a P6-billion unemployment insurance program for Filipinos who lost their jobs due to the global financial crisis.

THE Philippines shows gains in its efforts to combat tuberculosis (TB) as it now ranks ninth among 22 countries still battling the disease, an improvement from its previous ranking of seventh according to anti-TB advocates.