THE Catholic Church is alarmed with the series of extrajudicial killings in Davao City and asked for the forgiveness of their sins (killers) this coming Lenten season.

MANILA, Philippines – The number of poor people in the Asia-Pacific Region is likely to increase as a result of the economic crisis and rising unemployment, according to a United Nations survey that was released Thursday.

MANILA, Philippines–President Macapagal-Arroyo on Thursday urged departments and agencies to “to tighten their belts” to allow the government to create jobs and continue subsidies for the poor.

MANILA, Philippines—An official of the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday urged the government to put more resources into sanitation to control communicable diseases.

MANILA, Philippines—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo directed the Philippine National Police (PNP) to use their savings to provide breakfast for daycare, pre-school, and grade one students in schools near police camps.

MANILA, Philippines—Malacañang on Tuesday criticized as “unfair” a report from a New York-based media watchdog listing the Philippines as among the world’s most dangerous places for journalists due to many unresolved murders since 1998.

TONY Blair knows what he is talking about. As prime minister of the United Kingdom for 10 years (assuming the office at the young age of 43), Blair knew what it was to lead a nation. Now envoy of the Quartet (United Nations , European Union, the United States and Russia) to the Middle East,…

SANTO TOMAS, Pangasinan, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said the Philippines has weathered the global financial crisis better than expected and could already be experiencing a rebound in some sectors.

MANILA, Philippines – Around 30 percent of some 450,000 Filipinos with tuberculosis do not get treatment, primarily for fear of stigma associated with the disease.

STO. TOMAS, Pangasinan, Philippines – President Arroyo has ordered economic managers to study the proposal of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto for the government to set up a fund to extend temporary unemployment insurance to workers who lose their jobs, with money to be provided by the Social Security System (SSS) and the national government.

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.