Geneva (Kanaga Raja) — There has been an increase in tariffs, new non-tariff measures, and more resort to trade defence measures such as anti-dumping actions by WTO Members since the start of this year, WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy said on Thursday.

Brussels- The 7th round of Association Agreement (AA) negotiations between Central America and the European Union will take place at Tegucigalpa between 30 March and 3 April.  The international trade union movement demands that the Agreement include a social and labour chapter embodying full observance of human and trade union rights, including the eight Core…

MANILA (Reuters) – Like millions of Filipinos, Alma Ang left her homeland to work abroad for a salary far higher than she could have ever earned at home.

MANILA, Philippines – A recent survey conducted by Pulse Asia showed that four in 10 Filipino adults or 42 percent oppose Charter change (Cha-cha).

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MANILA, Philippines – Nueva Ecija Rep. Edno Joson yesterday filed a bill seeking to provide compensation of up to six months to workers rendered jobless by the financial crisis or other causes.

The country’s economic managers are pinning their hopes on the Subic Bay Freeport zones and Clark Economic zones to keep Central Luzon’s economy humming amid a global economic slowdown.

The Pamilyang Overseas Filipino Workers-Small and Medium Entrepreneurs Network Foundation Inc. (POFW-SMENFI) announced yesterday that the 4th Pamilyang OFW-SME Summer Expo – which is slated this Friday (March 27) and Saturday (March 28) at the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) – will feature a local and overseas jobs fair and free seminars on jobs, livelihood,…

Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Women’s party-list Rep. Liza Maza and a ranking member of the influential Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) yesterday condemned the worsening extra-judicial killing in Souther tagalong and Davao lambasting the Arroyo administration for practically doing nothing to stop the killing spree.

In a bid to downplay the wave of job losses due to the global economic crisis, Labor Secretary Marianito Roque yesterday said both the global deployment of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) and their dollar remittances to the country’s economy have continued to increase despite the global financial crisis.

President Arroyo is silently endorsing Charter change (Cha-cha) with her refusal to personally make a public statement that she will step down in Malacañang in June 2010.

Long-standing problems on corruption in the Philippines, inadequate infrastructure, poor governance, unsound business policies and a weak rule of law continue to keep European investors at bay, the European Union’s top diplomat to the country said.

There will be at least 350,000 new graduates of Philippine colleges and universities this year. Not all will find jobs in the field they have earned diplomas in.

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.