The World Bank said impact of the global slowdown on the country would be felt most in terms of its exports and remittance inflows, prompting the lender to further cut its growth forecast.

Vice President Noli de Castro continued to enjoy a high satisfaction rating among top government officials, results of the latest Social Weather Stations’ survey showed.

The Commission on Elections will use optical mark reader (OMR) machines in the 2010 national and local elections, Comelec Chairman Jose Melo said yesterday.

Six out of 10 Filipino adults are in favor of the controversial bill promoting family planning and the use of contraceptives despite opposition from the Church, according to a survey released yesterday.

Sen. Pia Cayetano disclosed yesterday that a United Nations report showed that at least ten Filipino mothers die every day while giving birth, which is the worst maternal mortality rate in Southeast Asia.

ILAGAN, Isabela – Twenty-nine overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) now stranded in Oman have sought the assistance of President Arroyo to help them be repatriated and also collect their unpaid salaries for four years from their Taiwanese employer.

The private sector component of the P100-billion infrastructure fund is nearly complete, with the first project expected to start within the first quarter, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) said.

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) expects to complete the feasibility study on the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in 2011.

The country’s balance of payments (BOP) surplus thinned to a four-year-low of $88 million in 2008, a small fraction of the $8.557-billion surplus in 2007 due to the inexorable outflow of foreign exchange from the country.

GFIs to contribute P100B MANILA, Philippines—The Social Security System (SSS) is chipping in P12.5 billion to the P300-billion economic stimulus fund meant to help tide the Philippines over this year when the global downturn is anticipated to worsen.

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said three preneed companies have shut down amid the global financial crisis.

THE average occupancy rate in Metro Manila hotels fell to 70.34 percent in November 2008 from 78.91 percent a year ago, though that was up from 69.76 percent in September, the Tourism Department said over the weekend.

Filipino nurses and caregivers aspiring to work in Japan may now register online.

The United States Department of Labor has awarded a Filipina with the first annual Iqbal Masih Award for the Elimination of Child Labor.

Economic growth of 4.7 percent in the Philippines is possible this year as long as the government spends money to get it through the global turmoil, a senior economics minister said Friday.

The agriculture sector managed to post a growth of 3.92 percent last year, with agricultural production value rising by almost 20 percent to P1.16 trillion.

The outgoing International Monetary Fund (IMF) representative in Manila said yesterday the Philippines is in “a much better position” to confront the challenges posed by the global economic crisis.

Two senior British diplomats yesterday said that the Philippines needs to change the perception that it has “stagnated” and doing business here is difficult compared to other Southeast Asian countries.

Oil companies yesterday implemented another 50-centavo per liter rollback on the pump prices of their products.

A Filipino professor has received the 2008 Rolex Award for Enterprise for developing a new technology that transforms the waste from rice production into clean, affordable cooking fuel.

LONDON (AFP) – People who drink more than seven cups of coffee a day tend to hallucinate more than less caffeine-driven colleagues, according to a study published Wednesday.

The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) yesterday expressed support “in principle” for the government’s anti-illegal drugs campaign but warned officials to provide “additional layers of protection” for Filipino students.

WASHINGTON – The World Bank said on Wednesday it had uncovered a major cartel involving local and international firms bidding on a Philippine road project and it had barred seven companies – three from the Philippines and four from China – from bidding on its projects due to alleged corruption.

There will be no increase in water rates in the greater Metro Manila area this year, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) announced yesterday.

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached $15 billion during the first 11 months of 2008, up 15 percent from the same period in 2007, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

If there was anything that had stuck out like a sore thumb with regards the health sector last year, it was the hollow victory that marked the passage of the long delayed Universally Accessible, Cheaper and Quality Medicines Act of 2008.

BEIJING (AFP) — China revised upwards its 2007 growth figures Wednesday, indicating the Asian giant overtook Germany as the world’s third largest economy, analysts said. China’s economy expanded by 13.0 percent in 2007, up from a previous calculation of 11.9 percent, the National Bureau of Statistics said. “At market exchange rates, China in 2007 was…

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US economic slump worsened since early December, with a slowdown hitting a wide range of industries, the Federal Reserve said in its Beige Book report Wednesday.

THE travel industry is still hiring despite the global economic slowdown, with an official saying yesterday that 3,000 jobs awaited tourism graduates at the Philippines’ hotels and resorts.

TRAPPED in the web of the global financial crisis, at least 168 retrenched overseas Filipino workers (OFW) in Taiwan have yet to receive full payment of their salaries for the remaining months of their contract, a migrant group reported.