KIDAPAWAN CITY, Philippines– Communist rebels on Sunday night killed a worker of a rubber plantation and wounded another after setting on fire the firm’s multi-million processing plant in Makilala, North Cotabato.

TOKYO – Japan’s government is moving to take a more direct role in the clean-up of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant, as concerns grow over the ability of embattled operator Tokyo Electric to handle the legacy of the worst atomic disaster in a quarter century.

Since May 22, when talks about “Fed tapering” arose, interest rates across the globe started to shoot up. Capital which freely flowed to emerging markets because of the Great Global Monetary Easing (see The Great Global Monetary Easing, Oct. 22, 2012) began to reverse course, causing a vicious correction in emerging market stocks, bonds and…

The Philippines, Southeast Asia’s fastest-growing economy, can differentiate itself from its regional peers that are grappling with slowing growth and deteriorating external balance sheets, based on a common theme cited by international researchers in the past few days.

A significant improvement in the job market can be expected in the fourth quarter this year as businesses look to hire more employees amid an expected surge in economic activity in the runup to the Christmas holidays.

MANILA, Philippines – Officials say a “rebalancing” of the key legs of growth in the country is happening. Services still accounted for half of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in the 2nd quarter, but the industry sector, particularly manufacturing, remained strong. Both contributed to the better-than-expected 7.5% growth in the 2nd quarter.

MANILA, Philippines – The peso’s current weakness is not likely to significantly impact on inflation, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas official said.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine economy is expected to grow over seven percent this year, eclipsing the high end of the government’s official 6-7 percent target.

MANILA, Philippines – The country has only 18 days’ supply of rice from the National Food Authority (NFA) and even less stocks for commercial rice, according to a party-list lawmaker.

MANILA, Philippines – France has removed the Philippines from its list of countries deemed to be uncooperative in investigating foreign aid fraud.

OPPORTUNITIES for unemployed nursing and other medical graduates in the Philippines are increasing as the healthcare information management (HIM) outsourcing industry in the country continues to thrive.

TAGUM CITY, Davao del Norte – A miner was killed and three others were hurt in a landslide at a mining area in Compostela Valley on Thursday, police reported Friday.

Citi, HSBC cite country’s solid economic fundamentals Two of the foreign banks with the largest operations in the Philippines upgraded their economic growth forecasts for 2013 after the country beat market expectations and outperformed the rest of its Southeast Asian peers in the second quarter.

WASHINGTON DC – Young women who drink alcohol every day may be raising significantly their risk of breast cancer, according to US research published Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – The latest statistic reveals that one Filipino contracts HIV every one hour and 25 minutes as HIV cases rapidly increase across the country.“With the attributing “fast and furious” prevalence of homosexual intercourse and intravenous drug use, there were 449 new cases reported in July alone,” said Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC) Executive…

MANILA – Businessmen today lauded the economy’s performance in the second quarter, cementing their belief that the Philippines can sail through this year with flying colors.

National Accounts, Q2 2013 The domestic economy accelerated in the second quarter of 2013 to 7.5 percent from 6.3 percent recorded the previous year boosting the 2013 first semester growth to 7.6 percent from 6.4 percent in the first half of 2012. The second quarter growth is the fourth consecutive GDP growth of more than…

Men’s subconscious self-esteem related to female partner’s successes and failures WASHINGTON — Deep down, men may not bask in the glory of their successful wives or girlfriends. While this is not true of women, men’s subconscious self-esteem may be bruised when their spouse or girlfriend excels, says a study published by the American Psychological Association.

In the current (now old) General Education Curriculum for all college students, there are Filipino and English language subjects. In the new General Education Curriculum (GEC), there is no subject devoted only to Filipino or to English.

Everybody complains about incompetent bosses or dysfunctional co-workers, but what about irritating direct reports? What should you do if the person you manage drives you crazy? If the behavior is a performance issue, there’s a straightforward way to address what’s irking you — but what do you do when it’s an interpersonal issue? Is it…

MANILA, Philippines (4th UPDATE) – The Philippines remained the fastest-growing economy in Southeast Asia with a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.5% in the 2nd quarter, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) announced Thursday, August 29.

Ayala chief cites skilled labor, strong economy SINGAPORE—Ayala Corp. chair Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala said the Philippines should play an active role in pursuing the integration of Southeast Asian economies, believing the country stood to benefit on a net basis from the plan.

THE outlook for the country’s contact center sector continues “to be nothing short of staggering,” industry stakeholders said yesterday at the International Contact Center Conference and Expo (ICCCE).

The Department of Labor and Employment is preparing for the possible negative effects the reduction of imported sugar tariff’s, as scheduled in the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (AFTA), will have on thousands of sugar workers.

The Melbourne supremacy THE best quality of life of any of the world’s urbanites is still enjoyed by Melburnians, according to the latest Liveability report by the Economist Intelligence Unit, our corporate sibling. For the third year in a row Australia’s second city has kept a hair’s breadth ahead of Vienna and Vancouver, which spent…

Every 85 minutes, one Filipino is infected with HIV and most likely, the victim is a man who got it from having sex with a fellow male.

ABU DHABI // The Philippines is vetting employers overseas to ensure they have no history of ill treatment of domestic staff.

THE United Nations (UN) on Wednesday expressed alarm over the increasing number of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases in the country.

MANILA — The Philippine National Aids Council (PNAC) is seeking the proper implementation of intervention programs to prevent the “fast and furious” spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in the country.

I take customer service calls for the biggest credit card company in the world. That’s talking to an average of 80 Americans per day, helping them with card replacements, disputes, payments, and rewards redemption, and answering general questions about their accounts as well as contact information changes, among others.