The spouse of a high-ranking Israel official has reportedly been questioned by Israel’s Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor over an alleged illegal employment of a Filipina cleaner, an online news provider reported.

BEIRUT – A Lebanese woman has been sentenced to 15 days in prison after being convicted of beating her Filipina domestic worker, a rare verdict in such cases in Lebanon, the victim’s attorney said on Wednesday.

MANILA, Phlippines – If the government invests less on statistics, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) warned that there would be a higher chance that government programs and projects would suffer from poor targeting, which causes leakages and exclusions.

MANILA, Philippines – A man who admits to have worked as a child assassin for the powerful Ampatuan clan based in Maguindanao province came forward with “shocking” testimony of mass murders carried out by young boys in the service of the Ampatuan family.

The Supreme Court (SC) has thumbed down a claim by real estate developer Roxas and Co. Inc. (RCI) to have two of its Batangas properties exempted from the government’s Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (Carp).

REMITTANCES can generate inflationary pressures or cause a Dutch Disease, warned the Asian Development Bank (ADB). In a study titled “Remittances in Asia: Implications for the Fight against Poverty and the Pursuit of Economic Growth,” the Manila-based lender said remittances may have adverse consequences, having both economic and social dimensions.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) said a preliminary report submitted by corporations on their casualty losses due to the recent massive typhoons showed that they suffered damages to the tune of about P21 billion as of December 10.

CEBU, Philippines – The Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig Fund) Mandaue Branch has noted a decrease of around 6,000 in membership this year because of the massive retrenchment among companies in Cebu, particularly in the Mactan Export Processing Zone at the height of the global financial crisis.

CEBU, Philippines – Starting January next year, all employees, whether permanent, temporary or provisional, all self-employed persons, regardless of trade, business or occupation with an income or salary of at least P1,000 a month will be mandated to apply as members of the Home Development Mutual Fund (Pag-ibig Fund).

CAIRO (AP) — The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nudged its 2010 forecast for global oil demand slightly higher Tuesday, a week before it’s due to meet, but cautioned that the pace of the global recovery may affect consumer appetite for its chief export.

MANILA, Philippines – There is no recovery in sight yet for the world airline industry as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) revised its financial outlook for 2010 to an expected $5.6 billion global net loss, larger than the previously forecast loss of $3.8 billion.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Further evidence that manufacturers are helping the US economy slowly recover emerged Tuesday in a report that industrial production rose a better-than-expected 0.8 percent in November.

MANILA, Philippines – Singapore-based DBS Bank Ltd. sees the economy growing faster at 4.8 percent next year from the scaled down rate of one percent on the back of strong consumption brought about by robust remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

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MANILA, Philippines – I don’t know about you, but all this talk about massacres, martial law, re-election and sports heroes gone awry has left me wanting for more substantial, feel good stories. Even the amazing feat of 2009 CNN Hero of the Year Efren Peñaflorida received no less than one full day of our undivided…

Last month Health Sec. Francisco Duque urged President Arroyo to issue an executive order banning aerial spraying of fungicides. Four causes were cited in his memo:

MANILA, Philippines – The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) has registered its opposition to House Bill 6342, otherwise known as the alternative mining bill.

THE country’s latest employment statistics again presented a mixed-picture and a policy paradox: While the economy generated more jobs in October, the unemployment rate nevertheless still worsened, the National Statistics Office reported Tuesday.

COPENHAGEN—The Philippine proposal for a “deep and early cut” in global carbon emissions has gained momentum here at the United Nations climate change summit, where some 115 heads of state will gather on Thursday in a bid to seal a crucial legally-binding deal to combat global warming.

State pension fund Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) said it is working closely with the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to address members’ issues that were brought to the attention of the CSC and subsequently communicated with the pension fund for appropriate action.

COPENHAGEN: United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon heads to global climate talks on Tuesday warning that negotiators face a race against time to prevent the meeting ending in catastrophic failure after developing nations staged a five-hour walkout.

MANILA, Philippines – Money sent home by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) went up by 6.7 percent to $1.53 billion in October, the highest monthly remittance level recorded so far, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Oil-rich Abu Dhabi pumped $10 billion into its indebted neighbor Monday, sending stocks soaring while sparing Dubai and the rest of the Emirates federation the humiliation of an imminent default by one of the struggling Arab boomtown’s star companies.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has revised downward its growth outlook for the Philippines this year to one percent, from an earlier forecast of 1.6 percent, citing that the economy “performed even worse than expected” in the first nine months.

MANILA, Philippines – Voters can still register for next year’s elections until Jan. 9 after the Supreme Court voided the Oct. 31 deadline set by the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

MANILA, Philippines – The National Statistics Office (NSO) reported yesterday that the number of jobless Filipinos increased to 7.1 percent in October from 6.8 percent last year.

MANILA, Philippines – Senators Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III and Manny Villar are the top choices of Filipinos as the next president, the latest survey by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) showed.

MANILA, Philippines – Trouble is brewing in the Philippines’ first nationwide poll automation, and the signs are slowly unfolding.

No, the title of this column does not refer to that Michael Jackson movie which was shown recently. It is the title of a presentation on HIV/AIDS made by the National Epidemiology Center of the Health Department last week. The data presented on HIV/AIDS prevalence in the country was not only sobering; it was depressing.…

Nacionalista Party president and standard-bearer Sen. Manny Villar yesterday welcomed Bayan Muna Rep. Satur Ocampo and Gabriela Rep. Liza Maza as the party’s guest senatorial candidates.