FORMER senator Ralph Recto asked Malacañang on Thursday to increase the Christmas bonus of more than a million national government employees and release the additional benefit before the end of the year.

A LOCAL waste and pollution watchdog on Thursday warned consumers that ordinary leather shoes they buy may be tainted with harmful substances that can adversely affect their health, as well as the environment.

CLARK FREEPORT, Pampanga: Negotiations of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the estate-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC) and Clark Mimosa Employees Association have been concluded. The CDC Special Project for Resort Operation (CDC-SPRO) announced on Wednesday the “successful” conclusion of the CBA after the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) on December 1.

MARIVELES, Bataan: More than 1,000 factory workers of a Korean firm at the Bataan Economic Zone here on Wednesday expressed fear of losing their job if Adidas will not extend its management contract and put in more orders.

ZAMBOANGA CITY: A gas explosion had killed a coal miner and injured four more in the southern Philippines, police said Friday.

(CNN) — It was either mind-blowing or completely forgettable. Either way, Alice doesn’t remember. One August morning, Alice and her husband, Scott, had sex. That’s when things became confusing. Rather than appearing pleased, Alice, 59, seemed disoriented.

A lawmaker is pushing for the immediate passage of a measure giving more power to the Sugar Regulatory Administration (SRA) in a bid to curb the rampant sugar smuggling in the Philippines.

Dear PAO, I would like to ask if the bank has the right to deduct 2 percent to 2.7 percent from my remittance to my family. Rino O. Frayna

TWO samples of branded leather shoes in the Philippines that were tested in laboratories in Sweden contain harmful toxicants, an international nongovernment organization revealed Thursday.

Nine out of 10 babies 6 months old and below are dying in the Philippines because they have not been breastfed by their mothers, a United Nations official said on Friday.

CEBU, Philippines – Overseas Filipino Workers in Italy have an excellent relationship with the Italian government, this was the clarification made by Cebu City south district Rep. Antonio Cuenco regarding reports of maltreatment of OFWs.

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MONTREAL – For eight months, the Quebec government has been holding on to a report that explores the link between asbestos-related cancer and Canada’s only community that still mines the substance.

OSLO – The head of the Norwegian Shipping Association (NSA) in Oslo assured the families of seafarers from the Philippines that security and safety continues to be the top concern of their organization whose members employ up to 32,000 Filipino seafarers in their global operations.

LONDON, England – A recent spate of suicides by foreign maids in Lebanon is prompting outrage among human rights groups, who say the government is doing too little to protect migrant domestic workers from severe abuse.

MANILA, Philippines — Four out of five Filipinos said they would not support a presidential candidate endorsed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, according to results of a Pulse Asia nationwide survey released Thursday.

GENEVA — Investigations into the deaths of 57 people in an election-related massacre in southern Philippines must be the start of a major reform process in the country, two United Nations human rights experts said on Wednesday.

It won’t make you younger but staying active as you age can go a long way toward maintaining and improving your health. The benefits of regular activity, though, are sometimes blunted by unexpected injury. As a growing number of Filipinos older than 65 have become more active, their rates of sports-related injuries have risen significantly.…

WASHINGTON (AP) — The recovery gained traction in the late fall as Americans spent a bit more and factories bumped up production. It marked the Federal Reserve’s most upbeat assessment of the US economy since it tumbled into recession two years ago.

MANILA, Philippines – Global banking giant Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) said it expects 2009 to be a good year for the bank and for the Philippine economy, adding that 2010 will be an even better year as economies worldwide emerge from a crippling recession in 2010.

MANILA, Philippines – A majority or 61 percent of Filipinos have little knowledge about the automated election system (AES), but a significant number remain optimistic that the automatic counting of votes will result in clean elections with credible results, a latest survey by the Pulse Asia revealed yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines–The business process outsourcing industry, one of the sectors driving growth of the economy, cites widespread corruption and lack of qualified talents as potential hurdles to the growth of the sector in the coming years.

The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a creation of the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA), which seeks to promote, coordinate and facilitate the active and extensive participation of all sectors to effect peace and development in Mindanao. By virtue of House Bill 6958, MinDA seeks to address the need for a…

MANILA – Labor Secretary Marianito Roque on Wednesday called on shipping companies to provide more protection for Filipino sailors after 16 of them were seized by pirates who took over a Greek-flagged supertanker off Somalia.

Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng caused considerable damage and losses estimated at $4.4 billion, or 2.7 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), according to a report by a group of local and foreign experts. GDP is the total value of goods and services produced in a country in a year. Prepared by the team composed…

A group of individuals and civil society groups around the globe urged President Gloria Arroyo to release appropriations made in the national budget of 2008 for the Department of Health (DOH), specifically for the purchase of autoclave machines for treatment of infectious medical waste. An autoclave is a device for sterilizing equipment and supplies by…

Britain’s top envoy to the Philippines yesterday warned that the Philippines stands to lose more foreign investments to its Asian neighbors if the government fails to immediately institute economic reforms and strategies that will boost the country’s competitiveness in the world market.

Korea Electric Power Corp. has recommended the rehabilitation and revival of the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant following the completion of its feasibility study, a ranking official of National Power Corp. said yesterday.

Bangko Sentral and banks yesterday signed an agreement that will reduce back-end remittance service fees to just P50 per transaction for those that use the central bank’s Philippine.Payments and Settlement System.

While Filipinos continue to indulge themselves in the political fiesta atmosphere with every Tom, Dick and Gloria running for office in 2010, experts are concerned about the worsening threat of climate change and its impact on the lives of billions of people all over the world. Aside from disasters due to erratic weather patterns, experts…