Export receipts dived 18.3 percent from a year earlier to $3.63 billion in September to mark the 11 straight months of double-digit contraction as sales of electronics products remained weak, government data released yesterday showed.

WAY back in the 14th century, the Arabs began teaching the world the “serious” enjoyment of coffee.

Insists chrysotile asbestos is safe Manila, Philippines – The IARC (International Agency for Research on Cancer) study in March 2009 reconfirming the carcinogenicity of all forms of asbestos – including chrysotile – and confirming that there is sufficient evidence that asbestos causes ovarian cancer provides the ‘new evidence’ and ‘scientific reality’ on the issue, replied…

Credit card use, auto loans rise amid weak business credit take-up BANKS extended loans to the business sector at a slower pace in September, but an uptick in borrowings by households kept overall lending growth steady from August. In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said the outstanding loans of universal and commercial…

PNOC ready to supply fuel if need arises Officials said Tuesday that they were considering lifting price controls on oil products after Energy Sec. Angelo Reyes warned that the typhoon-ravaged country could end up running out of fuel within weeks, if not days.

The twin typhoons that recently hit the Philippines were the costliest storms recorded in more than six decades, cutting economic growth by 0.4 percentage point in the second half of the year, according to the National Statistical Coordination Board.

Susan McCarthy, a financial adviser in Oklahoma City and author of The Value of Money, lists her top four credit card don’ts:

In illegal dismissal cases, one of the employer’s usual defenses is that there is no dismissal but that the employee abandoned his job. This is illustrated in this case of Willy, the owner of a moviehouse who even advanced the argument that his burden of proving the validity of the dismissal of his employee only…

WASHINGTON – The Philippines received a poor report card from the US Millennium Challenge Corp. (MCC) this year but so did everyone else, some faring worse than others.

MANILA, Philippines – The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) expects the economy to recover next year now that most of the major economies, including the United States have started registering positive growth again.

MANILA, Philippines – Against the backdrop of a global economy weakened by recession, remittance inflows to developing countries are seen to drop six percent in 2009, a recent World Bank study said.

With some 10 percent of the world population living with disabilities – the current global economic crisis is cause for concern. People with disabilities are often excluded and marginalized, and are particularly vulnerable in times of crisis. This week, Academy Award winning actress Marlee Matlin and a panel of experts will address the impact of…

GENEVA (AP) – In its first study of women’s health around the globe, the World Health Organization said Monday that the AIDS virus is the leading cause of death and disease among women between the ages of 15 and 44.

Filipinos continue to shop at large department stores even at the height of the global economic crisis this year, but spent less on cheaper items that can be bought from bazaars, tiangge and other informal retail outlets.

MANILA—Contract for overseas work over a five-year period benefited more rehired land-based overseas Filipino workers, government data reveal.

When landing what may seem to be a lucrative job abroad, most people tend to lose focus on the essentials when preparing to leave.  They get so excited at the prospect of striking it rich and how much money they will be sending home that they totally disregard the rights that they should know.  Forget…

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE 2) The Philippines has become better at controlling corruption, and in promoting political and civil rights, as well as public accountability, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo said Tuesday, citing the Control of Corruption indicator, which showed an improved ranking from 39 down to 33.

About 70 percent of the detainees have been facing immigration-related charges and would be “deported after serving their brief sentences,” said DFA spokesman Ed Malaya on Tuesday.

The protracted standoff between Customs, immigration and quarantine personnel at Naia and Mactan International Airport on one hand and the Board of Airline Representatives on the other over the issue of overtime pay may come to a head sooner than expected. Airlines, both domestic and foreign, still refuse to cover these employees’ overtime pay despite…

President Gloria Arroyo motored to Rizal yesterday to visit flood victims who were rescued from danger zones and brought to housing units payable on installment for P200 a month.

EMPLOYMENT in major industries, particularly manufacturing and mining, fell for eight consecutive quarters in the April to June period this year, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said. In a statement, the agency said the employment index dipped by a faster 8.8 percent in the second quarter this year compared with the 7.2-percent drop in…

MANILA, Philippines–Hearing labor woes straight from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) themselves, a team of lawmakers is considering recommending a ban on the deployment of Filipino workers in the Middle East.

MANILA, Philippines—The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) should conduct an inventory of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in jail and to set more frequent visits to monitor their situation and ensure their protection, a group that helps OFWs in distress urged.

WASHINGTON DC, United States—President Barack Obama will put his new doctrine of engaging friends and foes alike into action next week, at the inaugural US summit with Southeast Asian nations, including Myanmar.

MANILA, Philippines — The youth plays an important part in helping stop the proliferation of illegal drugs in the country, the Dangerous Drugs Board said on Tuesday.

Despite the string of typhoons that visited the country in the last two months, sales of new cars continue to rise by 1.3 percent to 106,146 units from January to October from 104,757 units in the same period last year.

The number of Filipino nurses that indicated their desire to seek employment in America by taking that country’s nursing licensure examination plunged by 21.38 percent in the nine months to September this year, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) reported recently.

Why do gas prices in Cebu vary so much from other regions? That’s the question Cebu businessmen and the local government want oil companies to answer.

Oil firms have shown that they are willing to work with the government and have proposed different packages of relief for victims of recent calamities after protesting government’s freeze on fuel on oil prices, Justice Secretary Agnes Devanadera said yesterday.

Secretary Ronaldo Puno of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) announced yesterday the creation of the Coordinating Committee of Decentralization (CCD) tasked to address problems and issues concerning the implementation of the government’s decentralization program.