LONDON – The average British man or woman has slept with 2.8 million people — albeit indirectly, according to figures released Wednesday to promote awareness of sexual health.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippines went down two notches in the most recent IT competitiveness index by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a division of the UK-based publication the Economist.

CEBU CITY, Philippines – Former Cebu Gov. Emilio “Lito” Osmena has confirmed that Senator Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III emerged as top contender in a survey on presidentiables he conducted recently in the province of Cebu.

INVESTORS in the ethanol industry want the Department of Energy (DOE) to recognize the capacity of production plants in the pipeline to compell oil companies to pursue supply contracts with them. In a media briefing, Tetchi Cruz-Capellan, Ethanol Producers Association of the Philippines (EPAP) director, said the Energy department needs to certify the output of…

Most Cebuanos favor the passage of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) Bill with majority also supporting the use of some birth control measures, results of a new survey revealed. The poll conducted by the Social Weather Stations (SWS) in Cebu indicated that 78 percent of “men and women of reproductive age” are in favor of…

WASHINGTON, D.C.: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the global financial crisis could impair economic growth for at least seven years, and suggested structural reforms could help limit the damage.

American garment buyers have placed an initial order of $35 million worth of garments following the filing of a bill in the US Congress that seeks to allow duty-free and preferential tariffs to locally-made garments into the US market.

The rural banking sector remains the single biggest contributor to employment growth for the entire local banking system in the country.

CEBU, Philippines – The Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines is set to file a wage hike petition in Central Visayas in two weeks but the petition would reportedly be lower than that of the Cebu Labor Coalition.

MANILA, Philippines – Director for national planning and policy Dennis M. Arroyo of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) will talk on “How the 2009 Medium Term Economic and Development Plan Can Help the Philippines Weather the Global Economic Crisis” before the Chamber of Real Estate and Builders’ Associations Inc. (CREBA) at noon today.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Nurturing a nascent recovery, Federal Reserve policymakers are sure to leave a key interest rate at a record low and probably will keep other economic supports in place.

MANILA, Philippines – Thirty-seven government agencies have made it to the list of the top 10 “anti-graft champions” of the Presidential Anti-Graft Commission (PAGC) for the first semester of this year, many of them sharing the same slots in the mid-end segments of the rankings.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) is shutting down seven law schools which failed to produce even a single Bar passer among its graduates in the last 10 years.

LAGOS (Xinhua) – The World Bank says low-income countries will remain under the shadow of the global financial crisis for a long period, estimating cases of extreme poverty to rise in 2010, the News Agency of Nigeria reported on Wednesday.

MANILA, Philippines – (UPDATE) A high-level team from the International Labor Organization heard on Wednesday complaints and testimonies about murders of trade union leaders and labor rights advocates, as well as violations of workers’ rights in the country straight from about 30 workers’ groups.

MANILA, Philippines – Dollar remittances from overseas Filipino workers may grow by more than three percent this year following the hefty dollar inflows that poured into the country in July, BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has trimmed down its growth forecast for the Philippines this year to 1.6 percent from an earlier estimate of 2.5 percent due to a sluggish economic performance in the first semester.

Toy seller in front of government slogan, Beijing, July 09 Government stimulus packages have helped to boost domestic demand

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – Developing Asia is expected to register a stronger-than-expected 3.9 percent growth this year as timely economic policies and programs implemented by Asian governments will keep the region afloat amid the global recession.

PHILIPPINE EXPORTS ARE FINALLY rebounding on a year-on-year basis, with the fourth-quarter shipment seen growing by 1.8 percent amid signs of recovery in the global electronics market, according to DBS Bank.

MANILA,Philippines – The Asian Development Bank has scaled down its growth forecasts for the Philippines and the rest of Southeast Asia for this year and the next, saying the impact of the global economic downturn on the region was worse than it initially expected.

MANILA, Philippines–The Court of Appeals gave the green light for the prosecution of a Japanese national for sexually and physically molesting his Filipina live-in partner.

DAVAO CITY—A team of peace advocates from various parts of the world will visit war-torn areas in Mindanao, including Maguindanao, next week in a bid to press the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to respond to the plight of civilians displaced by fighting.

Sewer coverage in the East Zone is only about 16 percent at the end of 2008 while the rest of the concession area of Manila Water Co. is heavily dependent on individual or communal septic tanks that collect wastewater from households. Reports claim that untreated domestic wastewater has been a major cause in the pollution…

Squatter families who will benefit from the P50-million Presidential Special Fund (PSF) as housing assistance will now undergo high tech biometrics listing which was started by the Metro Manila Inter-Agency Committee on Informal Settlers (MMIAC).

A group of labor advocates yesterday voiced their opposition to the proposed amendments to the Migrant Workers Act, saying it does not address the concerns of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) but only encourages illegal recruitment and corruption in government.

Workers in Hacienda Luisita yesterday asked the visiting officials of the International Labor Organization (ILO) to also conduct an investigation into the massacre of their farmer colleagues by government security men inside the sprawling estate in Tarlac province nearly four years ago.

Some 100 workers of a garments factory that went on a temporary shutdown more than a week ago barged into the Mactan Economic Zone yesterday morning and held a picket at the gates of their company.

CEBU, Philippines – The Cebu Labor Coalition (CELAC) filed yesterday a petition for a P128.60 across-the-board wage increase for Central Visayas before the Regional Tripartite Wage Productivity Board.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Agriculture (DA) expects domestic rubber production to increase by 7.2 percent this year to 440,600 tons, as a result of stepped-up efforts to make the Philippines a major player in the global market for this high-value commercial crop (HVCC).