The United Nations (UN) has again flayed the Arroyo administration’s dismal human rights record after the UN Committee against Torture (UNCAT) expressed grave concern at the “routine and widespread use of torture” in the country and the “climate of impunity for perpetrators of acts of torture, including military, police, and other state officials.”

(OTTAWA) Twenty of Canada’s foremost health, environment and labour organizations are urging Canadian Parliamentarians to heed the call to ban Canadian asbestos being brought to Ottawa by three Grade 10 students from northern British Columbia. The students – Hayley McDermid, Claire Hinchliffe and Chloe Staiger, have written a bill to end Canada’s mining and export…

The white paper on Corporate Social Responsibility, published in January 2009 by the Government of Norway is now available in English. See link below.

MANILA, Philippines—Urging more Filipinos abroad to register for the 2010 elections, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Monday said it expects some 700,000 overseas absentee voters “to significantly influence” the outcome of next year’s presidential elections.

An unhealthy lifestyle may be to blame for the gender divide The reluctance of men to adopt a healthy lifestyle and visit the doctor may be fuelling a gender gap in cancer cases and deaths, experts say.

MANILA, Philippines—A group of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in New Zealand will try to persuade immigration officials there next month to allow OFWs laid off due to redundancy to remain in the South Pacific state so that they could find new jobs.

TODAY is the first hearing of Senate committees on Trade and Industry and Public Services on the issue of pre-paid loads of cellular phones that always seem to vanish.

Local and foreign business groups are calling on Malacañang and lawmakers to prioritize the twin power bills pending before Congress to ensure its passage.

INTERNATIONAL passenger traffic in the Philippines fell in the first three months of the year due to the global economic crisis, the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) said Monday.

THE amount of unpaid bank loans issued to consumers is on the rise, based on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) data.

GENEVA: The poor are disproportionately victims of road crashes, with the number of deaths set to nearly double in two decades, according to the first global assessment of road safety released on Monday.

Social scientists tell us that battered women go through a cycle of violence that is divided into three main stages: a tension-building phase, an acute violence stage, and a repentance phase.

MANILA, Philippines – Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) reached $1.4 billion in April, bringing the four-month total so far to $5.5 billion – an expansion of 2.6 percent compared with levels recorded over the same period in 2008, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Public Works and Highways suspended 58 construction firms from participating in DPWH projects for one year, beginning yesterday, for reportedly violating government procurement rules.

MANILA, Philippines – Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro is the richest member of the Cabinet while National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales is the poorest, according to their statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) for 2008 submitted to the Office of the President.

MANILA, Philippines – The Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) in Taipei, with the support of Taiwan’s Council of Labor Affairs (CLA), will strengthen its direct hiring program for Filipinos during the Philippine Independence Day celebration today following the holding of successful job fairs in the key cities of Taiwan.

Despite the widespread perception of corruption in the Arroyo administration, only 7 percent of Filipinos believe that the Philippine judiciary is affected by corruption, international think tank Transparency International (TI) has recently said.

Some 23 million students from elementary to college were to start classes today, after the Department of Education and the Commission on Higher Education said they would no longer delay school openings despite persistent threat from a deadly flu virus.

Misuse of restrictive relative clause makes zombies of dead war veterans

Their parents lost jobs in massive layoffs The global financial crisis is expected to push a huge number of children, particularly girls, to drop out of school and become laborers, according to a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO) released Monday.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) expects some 700,000 overseas absentee voters “to significantly influence” the outcome of next year’s presidential elections.

GENEVA – Usually at odds due to competing interests, Philippine labor and employers are at least in agreement that social protection should be provided and strengthened if recovery from the global economic crisis is to be fast-tracked.

GENEVA—In an unprecedented move, world leaders and representatives from the employers’ and workers’ organizations are meeting here for a three-day summit aimed at finding a common ground to combat the global economic crunch and its effect on employment.

The Philippines has sought international help in providing protection to the thousands of foreign seafarers against piracy, particularly those sailors onboard ships plying the pirate-infested routes of the Gulf of Aden and the Western Indian Ocean.

Monday, June 8. Three days after Congress went on its mid-year recess. Over lunch, Ernesto Almocera Jr., program manager for the Center for Advocacy and Policy Development of the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development Foundation Inc., and Roda Avila, Secretary General of the Democratic Socialist Women of the Philippines, make no secret of…

LECCE, Italy (AFP) – – G8 finance chiefs on Saturday warned the global economic outlook remained uncertain and risky despite “signs of stabilisation” after talks in southern Italy.

MANILA, Philippines – Exporters remain hopeful the market will post positive growth towards the end of 2009 as the industry is expected to recover from the impact of the global financial crisis, but average growth for the year will remain at the negative territory with an eight percent contraction. 

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands – Somehow words take a very different meaning when expressed by people whose lives are “living examples” of those words.

The world’s largest economies are beginning to stabilise but still face major risks amid an ongoing global recession, G8 finance ministers say.

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has reported that deployment of Filipino workers to Nigeria may soon resume after the government has considered lifting the ban.