South East Asia

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will start shipping durian fruit to China starting March, Malacaang said Thursday, citing the The Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Plant Industry (DA-BPI). The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) said DA...

TOKYO — Recent arrests will likely help Japan's Metropolitan Police Department gain insight into a string of robberies nationwide, but it will seemingly take a long time for the investigation to be concluded. Four men were arrested Wednesday on ...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Following the highly-successful northern division tournament, the OCCCI D-League Inter-School Basketball Tournament will be holding its Southern Leyte leg tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 24 to 26, 2023 in Baybay City, Leyte. OCCCI D-...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The island province of Cebu welcomed over 540,000 foreign tourists for the year 2022, data from the tourism department showed. The Department of Tourism (DOT) recently released its 2022 Overnight Arrival Report that showed C...

MANILA, Philippines — The United States has assured the Philippines of its "ironclad commitment" to their alliance following the Chinese Coast Guard's harassment of the country's vessel using a military-grade laser. US Defense Secret...

Filipino drag performer Maxie Andreison has been confirmed as one of the contestants in the second season of the US-based drag singing contest "Queen of the Universe," which is set to air in March 2023. Andreison is the only Filipino and Asian dra...

HONG KONG, China -Hong Kong's stock exchange last year saw the fewest new listings in more than a decade, it said Thursday as the city struggles to emerge from pandemic isolation and kickstart an economic recovery. Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HK...

CEBU CITY, Philippines The mining firm in Alcoy town that sources dolomite promised to pay up to P65 million in taxes to the provincial government, the Capitol announced. Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia met with officials of the Dolomite Mining Corp. (DMC) last Tue...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Councilor Edgardo "Jaypee" Labella II urged the city council to increase the roving patrols of barangay tanods and ensure the proper functioning of CCTVs to deter people from vandalizing public areas and pr...

MAKATI CITY — The Association of Southeast Asian Nations-Business Advisory Council (Asean-BAC) leadership hopes to work with the Philippine government to help develop micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Philippines. The Asean-BAC lea...

Are you moving into a new home? Or are you setting up a commercial space for your small business? Maybe you're planning to hold events like concerts or parties? All of these things will require electricity, and you will need to apply for a service con...

LAPU-LAPU CITY, Philippines — The Lapu-Lapu City Police Office (LCPO) welcomes Mayor Junard "Ahong" Chan's plan to reward those who can arrest or give information about a vandal's location. Chan earlier offered P30,000 for those who ...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — For the first time in the Professional Chess Association of the Philippines (PCAP) history, the Toledo-Xignex Trojans clinched the No. 1 spot in the southern division standings after clinching two victories on Wednesday even...

SYDNEY Australian flagship airline Qantas Airways Ltd swung to a record first-half profit as appetite for travel grew faster than it could sell seats, but warned sky-high fares would moderate as it and competitors added more flights, sending its shares do...

Kazakh weightlifter Igor Son, who won bronze at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, has been banned for eight years for doping but will not be stripped of his medal, the country's weightlifting federation (WFRK) said on Wednesday.Son, who won bronze in the men&#...

LONDON Europe's banks, which enjoyed a stellar fourth-quarter that yielded a surge in earnings growth to 15-year highs, are still looking cheap and could have more room to rally. Economic data hasn't been as bad as many had feared. The euro zone i...

Garmin, the global leader in GPS navigation and wearable technology, announces the opening of its flagship store in the south at Ayala Center Cebu, this February 21, 2023. As the number one fitness smartwatch brand in the Philippines, Garmin offers innova...

MANILA, Philippines --- Former NCAA players Rhayyan Amsali and James Una are taking their talents to University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP men's basketball tournament.The UST men's basketball team on Thursday announced that returning coach Pido Ja...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama, on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, led the turnover of about P49 million worth of various infrastructure projects in the different barangays in the city. The activity is part of the weeklong celebratio...

Apple's Chinese contract manufacturer Luxshare Precision Industry Co Ltd will help develop the iPhone maker's long-awaited augmented reality (AR) device, Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. Luxshare has taken over the AR development team in Shanghai...

The Phoenix Suns and Kevin Durant are targeting March 1 at the Charlotte Hornets for the newly acquired superstar to return from injury and make his team debut, The Athletic reported Wednesday.Durant has not played since spraining his MCL on Jan. 8 while ...

SINGAPORE Asian stock markets eked gains on Thursday after better-than-expected revenue at chip giant Nvidia helped the sector in Taiwan and South Korea and offset worries that strong economic data so far this year is a harbinger of even more rate hikes. ...

The 2024 NBA Draft is still 16 months away, but ESPN revealed its mock draft on Wednesday and it features a familiar name in the top 10.It's Bronny James -- LeBron James Jr. formally -- and he is projected by ESPN as the No. 10 overall pick by the Orl...

SEOUL -South Korea's central bank held interest rates steady on Thursday and said the monetary tightening campaign it began 18 months ago would not resume if inflation followed an expected path toward moderation. It was time to stop and watch until th...

SINGAPORE The dollar ceded some ground on Thursday as markets warmed up to the idea the Federal Reserve is likely to stay on its aggressive rate-hike path, after minutes from its last policy meeting reinforced the central bank's hawkish rhetoric. Near...

LONDON---Britain';s Conor Benn will return to the WBC world rankings after the boxing body cleared him of intentional doping on Wednesday and said a "highly elevated consumption of eggs" was a reasonable explanation for failed tests last year.P...

MOSCOW Russia's economy proved unexpectedly resilient in the face of tough Western sanctions last year, but a return to pre-conflict levels of prosperity may be far off as more government spending is directed towards the military. Even internal foreca...

BELGRADE ---Novak Djokovic said on Wednesday he was hoping for a positive outcome shortly, having applied for special permission to enter the United States to compete in ATP Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami that begin next month.Djokovic, one...

SINGAPORE Singapore's key consumer price gauge rose 5.5 percent in January, the fastest pace in more than 14 years but slightly lower than forecast, leaving analysts spilt over the direction of the central bank's monetary policy this year. The cor...

Oil edged up on Thursday after Brent crude posted its biggest single-day loss in seven weeks the day before, as market players reassess positions after the U.S. Federal Reserve stoked worries about the economy by suggesting further rate hikes ahead. Brent...

MANILA, Philippines — The presence of Chinese militia vessels in the West Philippine Sea, particularly in Ayungin Shoal, shows that China continues to ignore the Philippines' legal ownership of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), the Philippine C...

Microsoft recently announced a mobile app for the new Bing AI search engine. Consumer Chief Marketing Officer Yusuf Mehdi describes it as "your copilot for the web." The company integrated technology from ChatGPT into the app, so it works like the...

The Sphynx cat, which doesn't yet have a name, is about 1 year old and has spent weeks in the Mexican city of Juarez under the care of animal rescue workers after police found him in a prison, where it suffered mistreatment at the hands of a criminal ...

The net inflows of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas-registered short-term investments or "hot money" surged to $292 million in January 2023, from $93 million in December and $14.6 million in January 2022. Last January, $1 billion of BSP-registered fore...

The Ty family-led banking giant Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. (Metrobank) beat prepandemic earnings in 2022 after full-year profit soared to a record high. In a stock exchange filing on Thursday, the country's second-biggest lender said net income las...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Air and passenger traffic at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) are gradually regaining its pre-pandemic levels. For 2022, the country's second busiest airport accommodated approximately 5.6 million passengers,...

SINGAPORE Asian stock markets were pinned near seven-week lows on Thursday while the dollar stood at multi-week peaks, as a run of strong economic data had investors worrying interest rates will need to keep rising and stay high to put the brakes on infla...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The victims of the tragic road accident in Danao City will be laid to rest in Southern Leyte as their families grieve their loss. Barangay Pardo Councilor June Berongan said living relatives of the Mondejars, who died in a r...

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines needs to explore more bilateral and multilateral partnerships with like-minded nations to boost the country's potential gains and development, international research organization Stratbase ADR Institute for ...

NEW YORK The dollar strengthened on Wednesday after U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes showed policymakers are determined to use a slower pace of interest-rate hikes to tame persistently high inflation. The greenback rose in late trading, sending sterli...

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Following the tragic vehicle collision in Danao, Cebu, which claimed the lives of a young couple and their daughter, an official of the Cebu City Transportation Office (CCTO) reminded motorists to observe road safety precaut...

SIGUATEPEQUE, Honduras -Nestled in the mountains of central Honduras, the "El Encanto" coffee farm is tackling this year's harvest with half the pickers it needs. In Costa Rica's Central Valley, the "Hersaca Tres Marias" farm faces...

MANILA, Philippines — Visiting European Parliament members are acting as "world police," Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said on Thursday. Some Philippine senators met with six European Parliament members on Wednesday and discussed h...

MANILA, Philippines — Senator Ronald "Bato" Dela Rosa bewailed on Thursday how European Union (EU) lawmakers looked at him when they met to discuss human rights issues on Wednesday. Dela Rosa, who called himself the "face of the war on d...

Alphabet Inc's Google is rolling out tests that block access to news content for some Canadian users, the company confirmed on Wednesday, February 22, in what it says is a test run of a potential response to the government's online news bill. The ...

Global telecommunications player ZTE Corp. is eyeing to secure a 5-percent market share in the Philippine smartphone space with the launch of new models. Perry Ji, ZTE deputy director of mobile device marketing department, told reporters it was a "goo...

WASHINGTON -Nearly all Federal Reserve policymakers rallied behind a decision to further slow the pace of interest rate hikes at the U.S. central bank's last policy meeting, but also indicated that curbing unacceptably high inflation would be the "...

LONDON The post-pandemic rebound in world growth and inflation last year meant the amount of debt sloshing around the global economy saw its first annual fall in dollar terms since 2015, a widely tracked study has shown. The Institute of International Fin...

SEOUL South Korea's producer price inflation slowed for a seventh straight month to its lowest in 22 months, central bank data showed on Thursday. The producer price index rose 5.1 percent in January from a year earlier, while it had climbed 5.8 perce...

Who would have thought that a film starring two-time Razzie nominee Gerard Butler could lie at the center of political controversy? First-term Sen. Robinhood C. Padilla is calling for the ban of "Plane"—a B-movie production on a group's ...