South East Asia

SAN FRANCISCO — Meta platform users will soon be able to follow in Twitter denizens' footsteps in affixing a blue badge to their profiles as a token of authenticity and boosting their posts — all for a fee. Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg announ...

SINGAPORE A.P. Moller Capital, the asset management unit of Danish transportation and logistics giant A.P. Moller Group, said on Monday it aims to invest more than $750 million in the high-growth markets of South and Southeast Asia. The investment firm sa...

SHANGHAI China kept its benchmark lending rates unchanged for a sixth straight month in February, as expected, with the world's second-largest economy showing more signs of recovery from a pandemic-induced slump. A clutch of better-than-expected data ...

The Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries face global market constraints in securing long-term gas supply, which may hamper the proliferation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (Iee...

The Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 is not the first economic blueprint for the country that was drawn up in the wake of economic, historical, global upheavals. We had a "technical memorandum" on Philippine Economic Development adopted by Pr...

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has called on the Insurance Commission (IC) to come out already with the implementing rules for the Financial Products and Services Consumer Protection Act (FCPA) of 2022 in order to help improve consumer trust in financi...

MANILA, Philippines — The European Parliament (EP) subcommittee on human rights will visit the Philippines on February 22 to 24, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said on Monday. The DFA accepted the EP's request as the latter signified th...

MANILA, Philippines — Pump prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene will be raised by P0.25 to P1.05 per liter starting Tuesday. In separate advisories on Monday, local oil firms announced the following fuel price adjustments to be implemented on Feb...

Artificial intelligence caught the world's attention with the rise of ChatGPT. It wowed everyone by writing children's books to scientific journals within minutes. However, this generative AI tool can do more than your homework. It can explain com...

MANILA, Philippines — Pampanga Rep. Anna York Bondoc seeks a congressional inquiry into the "excessive" cost of getting a driver's license for the first time. Bondoc has filed House Resolution No. 751 urging the House Committee on Transp...

Mining at Canatuan mine has been concluded and the area has undergone rehabilitation Extracting minerals from the ground can either be a blessing or curse to the people and the environment. Metals are widely used in our daily lives—from buildings, c...

The volume of meat sourced overseas by the Philippines declined in January as the country now prefers imported chicken over pork and beef, based on the data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI). Meat imports reached 76.52 million kilograms (kg) last m...

SINGAPORE Oil prices were little changed in early Asian trade on Monday, after settling down $2 a barrel on Friday, as rising supplies in the United States and forecasts of more interest rate hikes cooled optimism over China's demand recovery. Brent c...

MANILA, Philippines — Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo brought up the Philippines' maritime tensions with China at a high-level security conference in Germany on Saturday, saying that China's harassment of Filipino fishermen and the country&...

Ten off-terminal container-storage yard operators in the country expressed deep concern over the planned container monitoring and tracking system of the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA), going as far as accusing the agency of trying to destroy small playe...

EDC's Malitbog geothermal power plant in LeyteContributed photo As early as last year, the government has warned that the Philippines will experience power supply woes this 2023, especially during the summer. One can assume that Filipino consumers are...

The feud between SM Entertainment and Hybe is escalating as the two companies continue to refute each other's position in relation to SM founder Lee Soo-man's suspected offshore tax evasion. The allegation was first made Thursday by SM's co-CE...

The Miss Universe Philippines pageant has already announced the official candidates for its 2023 competition, and the roster includes three mothers — Clare Dacanay, Joemay-An Leo, and 2018 Miss Global Philippines Eileen Gonzales. The three ladies we...

BEIJING China's job fairs are making a comeback after being forced online by COVID-19 for three years, but subdued wages and less abundant offerings in sectors exposed to weakening external demand point to an uneven and guarded economic recovery. Auth...

NEW YORK, United States -ChatGPT, Silicon Valley's latest app sensation, has investors rushing to find the next big thing in generative AI, the technology that some hail as the beginning of a new era in big tech. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been ...

PARIS, France -After a year of record sales and profits despite slowing global growth the luxury sector is looking to the reopening of China to deliver further expansion in 2023. The world's largest luxury group LVMH posted a 23-percent jump in sales ...

SAN FRANCISCO, United States -Facebook, the social network that was supposed to stay free "always," and its stablemate Instagram launched on Sunday a paid subscription service, as the advertising-based business model that has long dominated the in...

MANDAUE CITY, Cebu — A public beach in Siquijor province is becoming a favorite destination, especially for foreign tourists who visit the island province to unwind. Called the Paliton Beach, this white sand beach is located approximately four kilom...

Three central bank policy decisions dominate the economic calendar in Asia this week, as investors continue to grapple with the profound market implications of the most dramatic repricing of U.S. interest rate expectations in decades. This comes against a...

BEIJING -China has been cutting mortgage rates since last year to boost sales in its moribund property market, but the main result so far has simply been a rush by households to pay off existing mortgages early, potentially squeezing banks' profits. A...

SYDNEY Asian shares got off to a subdued start on Monday as a U.S. holiday made for slow trading ahead of minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting and a reading on core inflation that could add to the risk of interest rates heading higher for longer. G...

Cybersecurity firm Fortinet warned against hackers finding other attack methods as they are discouraged to launch phishing attempts via mobile messages with the implementation of the mandatory SIM (subscriber identity module) card registration in the coun...

Three more cities in Metro Manila have joined a list of local government units (LGUs) that have established fully functional digital one-stop shops addressing the needs of businesses. The Anti-Red Tape Authority (Arta) on Feb 18 recognized Quezon City, Ma...

Heavy rains and thunderstorms shaved off regional fish ports' catch in January this year, the Philippine Fisheries Development Authority (PFDA) said. Fish unloading volume hit 37,900.16 metric tons (MT) last month, a decrease of 16.4 percent from 45,3...

As members of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) are taking to digital platforms, the state pension fund warns public to beware of online scams, particularly by fraudsters posing as its employees or representatives over the phone or the intern...

So do I hide under the table now?" Delivered with a smile, this was the only answer that I could give in response to an apology coming from an official from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This was back in 2018, and we were in a Mea...

Istanbul, Turkey — Turkey has ended rescue efforts in all provinces except the two hardest hit by last week's massive quake that killed tens of thousands of people, the Turkish disaster agency said Sunday. "In many of our provinces, search a...

Pageant veteran Pauline Amelinckx is returning to the Miss Universe Philippines (MUPh) 2023 stage for her third and final shot at the crown — a decision that she had been "pondering for months." The MUPh Charity 2022 titleholder admitted on ...

The Marcos administration plans to form an interagency team that will be tasked to find ways to prevent prices of key goods and services from spiking. This is part of wider efforts to use tools other than raising interest rates to win the "war" ag...

Another letter has reached the country's seat of power concerning the mounting opposition to the Philippine Port Authority's (PPA) planned new container tracking and monitoring system. The letter of appeal that was sent to President Marcos—s...

The Philippines is in a league with Asia's "new rising stars" that can be at the vanguard of global economic recovery, despite an expected slowdown in gross domestic product (GDP) growth after a faster-than-expected expansion in 2022, accordin...

SeedIn Technology, one of the country's largest crowdfunding companies, saw small business loans reach P1.34 billion last year, revealing a thriving scene for alternative capital raising platforms. This was according to the Securities and Exchange Com...

Mining company Nickel Asia Corp. is interested in exploring mineral resources and developing a mineral processing plant in Davao. In a disclosure on Friday, Nickel Asia said Hallmark Mining Corp. and Austral-Asia Link Mining Corp. accepted its letter of i...

Stock market investors will be keeping their eyes peeled for the next support zone as the benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) ended another week in the red. The PSEi tilted lower last week after US inflation came in hotter than expected and t...

The Board of Investments (BOI) on Saturday expressed confidence in hitting P1 trillion worth of investment approvals target this year, banking on what it called the Marcos administration's "aggressive and strategic" investment promotion initia...

Two regional train projects proposed to be undertaken via a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme have secured funding for their respective feasibility studies, which are meant to ensure that the government is able to keep up with its infrastructure tar...

With the vast majority of our clients being family businesses, both globally and in the region, we often find that sibling rivalry is a common phenomenon that keeps a lot of family businesses from ever reaching their full potential. The consequences? Enor...

Last Feb. 8, I had the honor of giving a talk at Far East University's Alejandro Roces Professorial Lecture to an audience of around 75 students, plus more who joined through the livestream. The topic was the necessity of nation branding, something I&...

Sun Life of Canada (Philippines) Inc. is gearing up for expansion in Visayas and Mindanao amid plans to bolster its ranks of financial advisors. Sun Life, the oldest life insurance company in the country, said the expansion would involve opening new offic...

MANILA, Philippines — A missing Filipino woman and her three children were found dead in Antakya, Turkey in the aftermath of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck the country and Syria. "It is with deepest regret that the embassy must confirm t...

MANILA, Philippines—Dynamic Herb Cebu closed the gap on Kaya-Iloilo in the title race after a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the same club on Sunday as the Philippines Football League finally resumed in Iloilo City. Goals from debuting Leaford Allen n...

MUNICH, Germany — Russian former chess champion and leading Kremlin critic Garry Kasparov said Saturday, February 18, that Ukraine had to defeat Moscow as a "pre-condition" for a democratic transition in Russia. "Liberation from (Preside...

The Philippine women's football team produced a consolation goal late in a 2-1 loss to Scotland on Saturday in the Pinatar Cup in Spain. Substitute Meryll Serrano scored off a free kick near stoppage time as the Filipinas avoided getting shutout for t...

P-pop global sensation SB19 proved they're a force to reckon with in the music scene, as Josh, Pablo, Stell, Ken, and Justin were featured in the fourth episode of the docuseries "K-pop Generation". The docuseries, which was produced by South ...

KYIV — A hairdresser by day and a "drone hunter" by night, Oleksandr Shamshur, 41, is among tens of thousands of volunteers helping defend the skies over Ukraine against Russian attacks. As the Feb. 24 first anniversary of Russia's invas...