South East Asia

The government expects the economy to contract by 0.6 percent to 1.7 percent this year, before rebounding to 5 percent growth next year....

Venice said it would again delay the introduction of a tourist tax as it seeks to recover from the coronavirus pandemic that has decimated visitor numbers....

MANILA, Philippines — Some P33 billion in public funds is sitting idle in the bank accounts of Philippine International Trading Corp. (PITC) as of December, as shown by audit documents that give a fuller picture of the state-run trading company that...

With the Christmas and New Year holidays drawing near, the Department of Health (DOH) urges the public to just shop and meet family and friends online to reduce the risk of transmitting the new coronavirus. Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire on ...

A 45.5-meter deep diving pool with artificial underwater caves and Mayan ruins, the worlds deepest such structure, opened near Warsaw this weekend....

ZAMBOANGA CITY—Both the Philippine National Police and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) play a big role in the arrest of 76 people facing charges but are still at large for the killing of 58 people, including 32 journalists in Ampatuan, Magu...

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Monday ordered EEI Corp., the contractor of the Skyway extension project, to halt all construction work until further notice to give way to a safety inspection following Saturday's accident that left one motorist...

Three House officials filed on Monday their version of the third Bayanihan law that would allocate P247 billion for additional emergency response and economic recovery programs. House Majority Leader Martin Romualdez, Deputy Speaker Sharon Garin and House...

The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has launched a nationwide crackdown on illegal logging and illegal quarrying following successive typhoons that caused destructive floods in wide areas of the country recently. "We must act qu...

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on Monday said it had not issued an environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the reclamation project along Marikina River, which is believed to have contributed to the massive flooding in Ma...

Eight women and labor groups on Monday filed a complaint in the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) against a regional official of Philippine Health Insurance Corp. (PhilHealth) who was identified in a Senate inquiry last year as having received in his offic...

A Catholic bishop has questioned the government's cap on the deployment of medical workers abroad, saying the move will not ensure that there are enough health workers to assist in the COVID-19 response in the Philippines. In a report on CBCP.net, the...

Nine out of 10 Filipinos have access to toilets, but majority of them still use the pour-flush system, according to the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey on sanitation. Conducted from Dec. 13 to Dec. 16 last year, the survey found that 90 percen...

Visiting US National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien has reiterated the United States' support for the Philippines' fight for control over the West Philippine Sea (WPS) as he witnessed Washington's donation of military equipment worth $18 ...

A two-star Navy admiral overseeing US military intelligence in the Asia-Pacific region has made an unannounced visit to Taiwan, two sources told Reuters on Sunday. Neither Taiwan nor the United States has officially confirmed the trip....

A regular at Bangkoks student-led rallies, Masala Bolds glamorous presence and ribald jokes provide a teasing interlude between speeches from protest leaders demanding the resignation of Thailands premier and reforms to the monarchy....

The National Irrigation Administration (NIA), together with other concerned agencies, has begun the review of its existing protocols following a proposal to transfer the authority of determining dam water release to the National Disaster Risk Reduction an...

Around 2 million foreigners, among them nearly 300,000 Chinese, flew out of the country in the first nine months of the year due to the coronavirus outbreak, Bureau of Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said on Monday. Topping the list of foreigners l...

De La Salle University (DLSU) will not administer a college admission test this year due to the pandemic. Instead of the DLSU College Admission Test, admission will be based on the applicant's high school academic records and other information indicat...

The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) said it had collected over 3,000 cubic meters of garbage from typhoon-hit areas in Luzon, particularly Marikina City and San Mateo in Rizal province, in the aftermath of Typhoon "Ulysses" (inter...

A lawmaker has sought to double the monthly salary of entry-level nurses to P60,901 to discourage them from leaving the country. Under House Bill No. 7933, Anakalusugan Rep. Michael Defensor wants the starting paygrade of all government nurses raised from...

Pope Francis took aim Monday (Nov 23) at protests against coronavirus restrictions, contrasting them with the...

Traces of microplastics have been found close to the top of Mount Everest, likely originating from equipment used by the hundreds of climbers who summit the worlds highest peak every year....

Michigan is set to certify its results Monday, and Pennsylvania is likely to move a step closer to doing so....

Ireland's prime minister said on Monday he hoped the outline of a Brexit free-trade deal would emerge by the end of this week, despite what the ......

GENEVA (AFP) - With Covid-19 vaccines on the horizon, the planet's poorest must not be trampled as countries scramble to get their hands on them, the World Health Organisation said Monday (Nov 23).. Read more at straitstimes.com....

Taylor Swift was named artist of the year at the American Music Awards on Sunday and won two other trophies in a ceremony held live in Los Angeles amid tight coronavirus curbs....

Treasury bill rates further fell across the board on Monday, with the yield for the benchmark 91-day securities dropping below 1 percent alongside the country's record-low policy rate. The Treasury awarded all P5 billion in the three-month debt paper ...

The local stock barometer hit a nine-month high on Monday on sustained optimism on vaccine developments alongside the gradual easing of local lockdown protocols. The main-share Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) added 8.83 points or 0.12 percent to cl...

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has returned to the capital market for the second time this year with a fresh offering of preferred shares worth at least P10 billion, proceeds of which will boost its funding for airport and other big-ticket infrastruc...

Property developer DoubleDragon Properties Corp. yesterday filed at the Securities and Exchange Commission an application to register an initial public offering (IPO) of up to P14.7 billion worth of shares of its real estate investment trust (REIT) DDMP R...

Amid reports of destructive floods caused by recent typhoons and massive job losses brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Benjamin Diokno said in an online press briefing that "preliminary data from July to Septe...

Globe Telecom plans to upgrade half of its mobile network, or 10,000 sites, as part of a sweeping push to improve service quality. The company said in a statement that much of the recent upgrades have focused on activating more 4G/LTE sites, which offer f...

CPF LIFE is a national longevity insurance annuity scheme that insures you against running out of your retirement savings by providing you with a monthly payout for as long as you live. The 'LIFE' in the name actually stands for Lifelong Income Fo...

True Colors Film Festival (TCFF) will present its inaugural edition from Dec. 3 to 12 with 30 award-winning feature and short films...

Germany sees a chance to return to a joint transatlantic approach in tackling Iran's nuclear programme once the new U.S. administration under ......

A seemingly casual photo of Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan reading a book on Sunday morning has become an unlikely subject of political debate among social media users, with some saying that the book he is reading reflects his views on the current presid...

Burnley secured their first win of the Premier League season as Chris Wood's eighth minute goal was enough to earn a 1-0 victory over Crystal ......

MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday that he was aware that some members of the House of Representatives might have been getting kickbacks from contractors of government projects, but he could not investigate them as they b...

Long-distance relationships are never easy, but imagine being one side of a romantic triangle that spans from Indonesia to Italy ... during the pandemic. This is the premise of an up-and-coming miniseries, Jarak dan Waktu (Distance and Time), but dont des...

Italy reported 630 COVID 19-related deaths on Monday, rising from 562 the day before and taking the official toll since its outbreak began in ......

Masked protesters filled the central square in front of the old government palace in the historic center of the capital. They carried signs with slogans including I would rather die as a rebel than live as a slave and Giammattei out....

Chewing on his paw and falling asleep on his face, the first giant panda born in the Netherlands made his debut in public on Friday at the age of almost seven months....

A top European Union official, in a phone call with Joe Biden on Monday, invited the U.S. president-elect to rebuild...

MANILA, Philippines — Health Secretary Francisco Duque III warned the public on Monday against complacency during the holiday season as this could result in an increase in COVID-19 cases. The Department of Health will come up with a contingency plan...

Egypts self-proclaimed superstar Mohamed Ramadan has sparked a heated political debate after snapping selfies with an Israeli singer and footballer....

The electricity company is looking to kill two birds with one deal: accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles in Indonesia while offloading its electricity generation overcapacity by developing more charging stations....

MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday night said illegal narcotics in the country is a national security issue and the military has to be included in anti-illegal drugs operations....

The current G20 presidency is held by Italy, which took the role from Saudi Arabia on Sunday....