Middle East

By: Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News TOKYO – Japanese lawmakers are working to create new laws that will help facilitate the employment of Filipino nurses and caregivers. Communications Secretary Sonny Coloma said this was the commitment made by lawmakers belonging to the Japan-Philippines Parliamentarians Friendship League who met with Aquino at the sidelines of his state visit here. Aquino had noted that ...

By: ABS-CBNnews.com MANILA – The month of June has been declared as Philippine Independence Month in Guam. Guam Governor Eddie Calvo signed Proclamation No. 2015-055 on Monday, which also honors Filipino-Guamanians as part of this year’s commemoration of the 117th Anniversary of the Philippine Independence Day. The proclamation highlights the continued historical and cultural connection between the Philippines and Guam ...

By Kathleen Elkins | Business Insider Being likable is entirely under your control. All it takes is the ability to pick up a few key social skills that build emotional intelligence (EQ). To help you out, we sifted through the Quora thread, “What are useful social skills that can be picked up quickly?” and highlighted our favorite answers. Here are ...

By: ABS-CBNnews.com MANILA – The deteriorating political and security situation in Yemen has prompted the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration governing board to declare it as war risk trading area for seafarers. “The POEA, after consultation with its social partners, determines war risk trading areas and ports under warlike operations, and the amount of premium pay to which seafarers shall be ...

By: ABS-CBNnews.com MANILA, Philippines – Petron Corp. on Thursday said all gasoline variants produced at its Bataan refinery are now Euro IV-compliant. In a statement, Petron said it was the first oil company to locally produce a full line-up of gasoline variants that meet Euro IV standards. This is six months ahead of the government mandate to make Euro IV ...

By Kiyoshi Takenaka (Reuters) TOKYO (Reuters) – Philippine President Benigno Aquino made a veiled comparison on Wednesday between China’s activities in the South China Sea and Nazi Germany’s expansionism before World War Two, echoing similar remarks he made last year that outraged Beijing. Aquino, who is expected to agree beefed up defence ties with Japan when he meets Prime Minister ...

By Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine Rice Research Institute (Philrice) has identified rice breeding lines that promises to be heat tolerant and produce higher yields. The rice research arm of the Department of Agriculture (DA) said screening promising breeding lines would pave the way for the development of new varieties that can withstand very hot weather. ...

By Kathleen A. Martin (The Philippine Star) MANILA, Philippines – Government spending should accelerate as early as this quarter, Budget Secretary Florencio Abad said, noting that the lack of it dragged down economic growth in the first three months of the year. “If you look at the figures, there’s actually a progression, there’s actually an improvement. Those will be felt in ...

By Gerry Carpio (The Philippine Star) SINGAPORE – Rookie fencer Justin Gail Tinio, playing out of the University of the East, produced the Philippines’ first medal – a sterling silver – after a hard-fought finale of the Southeast Asian Games foil competitions yesterday at Hall 2 of the OCBC Arena. After finishing third in the preliminaries, Tinio, whose silver medal effort ...

MANILA, Philippines – Freddie Roach doesn’t think Manny Pacquiao should retire yet. Pacquiao is expected to sit out the rest of the year after undergoing surgery for a torn rotator cuff in his right shoulder. The Filipino icon aggravated the injury in his fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr. in Las Vegas a month ago. But Roach is confident that Pacquiao ...