Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Oil prices plunged on Monday after the world’s top producers failed to reach an agreement on capping output and easing a global supply glut at a meeting in Doha. Hopes the world’s largest producer cartel, OPEC, and other major producers like Russia would agree to freeze output has helped scrape oil prices off the 13-year lows they touched in February. But crude tanked after top producer Saudi Arabia walked away from the […]
LE LOCLE, Switzerland (Reuters) – In two small Swiss towns, watchmakers are trying to strike a balance as delicate as the mechanisms in their precision-engineered watches – squeezing suppliers to cope with an industry crisis while preserving the skills that drove past successes. Every gesture is precise, calibrated. And requires patience and dexterity. In 150-year-old Swiss luxury watchmaking manufacture Zenith, 250 people work each day to invent, design, assemble, decorate tiny mechanisms, or movements, into […]
MAKATI CITY, Apr. 13 — The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) is urging Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) to venture into e-commerce to expand market reach. The agency recently launched the Philippine e-commerce roadmap which targets to engage 100,000 MSMEs by 2020. “The Philippine E Commerce Roadmap engages people and organizations to collaborate for MSME development. We need to build capacity, attract investments in infrastructure, and institute policies to enable MSMEs to maximize […]
MANILA, Apr. 14 — The Department of Budget and Management (DBM) announced the release of the 40-percent share of Local Government Units (LGUs) from mining taxes in the amount of P233.8 million. The amount pertains to the LGU share from excise taxes collected from the mining industry between December 2011 and the fourth quarter of 2014. “We have issued the allotment and corresponding cash allocation for the release of the lawful share of LGUs in […]
Foreign direct investments (FDI) reached US$587 million in January 2016, more than double its year-ago level of US$263 million. This developed as all FDI components recorded increases, signaling investor optimism in the growth potential of various local industries, as well as confidence in the country’s sound macroeconomic fundamentals. In particular, net equity capital inflows rose ten times to US$257 million, contributing the largest to the FDI growth during the period. This was on account of […]
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) – Facebook Inc said on Tuesday (April 12) it will allow developers to build chatbots inside its Messenger app to enable users to communicate with businesses directly in its latest effort to dominate enterprise transactions and customer service. The chatbots expedite Facebook’s moves to build out Messenger as the go-to place for users to contact businesses rather than through third-party websites and 1-800 lines. “You’ll never have to call […]
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba will acquire a controlling stake in leading Southeast Asian online shopping platform Lazada for $1.0 billion, it said Tuesday as Jack Ma’s company seeks to expand outside its home market. Alibaba’s Taobao platform is estimated to have more than 90 percent of the consumer-to-consumer market in China, while its Tmall platform is believed to command more than half of business-to-consumer transactions. But its international commerce business only accounted […]
By Robert Capistrano MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) — Highly respected and influential market leaders in the real estate industry met at the inaugural Property Report Congress Philippines, a high-level forum that deals with the burning issues impacting the progress of the country’s property sector. The Property Report Congress welcomed the largest developers, investors, architects, designers, real estate professional, local and global suppliers, leading luxury brands and industry influencers. The Congress recently took place at […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Crude prices dipped in Asia Tuesday but held above $40 as traders looked forward to a summit of key oil producers next week to discuss freezing output and easing the supply glut. Analysts said prices were expected to see-saw ahead of Sunday’s meeting in the Qatari capital Doha that will gather both OPEC producers led by Saudi Arabia and non-OPEC members such as Russia. A major subject for the meeting […]
SHANGHAI, China (Reuters) – Hello Kitty fans in mainland China can now get their fix of the famous mouthless kitten with a sweet cake or cappuccino at a themed restaurant in Shanghai. Hello Kitty Bistro Bianco is the first official Hello Kitty-themed restaurant to open on the mainland. It serves a variety of western food laden with Hello Kitty designs. One customer, 25-year-old Liu Jiaqi, said the food was good but just too cute to […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The IMF on Sunday defended negative interest rates set by central banks, given “significant risks” of slow growth, while acknowledging potential for dangerous boom-and-bust cycles. Six central banks, notably the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan, have taken the unprecedented measure, aimed at loosening the reins on credit to help spur consumer spending and investment. “Although the experience with negative nominal interest rates is limited, we tentatively conclude that […]
BEIJING, China (Reuters) – Volvo aims to launch an experiment involving self-driving cars in China in which up to 100 such cars could be deployed, the Swedish automaker said on Thursday (April 7). The planned experiment will see local drivers test the cars on public roads in everyday conditions, Volvo said. It will be conducted in limited driving situations such as on express roads and highways, company executives told Reuters. “This is probably the country […]
