Economy expands by 4.6% in 2008.
The domestic economy, as measured by the gross domestic product (GDP), posted a growth of 4.6 percent in 2008, a slowdown from the high 7.2 percent registered the previous year and the slowest pace in the last seven years as the global financial crisis took a toll on services...

RP fishery sector withstands crisis.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY - Despite the global economic recession that already crippled many industries, the fishery sector remains robust to continue earning dollars for our country even as it set a 7.2 percent growth target for 2009, said the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR). Earlier,...

Job creation & business loans.
THE government should immediately set in motion its economic stimulus package now that the impact of the global recession is alarmingly creeping in and more and more workers are getting displaced. The main focus should be on immediate job creation and the extension of small business loans...

Loren sees more transferees to public schools.
Sen. Loren Legarda warned yesterday that the already reeling public school system in the Philippines may be further swamped by transferees from private schools in the face of the worsening economic crisis resulting to job losses. Loren pointed out that with more Filipino families unable to send...

Don't obsess over downturn - instead, focus on what matters.
Byline: ENTREPRENEURS AND MANAGEMENT By Tim Berry For blue chip I for one am happy to see the new presidential administration in office, a new head for the Small Business Administration appointed, a recovery plan in the air and the rest of us out in the real...

Around The Nation.
Mandatory drug tests for students pushed An administration lawmaker yesterday proposed mandatory drug testing for students to ensure that schools and universities in the country are drug-free. Lakas Rep. Bienvenido Abante of Manila made the proposal after an agent of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency...

FTC Revises HSR Filing Thresholds.
The FTC has announced that the reporting notification thresholds under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended ("HSR Act" or the "Act") will be increased, effective 30 days after the revised thresholds have been published in the Federal Register. The FTC has yet to publish the Federal...

Too ordinary to notice: mothering doesn't add to the Gross National Product, but can there be a greater investment than giving the next generation of Canadians a loving start in life?
We have no tall ponderosa pines growing on our property in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. I'm sure they grew there once -- after all, they grow wild all over the hillsides throughout this whole valley. But someone cleared them long ago to make room for grapes. Or apples. Or...

National Day of Romania.
TODAY is the National Day of Romania, a country with a long history of contributions to the world's cultural and scientific ideas. Romania has had a rich and colorful history. The "Hamangia Thinker" and the "Clay Tables of Tartiara" in 4000 B.C. are evidence of the country's...

National Day of Oman.
TODAY is the National Day of Oman, which coincides with the 68th birth anniversary of Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said. Sultan Qaboos bin Said came into office on July 23, 1970. His Majesty's reign began a new era that renewed Oman's historic glories and opened a...