Author: Dhaafir Jaabir

There will be beautiful people on the different fairways of the golf world. Tiger Woods took everyone by surprise by announcing to line up at the start of his tournament in Los Angeles. The European circuit continues its tour of Asia with a stopover in Thailand. The LET players fly to Saudi Arabia. PGA Tour: The Genesis Invitational, The Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California From February 16 to 19 Tiger is back! More than six months after his last participation in an official tournament at The Open last July in Saint-Andrews, the five-time winner of the Masters will line…

China has had an unusually busy and bizarre week. On Monday – as the saga over the alleged spy balloon dragged into its 11th day – a fresh spat erupted between Beijing and Manila. This one was over lasers. The Philippines accused China of using a “military grade” laser light on a Philippine coastguard boat. It said the incident had happened on 6 February when the boat was attempting to take supplies to the Sierra Madre, a vessel that is used as a Filipino naval outpost in the South China Sea; and that a Chinese vessel intercepted the Filipino coast guard boat,…

With the need for more health-care workers growing, the province is setting its sights on bringing in qualified people from outside the country to help keep up with the ever-increasing demand. A delegation from Manitoba is going to the Philippines next month, hoping to recruit hundreds of internationally educated nurses (IENs) to work in health care in the province, according to a Wednesday news release. The group, which will include Manitoba Advanced Education, Immigration and Skills Minister Jon Reyes, is scheduled to visit three cities — Manila, Cebu City and Iloilo — between Feb. 21-25. Deb Elias, chief executive officer…

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has arrived in Switzerland, where he will attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos. According to a report by GMA Integrated News’ JP Soriano on Super Radyo dzBB, Marcos arrived in Zurich at around 4:30 p.m. CET (11:30 p.m., Philippines time), then departed immediately for the Alpine town where the meeting of global business and political leaders is held annually. Marcos had left for Switzerland early Sunday morning on Flight PR01, accompanied by First Lady Liza Araneta-Marcos and the administration’s economic team. The plane was escorted by fighter jets of the Armed Forces of…

Manila, Jan 14 (IANS) The Philippines will harness the mining sector’s potential as a driver for long-term economic expansion as the Southeast Asian country recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said in a statement.”The mining industry holds the greatest potential to be a key driver in our recovery and long-term growth, especially now that the world metal prices are high,” Xinhua news agency quoted Diokno as saying. After all, he said, the Philippines is one of the world’s most richly endowed countries in terms of mineral resources. “As such, we will harness the potential of the extractive…

MANILA – The Philippines has recorded the lowest unemployment rate in 17 years in November 2022, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported Friday. Unemployment rate in November last year declined to 4.2 percent from 4.5 percent in October 2022, and from 6.5 percent in November 2021. This, as 95.8 percent of the labor force were employed, or a total of 49.71 million Filipinos aged 15 years and above have jobs in November last year. Labor force participation rate also increased last November after two months of declines since September 2022. “The strong labor market signifies the steady recovery of our…

The Philippines is in the middle of battling record inflation, something which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr says is “out of control”. For many Filipinos, the increasing cost of basic commodities was that of a “developed nation”. The president, while touting economic recovery, has also acknowledged the high costs of basic goods which he said was running “rampant”. One of the most significant cooking staples in the country, onions, were being sold for about $10/kg, “among some of the most expensive onions in the world”, Al Jazeera’s Barnaby Lo reported from the capital, Manila, adding that people have described their living…

SINGAPORE, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Singapore’s economy grew faster that official forecasts in 2022 but slower activity in the fourth quarter points to significant risks ahead for the city-state in the new year as global demand weakens and inflationary pressures weigh. Singapore’s economy grew 3.8% in 2022, preliminary data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Tuesday, beating government forecast for growth of 3.5% and down from 7.6% in 2021.Gross domestic product (GDP) expanded 2.2% in October-December on a year-on-year basis, the government data showed, almost half the 4.2% growth seen in the third quarter. Eight economists polled…

China and the Philippines have agreed to set up a direct communications channel on the South China Sea and to handle disputes over the contested waterway “through peaceful means”, according to a joint statement by the two countries. The agreement on Thursday came a day after Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing amid efforts to mend a relationship that has been strained by Manila’s decision in 2016 to seek an arbitral ruling on China’s expansive claims in the South China Sea. The United Nations tribunal invalidated China’s claims, but Beijing has rejected the ruling.…

Recent news of Sabah’s STAR declaring it was cutting ties with Perikatan Nasional (PN) was not surprising. With some political supporters playing a dangerous game, trying to bring back the spectre of 1969 and a former prime minister being caught on video saying questionable things, why associate yourself with controversy? There is no context that allows a politician to stoke racial and religious sentiment and there can be no justifying it. TikTok refusing to divulge who paid for the hate speech that marketed itself as “sponsored content” makes you wonder just where the company’s allegiances lie. Hate speech should be…