Indonesia is trying to obtain AstraZeneca vaccines as part of its strategy to acquire overseas doses while rising local production to inoculate its more than 270 million population. In an interview with Yvonne Man of Bloomberg Television, the country’s international and state-owned enterprise ministries are in talks with the UK-based business, Research and Technology Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro, who leads the …

METRO MANILA – The Department of Finance (DOF) on Thursday proposes a 6-point plan to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to enable the region to be more resilient in the growing threats of Covid-19 pandemic. Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III proposed the plan during the 24th ASEAN Finance Ministers’ Meeting via teleconference saying that the six-point plan …

METRO MANILA: The Department of Health (DOH) on Wednesday confirmed that it has already distributed most of the ₱2.2 billion worth of medicines, supplies that the Commission on Audit flagged as nearing expiration and unused. According to the Commission on Audit, In the 2019 report, DOH has accumulated ₱2.2 billion worth of medicine and supplies which are either unused or …

METRO MANILA – The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on Wednesday reported that there are now 10,849 Filipinos working overseas who have been tested positive for the novel coronavirus. According to the agency, there were six additional new cases and two individuals recovered among the Filipinos in Asia and the Pacific as well as the Middle East. On the otherhand, …

KUALA LUMPUR – Police are expected to do an investigation on those behind ‘MGAG’ Facebook page for allegedly demeaning and mocking Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in an image post. According to Bukit Aman Criminal Investigations Department deputy director (Investigation/Legal) Deputy Commissioner Mior Faridalathrash Wahid, the department has opened an inquiry regarding the incident after a report …

KUALA LUMPUR – Sime Darby Property has temporarily closed its HQ in Ara Damansara here for disinfection after one of its employee tested positive for Covid-19. The employee had been in the office until last Friday, he currently being treated and monitored at a hospital. Sime Darby Property said in a statement,  that all employees based at the headquarters have …

TripAdvisor has taught a lot of people that the client is not always right. But the famous online travel platform has handed the average traveller untold power by establishing a digital environment where the views of the hoi polloi are sought and then substantiated. However, not in Thailand, where a lone-star reviewer faces up to two years in jail for …

METRO MANILA – House of Representatives Speaker Alan Peter Cayetano yesterday abruptly approved the P4.5-trillion 2021 General Appropriations Bill on second reading while quicly moving to suspend sessions until November 16 amid the speakership row. Cayetano’s move was seen by some as a “desperate attempt” to stay in power. He was able to terminate the budget deliberations to show that …

METRO MANILA – The Senate public works committee on Wednesday gave a go signal to approve a bill that will rename an avenue in Quezon City after the late movie icon Fernando Poe. Jr. Senator Lito Lapid authored the Senate Bill No. 1822, which was seeking to rename QC’s Del Monte Avenue to Fernando Poe Jr. Avenue. The committee approved …

Here’s what’s happening as Indonesian police used water cannons and tear gas to disperse demonstrators protesting against a new employment law in two cities on the island of Java. Earlier, at the start of a three-day national strike against President Joko Widodo’s “omnibus” Job Development bill, which was signed into law on Monday, thousands of employees and students protested peacefully …