THE House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading the P1.227-trillion national government budget for 2008, with the education sector getting a hefty augmentation of P6.436 billion in the general appropriations bill.

NEW York City—A decade after launching the $2-billion international hub in the New York/
New Jersey region, Continental Airlines has succeeded in becoming the biggest carrier in the world’s largest air-travel market.

FOREIGN direct investments (FDIs), the kind that helps generate employment and stays for the long haul, flowed inward on net basis in the first eight months and totaled $1.7 billion, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Monday.

NOTWITHSTANDING the Court of Tax Appeals’ (CTA) order to remit P580 million in excise tax after declaring its tax-credit certificates (TCCs) null and void, leading oil refiner Petron Corp. said it will contest the order before the Supreme Court.

ONE billion people worldwide live on less than $1 a day while 162 million live in ultrapoverty on less than 50 cents a day, the latest report by the International Food Policy Research Institute (Ifpri) said.

DALIAN, China—More than 5,000 delegates from 20 countries including the Philippines joined the Global Bio Herb Economic Conference held here that tackled the vast potentials of the fast-growing herbal-medicine industry expected to reach a global market of $5 trillion by 2050.

CONTRARY to expectations, Filipino men are now more domesticated and have shown that they have increased their share in accomplishing household chores, according to a recent survey done by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB).

HOURS after militant groups filed a second impeachment complaint against President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the House Committee on Justice on Monday upheld the decision of its chairman to junk the supplemental complaint filed by the United Opposition to augment the original case filed by the former lawyer of the rightist Magdalo Group.

TWENTY-two year-old Ph.D. political science student Jessica Trisko of Canada was crowned Miss Earth for 2007 on Sunday night, with the loudest cheers coming from Filipinos in the crowd that gathered at the UP Theater in Diliman, Quezon City.       

THE Senate economic affairs committee asked the Commission on Audit (COA) Monday to submit updated documents on the initial release of $113 million from the $500-million China loan intended to bankroll the NorthRail project, amid findings it exceeded the authorized amount.

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NEWLY crowned Miss Earth, the Fil-Canadian Jessica Nicole Trisko (second from left), poses with her court after Sunday night’s coronation rites held at the UP Theater in Diliman, Quezon City (L-R): Miss Water Silvana Santaella Arellano (Venezuela), Miss Air Pooja Chitgopeker (India), and Miss Fire Angela Gomez (Spain). --NONIE REYES