BUSINESS morale is on the up and up, with the optimists outnumbering pessimists for the third time in a series of surveys by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).

Its Business Expectations Survey, released on Thursday, showed the confidence index is 22 percent in the fourth quarter, significantly higher than the 18.4 percent of the previous quarter and negative 6.8 percent in the final quarter last year.

IRANIAN Foreign Minister Manochehr Mottaki has shrugged off latest threats of sanctions from the US and Western countries following its rejection of the United Nations plan to ship its low-enriched uranium out of the country for processing.

Instead, Mottaki said his government agreed on a simultaneous swap where Iran can provide 3.5-percent uranium low-enriched fuel in exchange for other countries’ 20-percent uranium fuel.

ELECTIONS Commissioner Rene Sarmiento has serious advice for politicians who may file their certificate of candidacy (COC) starting today: They should remove first their streamers or tarpaulins in public places to avoid disqualification from running in next year’s election.

He explained that the moment a candidate files his or her COC, any “infomercials,” Christmas greetings, tarpaulins or streamers with their names and pictures that are visible all over public places—even though the campaign period has not yet started—would definitely be considered as premature campaigning.