SYDNEY  – Australia’s current account fell into deficit for the first time in three years last quarter as robust domestic demand sucked in imports and miners paid more dividends abroad, though the drag on economic growth was not as large as first feared.

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a criminal code that bans sex outside marriage with a punishment of up to one year in jail, part of a raft of legal changes that critics say undermine civil liberties in the world’s third-largest democracy.

MANILA, Philippines — Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar is no longer connected with the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) following his resignation.

SYDNEY  – Australia’s central bank on Tuesday delivered a widely expected interest rate hike at its last policy decision of 2022 and said more hikes are still needed ahead as policymakers seek to rein in inflation.

MANILA, Philippines — A magnitude 3.9 earthquake struck Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro, on Tuesday, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs).

MANILA, Philippines — The proposed Maharlika Wealth Fund (MWF) does not have enough safeguards to protect it from possible abuse and loss of capital, an ex-lawmaker said as a warning to the public and his former colleagues in Congress.

MANILA  – The Philippine economy is expected to lose momentum in 2023 with the pace of expansion set to slow to 5.7 percent as soaring inflation and higher interest rates crimp domestic demand, the World Bank said on Tuesday.

MANILA, Philippines — A progressive group is seeing no problem with the proposed sovereign wealth fund (SWF) or Maharlika Investment Fund if the money for it would come from a wealth tax and not from income generated by state-owned insurers.

Shamaine Buencamino fondly reminisced on how she and husband, actor Nonie Buencamino welcomed their late daughter Julia into the world, on what would have been her 23rd birthday.

COLOMBO – The World Bank has approved crisis-hit Sri Lanka’s request to access concessional financing from the International Development Association so as to help stabilise its economy, the lender said on Tuesday.

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping paid tribute to former leader Jiang Zemin on Tuesday for ensuring the Communist Party’s survival from “political storms” and reforming it to inject new vitality and modernize the country’s economy.

Philippines top stories on politics, legislation, environment and government policies as well as updates from around the globe.

MANILA, Philippines — The Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) on Tuesday gave assurance that there will be transparency in the proposed Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) and that investments that will be made through it would be protected.

Philippines top stories on politics, legislation, environment and government policies as well as updates from around the globe.

TUGUEGARAO CITY — Mayor Samuel Siddayao of Gattaran town in Cagayan province suspended in-person classes in a high school after 154 students and teachers displayed symptoms of COVID-19.

Korean female pop icons Jisoo, Jennie, Rosé, and Lisa — collectively known as Blackpink — have emerged as global music superstars after Time Magazine named the quartet as “Entertainer of the Year” for 2022.

As a boy in the 1960s, David Wagner would run around his family’s Missouri farm with a glass jar clutched in his hand, scooping flickering fireflies out of the sky.

MANILA, Philippines — The success of any proposal to create a sovereign wealth fund (SWF) relies heavily on proper management of the investment corporation handling it, former president and now Senior Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said.

Jalen Green and Kevin Porter Jr. combined for 51 points as the Houston Rockets extended their homecourt winning streak to three games with a 132-123 double-overtime victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday.

Foreign net monthly inflows into Asian equities hit a two-year high in November on hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve could cut the pace of its interest rate hikes.