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WASHINGTON - U.S.consumerconfidenceslipped to a six-month low inMayas Americans' assessment of the labor market softened, but more households planned to purchase motor vehicles and other big-ticket items over the next six months, which could support economic growth this quarter. The ebb inconfidencereported by the Conference Board on Tuesday was concentrated amongconsumers aged 55 years and older, as well as among households with annual incomes in the $50,000-$99,000 range.Consumers expected inflation to stabilize at higher levels over the next year. "Consumerconfidencelevels are in a holding pattern even if they are saying it isn't quite as easy as it was to get a new job," said C...

Keep on reading: US consumer confidence dips to six-month low, labor market views soften

SEOUL - South Korea's factory production and retail sales dropped in April, official data showed on Wednesday, indicating another tough quarter ahead after the economy narrowly averted a recession in the first quarter. The country's factory output in April fell 1.2 percent from March, on a seasonally adjusted basis, coming in slightly softer than a 1.6-percent loss tipped in a Reuters survey. In March, output rose by 5.3 percent from February, which was the fastest gain since June 2020, according to Statistics Korea. Output in April was down 8.9 percent from the same month a year earlier, compared with a decline of 7.6 percent in March and a year-on-year drop of 7.9 percent expe...

Keep on reading: South Korea April factory output falls, retail sales drop most in 5 months

MANILA -Motorcycle taxi platform Move It is targeting to onboard 1 million users this year following the launch of its new mobile application amid the growing demand for alternative transportation with the resurgence of mobility. Wayne Jacinto, Move It general manager, said in a briefing in Pasig on Tuesday that the new app was expected to encourage more Filipinos to tap its services. The ride-hailing services company currently has over 100,000 users. Jacinto said the app has enough capacity to accommodate user traffic volume, assuring the passengers that it would not crash at any point. The app shows a definite fare computation, including a breakdown of the costs. In additi...

Keep on reading: Move It targets 1M app users in 2023

LUCENA CITY -- Sailing of all sea vessels in Batangas resumed Wednesday morning (May 31) after the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) lifted its gale warning in the province. "All voyages of small crafts in the province of Batangas are resumed to its normal operation," the Philippine Coast Guard-Batangas (PCG-Batangas) announced on its Facebook page. The PCG-Batangas advisory cited a 5 a.m. forecast by Pagasa that the strong gale with wind force warning in the province has been removed. READ: Typhoon Betty out of PAR by Thursday or Friday, 'habagat' to trigger rain -- Pagasa On Monday, the PCG suspended sea travel for small cr...

Keep on reading: Sea trips in Batangas resume

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO -- Indigenous groups in Brazil on Tuesday, May 30, blocked a highway and burned tires to protest a proposed law that would limit their ability to win protected status for ancestral lands. Outside Sao Paulo, Brazil's largest city, demonstrators blocked a major motorway with flaming tires and used bows and arrows to confront police, who dispersed them with tear gas. Indigenous groups from across the country planned a week of protests outside Congress in the capital Brasilia. The lower house prepared to vote on legislation allowing Indigenous reservations only on land that was occupied by native communities when Brazil passed its Constitution in 1988. Bill 49...

Keep on reading: Indigenous groups protest Brazil bill limiting recognition of tribal lands

MANILA, Philippines --- The state weather bureau said it may remove its Tropical Cyclone Wind Signal No. 1 warning over several areas in Luzon as early as Wednesday since Typhoon Betty (international name: Mawar) steadily moves north-northwestward possibly toward Japan. Based on its 4:00 a.m. bulletin, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said Betty was last located 320 kilometers east of Itbayat, Batanes, packing maximum sustained winds of 120 kilometers per hour (kph) near the center with gustiness of up to 150 kph. "Posible din po na ngayong araw o bukas ay tuluyan na pong mawawala itong mga Tropical Cyclone Wind Signals, ...

Keep on reading: Pagasa to remove TCWS warnings soon as Betty steadily moves away from PH

MANILA -Globe Telecom Inc. is teaming up with financial technology player Home Credit Philippines to beef up its initiatives against financial scams, which have recently plagued the users of the Ayala-backed e-wallet brand GCash. Under the partnership, the listed telco giant and consumer finance firm will share relevant information and join forces in probing fraud cases. "As a leading digital solutions platform, Globe is fully aware of the detrimental effects of spam and scam texts and other forms of fraud on our customers and stakeholders," Globe chief privacy officer Irish Salandanan-Almeida said. "By working together and taking proactive measures, we aim to prevent such incid...

Keep on reading: Globe, Home Credit band together vs scams

The man accused of killing 11 worshippers at a Pittsburgh synagogue five years ago in the deadliest antisemitic attack in United States history could face the death penalty if found guilty in a federal trial that opened Tuesday, May 30. Robert Bowers, 50, is standing trial on dozens of federal charges including 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death in the mass shooting at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue on October 27, 2018. He has pleaded not guilty. On Tuesday, Judy Clarke, a defense lawyer for Bowers, told jurors in an opening statement that there was no dispute that he carried out the attack, calling him "a socially awkward man who didn't have many friends," the Pi...

Keep on reading: Pittsburgh synagogue attacker could face death penalty

SEOUL/TOKYO -- North Korea launched what it called a space satellite toward the south on Wednesday, South Korea's military said, prompting emergency alerts and brief evacuation warnings in parts of South Korea and Japan. North Korea had said it would launch its first military reconnaissance satellite between May 31 and June 11 to boost monitoring of US activities. In data provided to international authorities, North Korea said the launch would carry the rocket south, with various stages and other debris expected to fall over the Yellow Sea and into the Pacific Ocean. READ: North Korea confirms June launch of military spy satellite --- KCNA Air raid sirens wailed across th...

Keep on reading: North Korea launches space satellite; warnings lifted in South Korea, Japan

BRUSSELS -- EU industry chief Thierry Breton will meet OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in San Francisco next month to discuss how the company will implement the bloc's world-leading rules on artificial intelligence (AI), EU officials said Tuesday, May 30. Breton will also discuss an AI pact with Altman with the goal of getting OpenAI to join a group of European and non-European companies to apply the AI rules ahead of their enforcement in 2026, the EU officials said, asking not to be named. Altman last week irked Breton after threatening to quit Europe if it becomes too hard to comply with the bloc's upcoming AI laws. READ: OpenAI CEO's threat to quit EU draws lawmaker backlash In ...

Keep on reading: EU’s Breton to discuss AI rules with OpenAI CEO in June

Ukraine is working with major British defense company BAE Systems to set up a Ukrainian base to both produce and repair weapons from tanks to artillery, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Tuesday, May 30. Zelenskiy spoke after talks with senior officials from BAE, including Chief Executive Charles Woodburn. "It is indeed a massive manufacturer of weaponry, the kind of weaponry that we need now and will continue to need," Zelenskiy said in an evening video address. READ: War in Asia would be far more damaging than Ukraine war, says Singapore defense chief "We are working on establishing a suitable base in Ukraine for production and repair. This encompasses a wide range of ...

Keep on reading: Ukraine says it’s working with BAE to set up weapons production facility

An all-private astronaut team of two Americans and two Saudis, including the first Arab woman ever sent into orbit, headed for splashdown off Florida's coast on Tuesday, May 30, capping an eight-day research mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The SpaceX Crew Dragon vessel carrying the foursome, undocked from the ISS late on Tuesday morning to begin its 12-hour return flight. If all goes as planned, the capsule will parachute into the Gulf of Mexico off Panama City, Florida, about 11 p.m. EDT (0300 GMT on Wednesday) following a fiery re-entry through Earth's atmosphere. The return flight concludes the second space station mission organized, equipped and tra...

Keep on reading: Private astronaut crew, including first Arab woman in orbit, heads for splashdown

As China continues to assert its claim over the South China Sea, it may be time for the Philippines to bring the issue to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to let Beijing "feel the international pressure," according to retired Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio. "We must sponsor a resolution, submit it to the General Assembly that China must comply with the arbitral award of July 12, 2016. That will be put to a vote. I think we will win there," he said during an online forum of 1Sambayan on Monday. Earlier, Carpio was asked whether the Philippines should campaign among UN member states for support for the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling that rejected China's...

Keep on reading: Carpio confident of PH win if sea dispute with China is brought to UN

STOCKHOLM --- A harness-wearing beluga whale that turned up in Norway in 2019, sparking speculation it was a spy trained by the Russian Navy, has appeared off Sweden's coast, an organization following him said on Monday. First discovered in Norway's far northern region of Finnmark, the whale spent more than three years slowly moving down the top half of the Norwegian coastline, before suddenly speeding up in recent months to cover the second half and on to Sweden. On Sunday, he was observed in Hunnebostrand, off Sweden's southwestern coast. "We don't know why he has sped up so fast right now," especially since he is moving "very quickly away from his natural environment," Se...

Keep on reading: Russian ‘spy’ whale surfaces in Sweden

Dennis Anthony Uy, the CEO of Converge which owns a franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association, issued a statement on Tuesday denying that his team has called on three other squads to bolt the league, saying "the company is not in the business of basketball and that he is not interested in participating in such histrionics." The statement also took a shot at "the SMC-MVP (San Miguel Corp. --- Manny V. Pangilinan group) duopoly resulting in declining live gates, with the UAAP getting more ticket sales, and new talents snubbing the PBA (Philippine Basketball Association) draft to play overseas." The leadership of the PBA just ended its annual planning session in Paris, wh...

Keep on reading: Converge owner denies recruiting PBA deserters

Showing up as a fine-tuned machine despite an 11-day lull, Marinerong Pilipino-San Beda on Tuesday secured a semifinal berth in the PBA D-League Aspirants Cup after an 81-72 victory over Centro Escolar University (CEU) at Filoil EcoOil Centre. Composed and sharp in their decision making, the Red Lions started out hot, settled for a comfortable lead at halftime, before thwarting all last-ditch attempts of a rally by CEU to rise to 5-1 and claim No. 1 spot in the playoffs. "All throughout, we really focused on our decision making, shot selection, passes. [In our early games,] it was because of our early shots and turnovers that we lost," San Beda coach Yuri Escueta, praising his ...

Keep on reading: Lions trim Scorpions, sew up semis berth

MANILA, Philippines --- A heavily reconstructed version of the controversial Maharlika Investment Fund bill secured the nod of the Senate on its second and third reading, eight days after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. had certified the measure as urgent. Straight out of the period of amendments, Senate Bill No, 2020, or the proposed "Maharlika Investment Fund Act," was approved in the upper chamber during a session that extended until the wee hours of Wednesday. It got 19 votes in the affirmative, one negative, and one abstention. Opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros voted against the measure, while Sen. Nancy Binay abstained. The Senate explicitly banned investments in the p...

Keep on reading: Senate votes to pass bill creating controversial Maharlika Investment Fund

I feel so invincible," said actress Andrea Brillantes when asked what it was like to dress up---and act---in drag, particularly for her latest project, the romantic-comedy series "Drag You & Me." Inquirer Entertainment also asked her to give three important things that she discovered about drag queens and their lifestyle while she was working on the series. "First was that 'tucking it in' for drag queens is really tough. It's done in such a way that it will be really difficult for you to use the toilet [to pee]. You should really reduce your water intake. That would be a major adjustment for me if I were in their shoes, because I get thirsty often," Andrea pointed out. "The strugg...

Keep on reading: What Andrea, JC and Christian discovered about dressing in drag for ‘Drag You & Me’

They may not be as good at dancing or as svelte as other P-pop girl groups, but if there's one thing XOXO is absolutely confident about, it's their vocal abilities. They can belt, harmonize, rap and tackle different styles or genres with ease. And that doesn't really come as a surprise because the act's four members, Riel Lomadilla, Lyra Micolob, Dani Ozaraga and Mel Caluag, are former konteseras and "The Clash" finalists. "'Di kami kasing galing sumayaw at balingkinitan nila!" Riel quipped at a recent media conference. "But I think what sets us apart from other P-pop groups is our vocal abilities. That's where we excel. We know we can hold our own." And they make sure that ...

Keep on reading: SG-bound XOXO on what sets them apart from other P-pop girl groups

TACURONG CITY, Sultan Kudarat, Philippines -- Two village councilors were killed in separate gun attacks Sunday and Monday in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat province, and Paglat, Maguindanao del Sur. Maj. Davis Dulawan, police chief of President Quirino, identified one slain councilor as Mahadi Khalipapa of Barangay Malingon, who was with his wife when attacked. He Khalipapa and his wife on a motorbike driven by Khalipapa when ambushed by unidentified gunmen on May 29. The village official died on the spot and his wife was slightly injured and was taken to a local hospital. In an interview, Dulawan appealed to the town residents to help the police identify the culprits...

Keep on reading: 2 village councilor killed in Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat