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The European Union is considering a mandatory ban on member states using companies that might pose a security risk in their 5G networks, including China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd , the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. The move comes as a response to increasing concerns in Brussels about certain national governments delaying action on the matter, the officials told the newspaper. The EU's internal market commissioner Thierry Breton informed telecoms ministers at a meeting last Friday that only a third of EU countries had implemented Huawei bans in critical areas, the report said. EU and Huawei did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment....

Keep on reading: EU considers mandatory ban on using Huawei to build 5G – FT

SYDNEY -Australia'scentralbanktightened monetary policy thisweekbecause of upside inflation risks toan already drawn-out return ofinflationto target, Governor Philip Lowe said on Wednesday, after raising interest rates to an 11-year high of 4.1 percent. Some further tighteningmaystill be required to bringinflationto heel but that would depend on how the economy andinflationevolve, said ReserveBankof Australia (RBA)'s Lowe said at the Morgan Stanley Australia Summit in Sydney. The RBA has projected headlineinflation- which is at about 7 percent now - to return to the top of thebank's target of 2 percent-3 percent by mid-2025, a slower path than many other economies as Lowe wants...

Keep on reading: Australia’s central bank says hike this week due to inflation risks, warns more may come

MANILA -Taipan Lucio Tan's Philippine National Bank has extended a P600 million credit line to Metro Zamboanga Hospital and Medical Center Inc. to support its expansion. The 10-year term loan will be used to finance the ongoing construction and completion of its hospital building. Metro Zamboanga Hospital will thus be the first eight-story hospital with a helipad in the Zamboanga Peninsula region. "PNB is ready to help our country -- including the provinces -- improve the quality of life for the communities through our financing projects," PNB provincial commercial banking group head Aaron Astor said in a statement on Tuesday. "This is especially true for industries that thr...

Keep on reading: PNB extends P600M credit line to Zamboanga hospital operator

MANILA -The Department of Energy (DOE) has doubled the increment of renewable energy (RE) installations under its Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) policy in the main grid to 2.52 percent beginning this year in a bid to accelerate the agency's goal of increasing the share of renewables in the Philippine energy mix. This means that the increase in the share of RE in the supply portfolio of off-taker distribution utilities (DUs) must have a growth rate of 2.52 percent every year. Under the recently issued Department Circular No. 2023-05-0015, Energy Secretary Raphael Lotilla said all mandated participants in the country's three island grids were covered by the new rate. Mandated...

Keep on reading: Higher renewable energy growth mandate takes effect

MANILA -Customers of ports tycoon Enrique Razon Jr.'s MORE Electric and Power Corp. in Iloilo City got a refund of their bill deposits totaling around P4 million, the company announced. In a statement, MORE Power said three customers formally received around P2,500 during a ceremony held in their office recently. The remaining 841 qualified customers will receive their refund until December this year, according to MORE Power. "Since we don't have any intention of using [the bill deposits] for our operation, why keep it when it is already due for return, for the refund to customers?" said MORE Power president and chief executive officer Roel Castro. A bill deposit is a payment...

Keep on reading: MORE Power starts Iloilo consumer deposit refunds

MANILA -The Ayala Group's real estate investment trust (REIT) arm AREIT Inc. is raising its capital base as it moves closer to completing its biggest-ever acquisition of malls and offices from controlling shareholder, Ayala Land Inc. In a stock exchange filing on Monday, AREIT said it submitted an application to the Securities and Exchange Commission to increase its authorized capital by over a third to P40.5 billion. AREIT plans to issue shares to Ayala Land and affiliates in exchange for P22.5 billion worth of the coveted malls and offices within the Ayala Center complex in Makati City and other areas. The company announced on Monday the execution of a deed of exchange with Ay...

Keep on reading: Ayala’s AREIT moves to take in P 22.5B worth of malls, offices

U.S. stocks closed up on Tuesday, helped by some advances in economically sensitive sectors, as investors awaited inflation data and the Federal Reserve's policy meet next week. Inflation data is expected to show consumer prices cooled slightly on a month-over-month basis in May but core prices are likely to have remained elevated, and the Fed is widely expected to hold interest rates. Major indexes wavered as investors took a breather after pushing the S&P 500 up almost 20 percent from its October 2022 lows, boosted by gains in megacap stocks, a stronger-than-expected earnings season and hopes that the U.S. central bank is nearing the end of its interest rate-hike cycle. Th...

Keep on reading: US stocks end up as Fed, CPI loom large next week

  MANILA, Philippines --- Tropical storm 'Chedeng' (international name 'Guchol') further intensified on Wednesday, but is still not expected to directly affect the country, said the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Administration (Pagasa). Chedeng strengthened from a tropical depression into a tropical storm on Tuesday night and is expected to leave the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) by Monday or Tuesday next week. According to Pagasa weather specialist Obet Badrina, Chedeng was last spotted 1,060 kilometers east of Southeastern Luzon with maximum sustained winds of 75 kilometers per hour (kph) and gusts of up to 90 kph. "I...

Keep on reading: Tropical Storm Chedeng intensifies further; may leave PAR Monday