SEC updates and compliance for 2024To update organizations on these important changes, the Center for Global Best Practices will host an SEC-accredited webinar entitled, New Year SEC updates and compliance to be held from 1:30 to 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31 via Zoom. To update organizations on these important changes, the Center for Global Best Practices will host an SEC-accredited webinar entitled, New Year SEC updates and compliance to be held from 1:30 to 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 31 via Zoom. This executive briefing is done annually to update all board directors, management, corporate secretaries, compliance officers, lawyers, accountants, business consultants and other stakeholders of corporations. Learn from lawyer Justina Callangan who is the former director of the Corporate Governance and Finance Department of the SEC. CGBP is an accredited training provider of the SEC; Governance Commission for GOCCs; Supreme Court for MCLE; BSP’s Anti-Money Laundering Council, DILG-Local Government Academy; Civil Service Commission; and other regulatory agencies.

A 31-year-old man died after he alighted a minibus and wanted to catch another bus on the other side of the road, but was hit by a truck when crossing the road in Yuen Long on Tuesday. The incident occurred around 7.12 am on Tuesday when a minibus pulled over outside Atrium House on Shap Pat Heung Road. The passenger surnamed Chan suspectedly saw a bus arriving at the stop on the opposite side of the street and crossed the road in front of the minibus without checking for traffic. The truck driver, who saw the minibus pulled over, tried to overtake the minibus and hit Chan who suddenly emerged from the front. It is understood that Chan remained conscious even after he had been hit by the truck and fell to the ground.

REUTERS/Ann Wang/file photoThe Philippines' foreign ministry on Tuesday reaffirmed the country's "One China policy" after its president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., congratulated Taiwan's new leader Lai Ching-te. Marcos on Monday congratulated Lai for winning Taiwan's election, referring to him as its next president. The message was Marcos' way of recognising the Philippines and Taiwan's "mutual interests", including the 200,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the democratically governed island, the foreign ministry said in a statement. "The message of President Marcos congratulating the new president was his way of thanking them for hosting our OFWs and holding a successful democratic process. Marcos' comments, posted on social media platform X, are likely to irk Beijing, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory.

MANILA, Philippines — INQUIRER.net has kept its ranking as the top Philippine news website in 2023, according to a report by analytics firm Similarweb. The same report showed Rappler posting the biggest decline in visits among the Philippine news websites covered in the study. Comparing data from 2022 and 2023, its traffic declined by 38.24 percent, from 147,715,648 in 2022 to 91,231,912 in 2023. Apart from overall visits, Similarweb’s data showed that Inquirer.net also dominated across all channels: direct, email, referrals, social, and organic. From February to April, it logged 34.62 million social media traffic, surpassing Philstar.com’s 14.59 million, Rappler’s 17.84 million, ABS-CBN’s 20.37 million and GMA News Online’s 29.87 million.

PAGASA: Strong El Niño may persist until FebruaryA farmer walks over cracked soil on a dried up Nueva Ecija field in this file photo. Temperatures are expected to soar across large parts of the world after the El Niño weather pattern emerged in the tropical Pacific for the first time in seven years. MANILA, Philippines — The state weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) on Monday said that a “strong” El Niño is currently ongoing and may last until February this year. 7, however, PAGASA said that the weather phenomenon will transition into a neutral state of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) in June 2024. “Majority of global climate models suggest that El Niño will likely persist until the March-April-May 2024 season with a transition to ENSO-neutral in the April-May-June 2024 season,” the advisory reads.

SEOUL: North Korea said on Monday it had successfully test-fired a new ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic maneuverable warhead, the latest breakthrough in its pursuit of advanced weaponry to threaten South Korean and United States targets. The launch, Pyongyang's first known weapons test this year and its first-ever test of a solid-fuel hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM), was detected by Seoul's military on Sunday afternoon. "North Korea appears to be pursuing the development of hypersonic missiles and IRBMs using solid-fuel rocket boosters at the same time," said Chang Young-keun, a missile expert at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. North Korea's last missile test was of a Hwasong-18 solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on December 18. On Monday, a North Korean government delegation headed by Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui arrived in Moscow for an official visit, the KCNA reported.

MALÉ, Maldives: The Maldives' President Mohamed Muizzu told India on Sunday to withdraw its nearly 100 troops by March 15, a day after returning from China, where he signed a raft of deals. India has a deployment of about 89 personnel, including medical staff, to operate three aircraft to patrol the archipelago's vast maritime territory. Tourism accounts for nearly a third of the Maldives' economy, with Indians making up the largest share of foreign arrivals. Muizzu said the Maldives would also slash reliance on India for health care and medicine, adding more countries where citizens needing government-paid health treatment abroad can go. Most eligible citizens currently get treatment in India, as well as in small numbers in Sri Lanka and Thailand, officials said.

Dos and don'ts for 2024By the second week of February, a whopping 80% would have thrown in the towel trying to achieve the resolutions they so earnestly committed themselves to just weeks before. Why do we make New Year’s resolutions — only to break them? MANILA, Philippines — For a very special occasion like welcoming a new year, people have a lot to say about what one must or must not do so as to attract good vibes and repel bad ones. Through the years, they have become “dos and don’ts” and “musts and must-nots” to live by (or play along with). Here are some of them:

Critically ill kids treated to World of FrozenMANILA, Philippines — It all started with one child’s wish. For the first time in forever, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (HKDL) teamed up with Make-A-Wish to grant life-changing wishes at the all-new themed land World of Frozen. “This is my first visit to Hong Kong Disneyland and also my first trip abroad, which is so exciting. I can’t wait to visit World of Frozen and experience Wandering Oaken’s Sliding Sleighs,” Rhianne said. Experiencing the World of Frozen at Hong Kong Disneyland“This is a remarkable day for Make-A-Wish.

The Philippine coastguard at the coast of Bataan, Philippines in the South China Sea, June 6, 2023. (Reuters)The Philippines will develop islands in the South China Sea that it considers part of its territory to make them more habitable for troops, Manila's military chief Romeo Brawner told reporters on Monday. Apart from the Second Thomas Shoal, locally known as Ayungin, the Philippines occupies eight other features in the South China Sea, and considers them part of its exclusive economic zone. The features include Thitu island, the biggest and most strategically important in the South China Sea. Besides the Philippines, Brunei, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have competing claims of sovereignty in the South China Sea, a conduit for goods in excess of $3 trillion every year.

After Lai won the election on Saturday, several ministers and politicians from other countries sent congratulatory messages. The ministry described a statement from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who congratulated Lai, as "sending a seriously incorrect signal" to "Taiwan independence separatist forces." China pointed out that most electors voted against Lai, with its Taiwan Affairs Office saying the DPP "cannot represent the mainstream public opinion." American President Joe Biden, meanwhile, said the United States does not support the independence of Taiwan. Meanwhile, a delegation of former top US officials is set to arrive in Taiwan today to meet leading political figures.

Come April 1 and a landmark pay-as-you-throw scheme aimed at reducing waste kicks off following many months of waiting. The Municipal Solid Waste Charging Scheme has been passed for awhile and its implementation is overdue, given the amount of waste disposed at landfills each year. Environment Secretary Tse Chin-wan and his predecessor who initiated the charging scheme knew it would need the public to change their habits. First, do these cleaning workers need to check whether all the bags in an estate's storage areas are legal - that is, government designated bags purchased from approved outlets? Unless it is better clarified, April 1 could turn out to be April Fool's Day for those serving in the frontline.

Philippines reaffirms adherence to One-China Policy after Taiwan electionsFile photo of the Department of Foreign Affairs building along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines will continue to adhere to the One-China Policy, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Sunday, following the victory of a pro-independence presidential candidate in Taiwan’s elections. Taiwanese voters elected Lai Ching-te as president, strongly defying the warnings of China’s ruling Communist Party. Lai, branded by Beijing as a threat to peace in the region, secured an unprecedented third consecutive for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to take the democratic island one day—by force, if necessary.

Here are the top stories of The Manila Times for Monday, Jan. 15 2024. The South China Sea is home to 571 of the world's 1,683 reef-forming coral species and eight of the 10 global species of giant clam. The CSIS found that several species of giant clams were vulnerable as a direct result of the destructive poaching methods. READ: UN: Gaza war staining humanityThe United Nations said on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) that the Gaza war was "staining humanity" on the eve of its 100th day as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doubled down on vows to defeat Hamas. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok and LinkedIn; and be part of our communities on Viber, Telegram, and Mastodon.

South Koreans top list of foreign fugitives nabbed in Philippines in 2023Passengers line up to go through immigration counters at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 3 in Pasay City on March 4, 2023. MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) arrested a total of 128 foreign fugitives last year, with South Koreans making up the largest group. Offenses committed by the foreign fugitives include involvement in economic crimes, investment scams, illegal gambling, money laundering, telecommunications fraud, robbery, and smuggling. “Our country is off limits to these foreign fugitives,” BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco said. The foreign fugitives were apprehended in various operations conducted by FSU agents in areas where they had been hiding or residing since arriving in the Philippines.