Compared to the more nutritious, cheaper and easily obtainable alternatives, rice has taken the center stage in today's commodity markets, even temporarily dislodging petroleum as the hottest issue. Despite rice shortage being largely imaginary up to this point, the speculative
This is a continuation of the article "The Current Philippine Rice Situation".The solution to the Philippine rice problem is a combination of several ideas, the top three of which are discussed below. If the Philippines will be able to successfully
The headlines are now talking about NFA's failure to bid out the Philippine's rice requirements. A few days ago, the suggestions in this site include:- Free for all rice importation and removal of tariffs, VAT, etc.. At this point, the
Article contributor Yeo Teck Wei is a freelance writer based in Singapore.Despite being a rice producing country, the Philippines is not spared from the price hike in rice.But this crisis is not all it seems. As what Agriculture Secretary Arthur
People know what Manny Pacquiao have accomplished. They still remember the humiliation Pacquiao inflicted upon Barrera during his first meeting and a lot more saw the lopsided 2nd match that had the latter refusing to engage. And then there were
Today, the Philippines and most other states in the world celebrate the International Worker's Day. More popularly known in this country as Labor Day, this is the event where the working man is the centerpiece of the celebration. Based on
Relief engendered by the latest US GDP figures is misplaced, given recent monetary and fiscal inputs. Yet gradually increasing output and the optimistic stock market will sooner or later be confronted by consumer price figures. At that point, the US
Residents in Hong Kong and other parts of greater China are increasingly moving their savings into mainland accounts to escape the impact of falling local currencies and higher interest rates. With the yuan forecast to gain 15% against the US
Few things beat a massage for making one feel better, especially if you're a politician or central banker with a bunch of numbers that would put you out of a job if the public saw their naked form. Unemployment? Give
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations is the latest pan-global organization established to ease poverty in the world's less-developed and largely rural economies to face bitter criticism as soaring prices of essential commodities expose a lack of
US presidential candidates pledging to cut fuel taxes blithely ignore the fact they are not placed to make that happen. As bad, it is not what their country needs in response to rising prices. Worse, any such cuts would hit
The key nations negotiating over Iran's nuclear program hail their latest offer of incentives for Tehran to give up its uranium-enrichment activities as a part of a "twin-track strategy", the other being United Nations sanctions. There is actually a third
Since soon after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, it has been an open secret that the George W Bush administration wanted to attack Iran. Now comes further confirmation from a document quoted in then-under secretary of defense for policy
Fundamental problems exist in China's railway system, not the least of which is that the behemoth Ministry of Railways is both the monopoly operator and industry regulator for all rail transport. If this system is not restructured, nothing will change,
China's renaissance, arguably the most significant story of our time, offers to the world as much as the world brings to China. Yet some fail to grasp the big picture, and for them, China's re-emergence generates anxiety. The result is
Prachanda, the man who would form Nepal's first Maoist-led government, has some tough decisions to make as he casts about for coalition partners. His opponents are wary of plans to integrate the 20,000-strong Maoist militia into the regular forces, and
Since President Lee Myung-bak took office two months ago, South Korea's Sunshine engagement policy towards the North has been eclipsed by tough talk directed at Pyongyang. Now proponents of the concession-based, carrot-laden approach are fighting back, and they have released
With the death of more than 15,000 people and millions missing or homeless following Saturday's cyclone, the junta in Myanmar is slowly opening its doors to foreign aid, even though this will expose the full extent of the disaster and
How long the present relatively low price of gold will stay that way may depend on whether the US Federal Reserve has sold half the country's gold and if it is prepared to stop at half. At least that would
As food prices soar to unprecedented highs, the Asia Development Bank at the weekend outlined its vision for eradicating poverty in the region. Yet after 40 years of being the premier lender of development cash in the Asia-Pacific, the bank
