IN these very unkind times —  the elections, the pandemic, conflict, and all the things that keep us awake at night —  gestures of love and kindness go a long way. There is now a business selling care packages that can be a way to express those feelings to someone you love or even yourself.

In the 1970s, low-carb diets were all the rage. The Dr. Atkin’s Diet Revolution book claimed carbohydrate restriction was a “high calorie way to stay thin forever.”

THERE’S a notion that baking can be a challenge: there’s the precise measurement of ingredients, the crippling fear of making a mistake —  and of course, the sheer dissatisfaction of chewing through a cookie as hard as a rock, or else a cake so dry it ruins a day. Celebrity chef Myke “Tatung” Sarthou’s book, Baking Simpol, is meant to remedy that.

NEW YORK —  Meteorites are striking gold among collectors, with a dilapidated dog house that survived a hit from outer space expected to fetch up to $300,000 at a Christie’s auction, and a chunk of Mars going for as much as $800,000.

LONDON — The new show Vikings: Valhalla, which premieres on Netflix on Friday, pairs history with drama to narrate Viking adventures from more than 1,000 years ago, starting with a revenge mission against the English throne.

SEOUL — South Korean boy band BTS will return to the United States for a series of concerts in Las Vegas in April, their agency said on Wednesday.

STARBUCKS Philippines recently launched three new services that bridge both physical and digital experiences. With customer convenience and safety in mind, Starbucks Philippines makes ordering easy, contactless and rewarding.

Allan Jay Dumanhug, an ethical hacker and startup cybersecurity mentor, has been appointed as CEO of Secuna, a Philippine cybersecurity firm. Previously its chief information security officer, he replaces Iannis Hanen, who has been appointedSecuna’s vice-president for global sales. 

AS the end of World War II loomed, the month-long Battle of Manila destroyed the city. From Feb. 3 to March 3, 1945, Japanese and American armed forces clashed, the city’s districts burned and were reduced to rubble. By the end of the month, over 100,000 civilians had died.

NARCISO C. Tan’s long-awaited study of the ritual practices of the Philippine’s many ancestral, ethnolinguistic groups has finally been launched by the Vidal Foundation as part of its Academica Filipina series of books on Philippine history, culture, and the arts.

IN a busy business district filled with high-rise buildings, otherwise blank walls are painted with colorful murals that not only beautify the area but also make a statement.

IN CELEBRATION of National Arts Month, Filipino artists called on today’s generation of creatives to continue the dialogue in public spaces and pursue creative forms of activism — or “artivism” — in the new normal.