TOKYO -- Qualifying boxing matches for Asia and Oceania for the 2020 Olympic Games that were set to take place in China’s Wuhan next month have been canceled due to fears over the new flu-like coronavirus, Japan’s Kyodo news agency said on Wednesday.

LOCAL SHARES ended flat on Wednesday as investors decided to wait it out until the release of the gross domestic product (GDP) data for the fourth quarter of 2019 on Thursday.

THE Supreme Court has rejected an opposition senator’s plea to stop President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s verbal tirades against her, saying he is immune from lawsuits, according to an October decision made public on Wednesday.

SENATORS on Wednesday asked the Health department and other agencies to draft an emergency plan after a Chinese boy tested positive for coronavirus, days after Japan and Thailand confirmed their first case of infection from a new strain that originated in Wuhan, China.

STATE seismologists need more trending data before lowering the alert level for Taal Volcano, despite a seeming decrease in volcanic activity.

ERP or Electronic Road Pricing is a mechanism presently used in a number of countries that charge motorists a certain amount for passing a particular road at a particular hour. It is similar to a toll fee, but pricing is determined primarily by “congestion” and time of use. The fee is higher when one chooses to pass a main road at “peak” hours.

Recently it was reported that the growth rate of Germany, Europe’s largest economy and the world’s fourth largest, fell to only 0.6% in 2019. This caught my attention because it is a significant drop from 1.5% in 2018 and 2.2% average for 2014-2017. The UK and France managed to grow 1.4% in Q1-Q3 2019 so far, while Italy has crawled to only 0.1% growth.

Opportunities abound to develop or exploit underdeveloped industries such as agriculture and technology, given the right enablers and government support. Sport is one such sector that is gaining increased attention, especially with the recently concluded Southeast Asian Games 2019.

AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION is seen to have improved in the fourth quarter of 2019 driven by increased spending of Filipinos on food during the Christmas season, and other rice-producing areas filling the gaps for those hit by typhoons in the latter part of the year.

WASHINGTON/DAVOS — Global growth appears to have bottomed out but there is no rebound in sight and risks ranging from trade tensions to climate shocks makes the outlook uncertain, a top International Monetary Fund (IMF) official said on Monday.

THE International Monetary Fund (IMF) maintained its growth forecast for the Philippines for this year, despite lowering global growth projections.

THE Department of Finance (DoF) said on Tuesday that the lease contract between a unit of a state-led corporation and privately owned Chevron Philippines, Inc. contains “onerous” provisions as the oil firm is paying lower-than-market rental fees on a government property in Batangas.