Category: General

Duksung Women’s University said Wednesday it will not assign new students to the German and French language departments starting next year, signaling its intent to abolish the two European language majors.

The northern Seoul university’s board decided on the abolition of the German Language and Literature and the French Language and Literature in its meeting Tuesday, citing the two departments’ low popularity, it said.

The university’s president, Kim Gun-hee, said late last month that the academic structure of majors that cannot be sustained, such as those ranked lowest in annual evaluations, should be reorganized.

Some professors and students criticized the abolition decision as undemocratic.

The decision, the first of its kind made by a university in Seoul, also raises concern about the collapse of humanities.

“The German language and literature association and local universities have been paying close attention to the situation at Duksung Women’s University. I’m concerned that the decision may have
a negative impact on the overall humanities majors at other schools,” a German language professor said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

ISTANBUL: The Voyager 1 space probe transmitted an understandable message to Earth for the first time in months after NASA engineers fixed a communication problem in the 47-year-old satellite, the US space agency announced Tuesday.

Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 has been continuing its mission in deep space as the farthest human-made object from the Earth at 24.1 billion kilometers (over 14.9 billion miles) from the Earth, has once again transmitted “usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems,” NASA said in a statement.

Voyager 1 had been returning unintelligible signals to Earth since Nov. 14, 2023, however, remaining operational and responsive to commands from mission controllers.

“The source of the issue appears to be with one of three onboard computers, the flight data subsystem (FDS), which is responsible for packaging the science and engineering data before it’s sent to Earth by the telemetry modulation unit,” the statement reads.

Due to its interstellar position, it tak
es signals from Voyager 1 20 hours and 33 minutes to reach our planet, resulting in a nearly two-day round trip for messages between it and NASA.

Meanwhile, the space agency is attempting to regain a signal from the Voyager 2 spacecraft after losing communication after sending an incorrect command.

Source: Philippines News Agency

The vice foreign ministers of South Korea and Canada held talks Wednesday to discuss ways to expand bilateral cooperation in the areas of energy and key minerals, the foreign ministry said.

During the talks in Seoul, Second Vice Foreign Minister Kang In-sun and her Canadian counterpart, Rob Stewart, also agreed on the need to step up cooperation as South Korea and Canada are set to chair the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and Group of Seven (G7) Summit, respectively, next year.

The two sides stressed the need for Seoul to strengthen ties with the G7 countries, according to the ministry. The G7 consists of the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

South Korea was recently excluded from a list of countries invited to the upcoming G7 summit, set to take place in Italy in June, though the country has been pushing for a “G7 Plus” initiative to expand its role and responsibilities as one of the world’s major middle powers.

Kang also noted “great potential” for cooperation
between the two countries, especially in the areas of key minerals and high-tech future industries, such as electric vehicles and batteries.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

South Korea and Britain held ministerial-level talks Wednesday to discuss preparations for a joint artificial intelligence (AI) summit to be held in Seoul next month, Seoul’s science ministry said.

Minister of Science and ICT Lee Jong-ho and his British counterpart, Michelle Donelan, convened via a video meeting to check the progress of the AI Seoul Summit, slated for May 21 and 22, according to the ministry.

The upcoming summit is a follow-up to the AI Safety Summit held in England last November with the participation of countries including South Korea, the United States, Britain, Japan and Germany.

On May 21, the leaders of participating nations will hold a virtual summit to discuss ways to guarantee AI safety, promote innovations and build an inclusive future.

The following day, a ministerial meeting will be held to discuss specific areas of cooperation based on the summit discussions of the previous day, including measures to enhance AI safety in each country and develop sustainable AI.

Also on the
day, South Korea will host the AI Global Forum with senior officials from countries around the world, key industry leaders and members of academia in attendance, according to the ministry.

“We expect the AI Seoul Summit, scheduled to take place next month, to set a significant milestone in devising global AI principles and governance,” Lee said.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

MANILA: National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan is optimistic that despite risks, the growth of the Philippines will continue to be one of the fastest in the region this year.

“Let’s put it this way, all the major development observers are seeing a 6 percent at least for the Philippines this year. The IMF (International Monetary Fund), the ADB (Asian Development Bank), and the World Bank are seeing quite a good number,” Balisacan said on the sidelines of the 2024 National Innovation Day Celebration in Quezon City on Monday.

The IMF projects the Philippine economy to grow by 6.2 percent this year, while the ADB forecasts economic growth to settle at 6 percent.

The World Bank, meanwhile, expects the Philippine economy to grow by 5.9 percent in 2024.

“In the latest ADB report, in Southeast Asia they put us as the highest performer in 2024. So even though not as high as we targeted in the beginning of the administration, the fact that while everybody was downgraded, or w
e were downgraded in terms of the absolute level of the growth… still we are expected to perform among the best in Asia,” Balisacan said.

For this year, the government targets a 6 to 7 percent economic growth.

Balisacan said the latest government target is already factored in the scenario of a higher-for-longer interest rate.

“When we looked at the 6-7 percent [target], that’s more or less already given because we know that the interest rates have quite at most five quarters of impact down the road so that’s already given that the interest rates… the result of the policy actions last year are expected to be felt this year,” he said.

Balisacan, meanwhile, said he is hoping that the April 2024 headline inflation data will settle close to March 2024’s 3.7 percent level.

“[Headline inflation] was 3.7 percent last time, right? So hopefully we get as close to that as possible. What we are watching is the 2 to 4 [percent] target for the year because inflation can go up, go down but what we want is to keep t
hat within the band so that there will not be much instability in the market,” he said.

He also assured the public that the government is closely watching the geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and its possible effects on inflation.

“If the oil prices would be affected by that development, there will be some pressure for us,” he said.

“But in the second half of this year, we expect the pressure from food prices to diminish because a big part of that food inflation was imported in the sense that food prices particularly for staple have been rising in the world market but for rice that is expected to decline, to have reached its peak and start falling after June as the El Nino phenomenon is waning. So hopefully that’s a plus factor for us,” Balisacan added.

Official April 2024 headline inflation data is scheduled to be released on May 7, while the first quarter economic growth data will be out on May 9.

Source: Philippines News Agency

BUTUAN CITY: At least 8,901 vacancies will be offered to jobseekers as the Department of Labor and Employment in the Caraga Region (DOLE-13) will spearhead different job fairs in the area to celebrate the 122nd Labor Day on May 1.

Data provided by DOLE-13 on Wednesday showed that 4,374 of the vacancies are for local jobs, while the 4,527 are overseas jobs.

‘There will be simultaneous jobs fair activities in different sites in Agusan del Norte, Agusan del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Surigao del Sur, and Dinagat Islands,’ DOLE-13 said.

Jobseekers from Agusan del Norte may proceed to Almont Inland Resort in Butuan City for the jobs fair; the Naligayan Grounds at the Provincial Capitol in Patin-ay, Prosperidad, Agusan del Sur; the Surigao City Cultural Center for Surigao del Norte; the Tandag City gymnasium for Surigao del Sur; and the Sta. Cruz covered court in San Jose town for Dinagat Islands.

In addition to the jobs fair, payout activities for the beneficiaries of the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvanta
ged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) will also be held in various parts of the region.

During the activity, 27,732 beneficiaries will receive PHP123.2 million worth of TUPAD payments, while 873 beneficiaries of the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program will also be awarded PHP21.1 million worth of livelihood packages.

Also, some 421 beneficiaries of the government internship program will receive their salaries, amounting to more than PHP1.7 million.

Moreover, some 131 sellers from 74 farmers’ organizations will join the celebration through the Kadiwa ng Pangulo program, where displays of agricultural products will be sold to the public. (

Source: Philippines News Agency