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Kuala Lumpur—Southeast Asian leaders on Saturday opened a weekend summit that will bear the fruits of eight years of labor—the formal launch of a unified economic community in a diverse region far larger than the European Union or North America, with hopes of competing with China and India. 

The horse-trading between Malacañang and Congress over the proposed tax cuts continues. 

By Jerry Maglunog Philippine Airlines (PAL), the nation’s flag carrier, lost $18.7 million, or about P874.8 million, as a result of the preparations for the hosting by the Philippines of the Asia Pacific Cooperation (Apec) summit. 

By Luis Leoncio  Banco de Oro (BDO) Unibank, the country’s biggest, with total assets of P1.86 trillion is looking toward Japan to expand its overseas reach.

By Jerry Maglunog The Philippines hosts this week what critics have come to regard as the annual “socials” of global leaders called the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit, the outcome of which, a noted economist lamented, would bring little in terms of immediate benefits to the economy. 

The remittances of over seas Filipinos, which totaled around P24.8 billion or 10 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2014, may be drying up, according to London’s Financial Times (FT), quoting data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). 

Beijing— China said Friday it respects freedom of navigation and overflight in the South China Sea despite reports its ground controllers issued warnings to US strategic bombers flying over the area this week. 

By Angela Charlton and Sylvie Corbet / The Associated Press Paris—French President Francois Hollande vowed to attack the Islamic State (IS) group without mercy as the jihadist group admitted responsibility on Saturday for orchestrating the deadliest attacks on France since World War II.

By Riza Lozada  Telecommunications giant Globe Telecom Inc. sustained its growth momentum for the first nine months of this year, posting a 34-percent increase in profit to P14.1 billion on a 15-percent jump in revenues to P83.4 billion, compared with last year’s figure. 

Casino operator Bloomberry Resorts Corp. reported taking a hit from the recent devaluation of the yuan resulting in a P1.509-billion loss in the first nine months, compared with a year ago, but said at the same time that prospects for the company were getting better, particularly its local operations.