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How to Watch Top 25 Women’s College Basketball Games – Thursday, December 12Zhongchao Inc. (NASDAQ:ZCMD) Short Interest UpdatePHILIPPINES: The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to reshape the Philippine labour market, with nearly four out of 10 jobs highly exposed to AI, according to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published by the Asia News Network . The Washington-based institution, in its country report published on Dec 20, highlighted both the potential for AI to displace workers and the opportunity to enhance productivity across various sectors. The IMF estimates that 36% of jobs in the Philippines are “highly exposed” to AI. While this technology may replace certain human roles, it also holds the potential to complement workers’ tasks, boosting efficiency and productivity. Interestingly, more than half of the jobs exposed to AI were categorized as “highly complementary,” meaning AI could augment rather than replace the tasks performed. However, the risks are significant. The IMF warned that approximately 14% of the Philippine workforce is at risk of being replaced by AI, with the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector particularly vulnerable to disruption due to the rise of AI-driven tools like chatbots and virtual assistants handling customer service tasks. Roles in technical support, sales, and clerical work face the highest exposure to automation, with many of these jobs at risk of being fully replaced by AI, given the low potential for AI to simply support these roles. Conversely, opportunities exist for AI to augment tasks for professionals, managers, and machine operators, while workers in craft and trade, agriculture, and elementary occupations are less likely to be impacted by technology. The report also noted gender disparities in AI exposure. Nearly half of women’s jobs are highly exposed to AI, compared to just a quarter of men’s jobs. This difference is largely due to the higher number of women employed in clerical support, service, and sales, while men are more likely to work in fields like trades, agriculture, and machine operations, which are less vulnerable to automation. The IMF’s findings come amid growing optimism about the Philippines’ vibrant IT and BPO sectors. The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) projects BPO revenues to grow 6% to $31.4 billion this year, outperforming other key dollar sources such as remittances. The IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines anticipates even higher revenue growth, projecting $37.5 billion and an increase in the workforce to 1.82 million by year-end. To ensure the benefits of AI are widely distributed, the IMF emphasized the need for the Philippine government to invest in digital infrastructure and education. It also called for strengthening the social safety net for workers displaced by AI. In particular, the IMF recommended modernizing educational curricula and increasing training for teachers to equip the future workforce with the necessary skills to thrive in an AI-driven economy. Globally, the IMF’s report notes that AI could impact as much as 40% of global employment . While AI’s potential to enhance productivity is significant, it also presents risks, particularly in advanced economies where up to 60% of jobs may be affected. In emerging markets like the Philippines, while AI exposure is lower, the challenge remains to ensure that these countries can harness the benefits of AI without exacerbating global inequality. The IMF concluded by warning that while AI’s rise will likely create new opportunities, the transition will require careful management to ensure that workers are not left behind, particularly in emerging economies like the Philippines.

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President Joe Biden pledged another 600 million US dollars (£472 million) on Wednesday for an ambitious multi-country rail project in Africa as one of the final foreign policy moves of his administration. Mr Biden told African leaders the resource-rich continent of more than 1.4 billion people had been “left behind for much too long”. “But not anymore,” Mr Biden added. “Africa is the future.” Mr Biden used the third and final day of a visit to Angola – his long-awaited, first trip to sub-Saharan Africa as president – to travel to the coastal city of Lobito and tour an Atlantic port terminal that’s part of the Lobito Corridor railway redevelopment. Mr Biden described it as the largest US investment in a train project outside America. The US and allies are investing heavily in the project that will refurbish nearly 1,200 miles of train lines connecting to the mineral-rich areas of Congo and Zambia in central Africa. The corridor, which likely will take years to complete, gives the US better access to cobalt, copper and other critical minerals in Congo and Zambia that are used in batteries for electric vehicles, electronic devices and clean energy technologies that Mr Biden said would power the future. China is dominant in mining in Congo and Zambia. The US investment has strategic implications for US-China economic competition, which went up a notch this week as they traded blows over access to key materials and technologies. The African leaders who met with Mr Biden on Wednesday said the railway corridor offered their countries a much faster route for minerals and goods – and a convenient outlet to Western markets. “This is a project that is full of hope for our countries and our region,” said Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, whose country has more than 70% of the word’s cobalt. “This is not just a logistical project. It is a driving force for economic and social transformation for millions of our people.” The leaders said the corridor should spur private-sector investment and improve a myriad of related areas like roads, communication networks, agriculture and clean energy technologies. For the African countries, it could create a wave of new jobs for a burgeoning young population. Cargo that once took 45 days to get to the US – usually involving trucks via South Africa – would now take around 45 hours, Mr Biden said. He predicted the project could transform the region from a food importer to exporter. It’s “something that if done right will outlast all of us and keep delivering for our people for generations to come,” he said. The announcement of an additional $600 million took the U.S.’s investment in the Lobito Corridor to 4.0 billion dollars (£3.15 billion).

IT takes a village to raise a child. And the Philippine village — the myriad entities needed to feed, clothe, shelter, medicate, educate and morally form our children into self-reliant, responsible citizens — are weak or broken. Even as Filipino Catholics celebrate the Feast of the Holy Family on Dec. 29, the Sunday after Christmas, we cannot but lament the grave problems and failings in the protection, strengthening and development of the Filipino family. A third of Filipinos 5 years of age or younger are stunted in body and mind due to severe malnutrition in the first 1,000 days of life since conception — among the 10 highest stunting rates on the planet. Stunting cuts learning and earning potential for life. It is "the most bothersome" among challenges in child education, argues the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), a think tank of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA). And despite worsening hunger — afflicting 25 million Filipinos, based on Social Weather Stations' June and September surveys — other matters distract national leaders, especially legislators who even slashed social services funding to boost expenditures in the 2025 budget seen as helping electioneering for the May polls (https://tinyurl.com/534ue5xh). Our housing shortage runs into several millions. Double that shelter-challenged number and that's how many Filipino children do not live in the security of their own homes, assuming there are only two children per household (the poor average more). Every year, hundreds of billions of pesos are spent on public health, not counting resources of the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. collected from Filipinos but used by the government for non-health purposes. Yet our maternal mortality rate — the number of women who die while giving birth, a key measure of public health services — is estimated at 189.21 per 100,000 live births in 2021, based on Department of Health data. That's nearly triple the 2030 target of 70 set by the United Nations Strategic Development Goals. On education, there's the dismal performance of 15-year-old Filipino students in the 2022 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests, where they ranked third-worst in science and sixth-worst in reading and mathematics. PIDS blamed poor PISA scores on late start of formal schooling, low parental support and models of aspiration, inadequate school resources like learning materials and classrooms, no information and communications technology at home, and bullying and ill-discipline in school. Who's minding families? What about the family itself? Is it staying together amid livelihood, learning, health and other challenges? Well, marital separation rates have steadily risen over the decades, though no agency is mandated by Congress to watch over the family. This is despite Article XV in the Constitution, titled "The Family," recognizing the family as "the foundation of the nation" and mandating that "The State ... shall strengthen its solidarity and actively promote its total development." Plus: "Marriage, as an inviolable social institution, is the foundation of the family and shall be protected by the State." Article XV also mandates "the right of children to assistance, including proper care and nutrition, and special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development." And "the right of the family to a family living wage and income ..." Given the undeniable challenges and failings doing no little harm to the Filipino family, with even Congress enacting measures like the anti-poor, pro-electioneering 2025 national budget, there is more than ample reason for an executive order creating a Presidential Commission on the Family (PCOF) to coordinate government and other social entities for whole-of-nation programs and undertakings to fulfill the constitutional mandate to strengthen family solidarity and actively promote its development? Congress may eventually create a national authority like NEDA focused on Article XV, but Filipino families should not have to wait. The then-president Gloria Arroyo created the Commission on Information and Communications Technology in 2004, a dozen years before its successor department was established by law. President Marcos can do Filipino families a similar service while waiting for Congress to pass a law effectively implementing "The Family" article in our Constitution. What would the PCOF head do? As a Cabinet member advancing the family, he or she would combine the coordination of departments, agencies and local governments, which NEDA does for economic and social development, and the interface with nongovernmental organizations and sectors coordinated by the National Anti-Poverty Commission. The Family Commissioner should also monitor and assess government actions and policies as well as actions by the business, education, health and other sectors regarding their impact on families, especially vulnerable segments like women, children, the elderly and the poor. In advancing family protection and development, the PCOF should make sure to give attention to values formation, not just material aspects of its mandate. Rich, educated, healthy children who have no respect and concern for elders, as Article XV mandates, require PCOF action just as those suffering malnutrition, disease and poverty do. The Feast of the Holy Innocents on Dec. 28, the day before the Holy Family celebration, commemorates the appalling Gospel story from St. Matthew (Mt 2:13-18) about the massacre of infant boys in and around Bethlehem ordered by King Herod to assassinate the Messiah prophesied to become Israel's monarch. Today, political leaders continue to put families in harm's way, whether in wars in Ukraine and Israel decimating defenseless civilians, or through state budgets that advance political agenda at the poor's expense. To protect Filipino families from pernicious policies and actuations, and advance their solidarity and development as mandated by our Constitution, we need a Presidential Commission on the Family, or a similar entity by another name. May our beloved Santo Niño inspire our leaders to make it happen. Amen.Big Things first appeared in Australia in the 1960s, beginning with the Big Scotsman (1962) in Medindie, South Australia, the Big Banana (1964) in Coffs Harbour, New South Wales, and the Big Murray Cod (1968) in Tocumwal, NSW. These structures were inspired by earlier North American examples, such as Lucy the Elephant (1882) in New Jersey, and several big doughnuts in California . While they differed in subject matter, all aimed to attract the attention of passing motorists: in the 1950s–1960s, private car ownership had soared and highway construction spread. Towns and regions across Australia, New Zealand and North America used oversized landmarks to get travellers to stop, take a photo and hopefully spend money at local businesses. As awareness of these giant landmarks grew, so did the desire of other communities to have their own. Within a few decades, Australia’s Big Things had become a beloved fixture of road trips and summer holidays. A big cultural impact My research shows the number of Big Things being constructed in Australia hit an initial peak in the 1980s before experiencing a temporary decline. By the 2000s, however, towns as far afield as Tully in Queensland ( Big Golden Gumboot ), Cressy in Tasmania ( Big Trout ), and Exmouth in Western Australia ( Big Prawn ) were reviving the tradition. Soon, Big Things became firmly entrenched in Australian popular culture: featuring on limited edition Redheads matchboxes (2010), and on sets of Australia Post stamps (2007 and 2023). But some of the older structures experienced declining popularity: the Big Wool Bales in Hamilton, Victoria (closed 2020), Victoria’s Giant Gippsland Earth Worm in Bass (closed 2020) and the Big Cask Wine in Mourquong, NSW (closed 2012), survive only in holiday photos and people’s memories. Icons like Larry the Lobster (Kingston, SA), the Big Prawn (Ballina, NSW), and the Big Pineapple (Nambour, Queensland) have battled changes in ownership , threat of demolition , and closure . Read more: Australia's ‘big’ problem – what to do with our ageing super-sized statues? Despite these challenges, and debates over heritage conservation, construction of these giant landmarks has not slowed. The Big Bogan was erected in 2015 in Nyngan, NSW, by community members who were eager to encourage visitors to the area. A local progress association in the small town of Thallon in Queensland unveiled William the Big Wombat in 2018, also with the aim to bring attention to the area. Similar hopes were held for the Big Watermelon erected in 2018 (Chinchilla, Queensland), and the Big Tractor (Carnamah, WA) which opened this year . Through my research, I spoke with many people involved with projects such as these, and they said they’d selected objects that were iconic to their area. This could be a product they specialise in, a local native animal, or, in the case of the Big Bogan, a joke based on the name of nearby Bogan River. Most builders openly acknowledge their primary motivation is to promote the region, attract tourist dollars and investment, and revive towns that have seen better days. But do Big Things actually achieve these goals? Unfortunately, there is no easy answer. An economic return? Local economies are complex, as are the reasons people choose to visit. Many Big Things are constructed on the sides of highways that connect Australia’s numerous regional towns. People who stop for photos may not set out with the goal of visiting that Big Thing – it may simply be convenient to take a break there while on the way somewhere else. And if people do stop, it doesn’t guarantee they will spend more than the cost of filling up their car with petrol, if that. Over the years, tourism researchers have developed several different models for calculating the impact of rural and regional tourism on local economies. However, none of these approaches has proven to be universally effective. Most scholars agree tourists aren’t likely to travel long distances for any one reason . They will consider a range of factors including food and accommodation, and the closeness of numerous attractions. In other words: building a Big Thing won’t guarantee a sustained increase in tourism to the area on its own. Communities should factor this in when considering erection of a Big Thing, especially given the cost of construction. The Big Mango in Bowen reportedly cost $A90,000 when it was built in 2002, while the organisers of the Big Tractor in Carnamah raised more than $600,000 to cover its price tag. The spread of social media and easy access to media outlets via the internet offers communities another reason to build Big Things, however. Australians are not the only ones fascinated by Big Things, and when a new one is unveiled — or an existing one goes “missing”, as the Big Mango did in 2014 — it is often covered by the press and then shared online. These giant landmarks are also highly “Instagrammable”: a 2015 survey revealed that six of Australia’s 20 most Instagrammed tourist attractions were Big Things. This sort of coverage doesn’t necessarily guarantee the long-term revival of a town’s economy. But it can help to remind people of the town’s existence, and it gives locals a memorable image on which to build.Biden pledges £472m for rail project to improve access to Africa’s minerals

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NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes got back to climbing on Wednesday after the latest update on inflation appeared to clear the way for more help for the economy from the Federal Reserve . The S&P 500 rose 0.8% to break its first two-day losing streak in nearly a month and finished just short of its all-time high. Big Tech stocks led the way, which drove the Nasdaq composite up 1.8% to top the 20,000 level for the first time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, meanwhile, lagged the market with a dip of 99 points, or 0.2%. Stocks got a boost as expectations built that Wednesday’s inflation data will allow the Fed to deliver another cut to interest rates at its meeting next week. Traders are betting on a nearly 99% probability of that, according to data from CME Group, up from 89% a day before. If they’re correct, it would be a third straight cut by the Fed after it began lowering rates in September from a two-decade high. It’s hoping to support a slowing job market after getting inflation nearly all the way down to its 2% target. Lower rates would give a boost to the economy and to prices for investments, but they could also provide more fuel for inflation. “The data have given the Fed the ‘all clear’ for next week, and today’s inflation data keep a January cut in active discussion,” according to Ellen Zentner, chief economic strategist for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. Expectations for a series of cuts to rates by the Fed have been one of the main reasons the S&P 500 has set an all-time high 57 times this year , with the latest coming last week. The biggest boosts for the index on Wednesday came from Nvidia and other Big Tech stocks. Their massive growth has made them Wall Street’s biggest stars for years, though other kinds of stocks have recently been catching up somewhat amid hopes for the broader U.S. economy. Tesla jumped 5.9% to finish above $420 at $424.77. It’s a level that Elon Musk made famous in a 2018 tweet when he said he had secured funding to take Tesla private at $420 per share . Stitch Fix soared 44.3% after the company that sends clothes to your door reported a smaller loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also gave financial forecasts for the current quarter that were better than expected, including for revenue. GE Vernova rallied 5% for one of the biggest gains in the S&P 500. The energy company that spun out of General Electric said it would pay a 25 cent dividend every three months, and it approved a plan to send up to another $6 billion to its shareholders by buying back its own stock. On the losing end of Wall Street, Dave & Buster’s Entertainment tumbled 20.1% after reporting a worse loss for the latest quarter than expected. It also said CEO Chris Morris has resigned, and the board has been working with an executive-search firm for the last few months to find its next permanent leader. Albertsons fell 1.5% after filing a lawsuit against Kroger, saying it didn’t do enough for their proposed $24.6 billion merger agreement to win regulatory clearance. Albertsons said it’s seeking billions of dollars in damages from Kroger, whose stock rose 1%. A day earlier, judges in separate cases in Oregon and Washington nixed the supermarket giants’ merger. The grocers contended a combination could have helped them compete with big retailers like Walmart, Costco and Amazon, but critics said it would hurt competition. After terminating the merger agreement with Kroger, Albertsons said it plans to boost its dividend 25% and increased the size of its program to buy back its own stock. Macy’s slipped 0.8% after cutting some of its financial forecasts for the full year of 2024, including for how much profit it expects to make off each $1 of revenue. All told, the S&P 500 rose 49.28 points to 6,084.19. The Dow dipped 99.27 to 44,148.56, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 347.65 to 20,034.89. In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.27% from 4.23% late Tuesday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for the Fed, edged up to 4.15% from 4.14%. In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier and slipped 0.8% as Chinese leaders convened an annual planning meeting in Beijing that is expected to set economic policies and growth targets for the coming year. South Korea’s Kospi rose 1%, up for a second straight day as it climbs back following last week’s political turmoil where its president briefly declared martial law. AP Writers Matt Ott and Zimo Zhong contributed.