Multitasking is a myth - it makes people more inefficient

"Work smarter not harder" is a common exhortation by CEOs. Another common directive is "to do more with less". But how? Simplistic slogans masquerade as management insights with worrying frequency. In business it's not the "what" but the "how" that often matters more.

Don't sleep on it: going to bed mad makes it worse

A good night's sleep may reinforce negative memories in the brain, researchers said on Tuesday, lending scientific credence to the time-worn caution against going to bed angry.

Yahoo

Israeli firm Cellebrite can steal phone data in seconds

It only takes a few seconds for an employee of one of the world's leading hacking companies to take a locked smartphone and pull the data from it.

Duterte nurses old grudges against US

President Rodrigo Duterte really doesn't like America. And, at 71 years old, he is unlikely to change his mind.

Canadian court delivers heavy blow to spy agency, saying it kept data illegally

A court dealt Canada’s spy agency a serious blow on Thursday, declaring it had illegally kept data collected during investigations over the past decade and threatening sanctions if the issue occurred again.

Why mind blanks happen during exams

It's a pattern many of us have likely experienced in the past.

Feng Shui: Expelling evil

In many parts of the world (cultural and religious differences notwithstanding), there are numerous items and symbols that are considered “lucky”, or even to ward off evil spirits. We explore how this works in feng shui.

Property Guru

Philippines' Duterte wants to 'open alliances' with Russia, China

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Monday he would visit Russia and China this year to chart an independent foreign policy and "open alliances" with two powers with historic rivalries with the United States.

Reuters

Cyberheist saga rages: Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial

In its editorial on Sept 26, the paper says it remains a shame that the Philippines will be returning only a small portion of money stolen from an impoverished nation like Bangladesh.

Why Chinese-Indonesians don’t have to hide any longer

Community was scapegoated in the violence that followed the Asian Financial Crisis, but in a post-Suharto, newly democratised country, their identity is no longer a hindrance

SCMP

Tough-talking Duterte makes international debut amid Obama spat

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has threatened to swear at US President Barack Obama, dangled the prospect of leaving the United Nations and insulted the pope, all without leaving the country. Now he's ready to meet the world.

The crisis in Anglo-American democracy

Two of the great political parties in the West - the Republicans in the United States and Labour in the United Kingdom - are in a state of near collapse. That, in turn, threatens the health of democracy on both sides of the Atlantic.

NSA hacking tools revealed online

Some of the most powerful espionage tools created by the National Security Agency's elite group of hackers have been revealed in recent days, a development that could pose severe consequences for the spy agency's operations and the security of government and corporate computers.

A letter from Normandy to Abe: Lessons for Japan from WWII

I spent a few days with my grandchildren visiting the beaches in Normandy in France that witnessed the landings of D-Day and the cities and towns that were ravaged by the fighting; these represent the first crucial steps to eventually bringing an end to World War II in Europe.

Why Australia's luck may be running out

Australians of a nervous disposition should probably avoid reading the Chinese press and social media at the moment. A combination of tensions over the South China Sea and the Olympics has made Australia the target of wild invective by Chinese nationalists.

In Japan, an Emperor Constrained by History and a National Identity Crisis

The hint by Emperor Akihito of Japan that he would like to abdicate challenges something bigger than the laws requiring him to serve until his death and questions over succession.

Indonesian tax amnesty pitch: bring it home to a new home

Indonesians who have stashed billions of dollars abroad over the years can now bring their hoard safely back home - literally, to a newly bought condo.

Most Asean countries ‘want to stay out of Beijing’s South China Sea dispute with the Philippines’

Most Asean countries want to stay out of the South China Sea dispute between China and the Philippines, says a diplomat with inside knowledge about the negotiations that went on before the bloc issued a joint statement on the matter this week.

Japanese 'rent men' who are paid just to listen

AFP

Will we be the West’s ‘tank man’ vs China?

I certainly hope we won’t, or President Duterte’s term will see an economic downturn, a year or so after what this overexcited Solicitor General Jose Calida called the country’s “crowning glory,” our victory in the UNCLOS case we filed against China at the Permanent Court of Arbitration. It’s a real possibility, though, that Calida’s crown of glory could be our crown of thorns.

Rigoberto Tiglao is a Filipino diplomat and writer. He was formerly the Ambassador to Cyprus and Greece.