Top of The Hour News

'I'm gay,' says 'Idol' runner-up Lambert

2009-06-10T01:40:00.000-07:00

Make-up wearing "American Idol" star Adam Lambert has ended the guessing game over his sexual orientation by confirming he is gay in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

Glam-rocker Lambert, 27, who finished runner-up to clean-cut Kris Allen in the television singing contest last month, told Rolling Stone he had been living openly as a gay man for several years.

"I don't think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear I'm gay," Lambert told Rolling Stone in its latest issue due on newstands Friday.

"I've been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man. I've been at clubs drunk making out with somebody in the corner."

Lambert, who wowed "Idol" judges with his extraordinary vocal range, was seen as the overwhelming favorite to take the title in the May 20 finale.

However he lost in a final hyped as a smackdown between the conservative values of "red states" represented by Arkansas-based Allen and the liberal mores of "blue states" personified by the flamboyant Lambert.

Inquirer

RP in mild recession – Recto

2009-06-10T01:14:00.000-07:00

The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) on Monday described the worse-than-expected first quarter economic growth results as “a mild recession.”

“You can call it [first quarter economic growth] a mild recession with mild growth. It’s almost flat,” Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ralph Recto told reporters.

The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) earlier reported that the economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) grew by only 0.4 percent in the first quarter of the year from 3.9 percent in the same period last year.

A proxy for economic output, GDP is the amount of goods and services produced in a country.
The first-quarter GDP was the weakest since the fourth quarter of 1998, when the economy contracted by 2.4 percent.

On a seasonally adjusted quarter-to-quarter basis, the economy contracted by 2.3 percent, the lowest in 20 years.

But Recto said there was a possibility that the 0.4-percent GDP growth in the first quarter could be revised later on with a better number.

For the full year, Recto said the Development Budget and Coordinating Committee (DBCC) was set to revise downward the economic growth target this year of between 3.1 percent and 4.1 percent. “But, there’s no possibility of a contraction [in the economic growth target for 2009].”

Manila Times

Review sought on PSALM sale of power assets

2009-06-10T00:48:00.000-07:00

A consumer group has asked the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assess and evaluate the privatization of government-owned power assets being conducted by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

In a letter to the WB and ADB, the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms (Nasecore) noted that, despite the government’s privatization effort, the cost of electricity continues to increase, thus “putting consumers at a loss.”

WB and ADB are major creditors of the state-run National Power Corp. (Napocor), which owns the power generation assets.

PSALM is a government-owned and -controlled corporation that has been created by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to manage the sale and privatization of Napocor generation assets, real estate and other disposable assets.

“PSALM claims success in its ongoing privatization effort as far as being able to optimize the value of the Napocor assets” is concerned, Nasecore president Pete Ilagan said.

But PSALM and Napocor had recently filed an application with the Energy Regulatory Commission seeking to increase power generation rates due to financial difficulty.
Napocor and PSALM want to increase its effective rates in Luzon by 17.20 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and in Visayas, by P2.0207/kWh.

Inquirer

Globe lists P5-B bonds on PDEx

2009-06-09T23:28:00.000-07:00

Globe Telecom has signed an agreement with Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp. to list the Ayala unit’s P5 billion worth of three- and five-year retail bonds on the fixed income exchange starting Wednesday.

Globe raised more than P13 billion from new borrowings since the beginning of the year. The retail bonds to be listed on PDEx, which are due in 2012 and 2014, were issued last Feb. 25. The coupon rate for the three-year notes stood at 7.5 percent while the rate for the five-year notes was 8 percent.

Inquirer

Magic edge Lakers in game 3 of NBA Finals

2009-06-09T22:21:00.000-07:00

Dwight Howard had 21 points and 14 rebounds and Rafer Alston had 20 points to power Orlando to a 108-104 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in game three of the NBA finals on Tuesday.

Rashard Lewis scored 19 points for the Magic who shot a staggering 75 percent in the first half and avoided a sweep in the best-of-seven series.

The Magic's win spoiled a superb performance by Kobe Bryant who put on a shooting clinic in the first half by scoring 21 points en route to his game-high 31.

Game four is Thursday in Orlando.

The Lakers are in the finals for the 30th time in franchise history while the Magic are making just their second appearance in 14 years.

The Magic won their first finals game in franchise history by shooting a blistering 62.5 percent from the field. They had five players in double figures in front of a sold-out crowd of 17,461 at Amway Arena.

The Magic led by five points at halftime and 81-75 at the end of the third quarter.

Inquirer

Only 10 percent passed the career service examinations

2009-06-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

A total of 5,998 examinees passed the career service examinations that took place last March 29, the Civil Service Commission (CSC) said on Tuesday.

The total number of passers comprised 10 percent of the 60,009 examinees who took the exam. Of the number, 4,312 or 71.89 percent were successful examinees of the Professional level while the rest were passers of the Sub-Professional test.

The new Professional and Sub-Professional eligibles can be appointed to second level positions and first level positions, respectively, in government that are not covered by Bar, Board or other special laws, provided they meet the education, experience and training requirements of the positions, the CSC said.

The CSC also announced that the deadline for application for the July 26 Professional and Sub-Professional written examinations is set on June 10.

CSC
Inquirer

Philippine April exports fall 35.2% on year

2009-06-09T20:40:00.000-07:00

Exports slumped 35.2 percent in April from a year earlier, deeper than a 30.8 percent fall in the previous month, the National Statistics Office says.

Shipments of electronics products also plunged 33.2 percent in April from a year earlier after a 33.8 percent contraction in March.

In the four months to April, exports contracted 36.41 percent from the same year-ago period.

NSO
Inquirer

PLDT eyes cash buyout of SMC stake in Meralco

2009-06-09T03:54:00.000-07:00

Local telecommunications giant Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. is willing to talk with conglomerate San Miguel Corp. on a potential cash buyout of the latter's 27 percent stake in the country's largest power retailer Manila Electric Co.

That is, if and only if San Miguel would be a willing seller, according to PLDT chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan, during a talk with reporters after the annual stockholders meeting of the country's most valuable company on Tuesday.

Pangilinan earlier denied reports that the First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong, the controlling stockholder of PLDT and infrastructure holding company Metro Pacific Investments Corp., had offered to buy out San Miguel in Meralco by swapping its toll road and water distribution businesses.

Inquirer

Bill Gates visits World Health Organization

2009-06-09T03:34:00.000-07:00

GENEVA (AP) – Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is visiting the World Health Organization to discuss the agency's work on polio, AIDS and the swine flu outbreak.

Spokeswoman Fadela Chaib says Gates is seeing WHO Director-General Margaret Chan and other senior officials for a "working meeting" Tuesday.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has donated billions of dollars to global health projects, including funds for fighting common diseases such as tuberculosis and polio.

Chaib says media will be excluded from the meeting.

Philstar

Apple drops entry iPhone to $99, unveils new model

2009-06-09T03:32:00.000-07:00

Apple Inc. slashed the entry price for an iPhone in half and lowered some laptops by $300 Monday, the company's first dramatic price cuts since the recession began a year and a half ago.

With co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs absent until his medical leave is over at the end of June, Apple's biggest unveiling at its annual conference for software developers was a new model of the iPhone, the 3G S. It looks the same but sports a faster processor, longer battery life, an internal compass, a video camera and a photo camera with better resolution and auto-focus.

A 16-gigabyte version of the 3G S will cost $199 and a 32-gigabyte version will be $299.

The 8-gigabyte iPhone 3G, which came out last year, now costs $99, instead of $199. When the iPhone debuted two years ago, eager Apple fans had to shell out $499 for a 4-gigabyte version and $599 for 8 gigs.

Yahoo News

Gov’t rejects bids for 5-year treasury bonds

2009-06-09T03:29:00.000-07:00

The government rejected all bids for the five-year Treasury bonds in an auction on Tuesday, saying players in the domestic capital market could not force it to pay absurdly high interest rates even if it was in dire need of cash to fund pump-priming initiatives.

National Treasurer Roberto Tan said that if domestically situated banks would continue to seek for “absurdly” high yields on government securities, the Bureau of the Treasury could slash the government’s domestic borrowing requirement in favor of more loans from foreign creditors.

He said speculations that the government might again raise its deficit ceiling for the year, from the latest P199.2 billion, because of the need to stimulate a weaker-than-expected economy, made market players believe the government needed more money. In turn, they started seeking for higher returns from government securities, Tan said.

Inquirer

Vertical stabilizer of downed Air France plane key

2009-06-09T03:27:00.000-07:00

The recovery of Air France Flight 447's tail section could provide key clues as to why the airliner with 228 people on board went down in the Atlantic and where best to search for the black boxes, experts said.

The tail section includes the vertical stabilizer — which keeps the plane's nose from swinging back and forth — and the rudder, which generates and controls the side-to-side motion of an aircraft.

The data and voice recorders are located in the fuselage near the tail.

Yahoo News

Philippine Government Cuts 2009 Growth Goal

2009-06-09T03:22:00.000-07:00

The Government still expects the economy to expand this year albeit at a slower pace than the government's target of 3.1 to 4.1 percent, while the budget deficit could be wider than estimated.

This is according to Economic Planning Chief Ralph Recto, who also said that the budget deficit goal this year may be raised to 3.0 percent of GDP or higher.

However, Recto declined to give details on the new estimates up for approval.

Inquirer

San Miguel eyes local mining ventures

2009-06-08T04:43:00.000-07:00

San Miguel Corp.is making big plans for Philippine mining, seen as an industry that can exponentially perk up domestic economic growth.

San Miguel earlier obtained a foothold in the country’s biggest power retailer Manila Electric Co. and oil refiner Petron Corp. It is also investing in dormant Liberty Telecom Holdings Inc., which it plans to use as its vehicle for its foray into the highly competitive telecommunications business.

Inquirer

Officials: No doubt wreckage is from Flight 447

2009-06-08T04:37:00.000-07:00

With 17 bodies pulled so far from the Atlantic, Brazilian and French military ships have no doubt they've located the wreckage of an Air France flight a week after it disappeared en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Brazil's military was not releasing detailed information about other bodies or debris spotted from the air after it was criticized last week for mistakenly identifying sea trash as a cargo pallet from the plane.

The search is focusing on a zone of several hundred square miles (square kilometers) roughly 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast.

Brazilian authorities have refused since the search began to release the precise coordinates of where they are looking, except to say the area lies southeast of the last jet transmission and could have indicated the pilot was trying to turn around in mid-flight and head to the islands.

Yahoo News

BSP: RP will not slide into a recession.

2009-06-08T04:31:00.000-07:00

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas stressed that the economy would not slide into a recession.

This is amid the disappointing GDP growth for Q1 2009. BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said that there were reasons to be optimistic as remittances remain strong, inflation is easing, investor appetite is slowly recovering and the BPO sector continues to grow.

Tetangco said the BSP was prepared to implement more measures that would help accelerate growth of the economy following the near-zero growth in the first quarter.

Inquirer

Lakers escape in OT to take 2-0 lead over Magic

2009-06-08T04:22:00.000-07:00

The Los Angeles Lakers escaped with a 101-96 win over the Magic on Sunday night to take a 2-0 lead in the NBA finals.

The Lakers are now off to Florida for Game 3 on Tuesday night at Amway Arena. They’ll play at least two games there with a chance to win their 15th title.

And since the NBA went to the 2-3-2 format in 1985, 11 of 12 teams winning the first two games have gone on to win the championship.

Yahoo Sports

Lance Armstrong Father of a Newborn Son

2009-06-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

Testicular cancer survivor cycling star Lance Armstrong, a Tour de France champ on the comeback trail, is the father of a newborn son, People magazine reported Friday.

"Armstrong and girlfriend Anna Hansen welcomed a 7 lb., 5 oz, 20-inch-long baby boy named Max, the pro cyclist announced," according to the magazine's online edition.

According to his Twitter page Armstrong posted a picture with the caption "Wassup, world? My name is Max Armstrong and I just arrived. My Mommy is healthy and so am I!"

The cycling champ has three children with ex-wife Kristin.

Inquirer

A (H1N1) Flu Virus Scare Reached Philippine Senate

2009-06-05T02:08:00.000-07:00

The flu scare has reached the Philippine Senate.

The Senate committee of the whole, who has been hearing the case against Senator Manuel Villar Jr. on the ethics complaint could not resume Thursday after the complainant – Sen. Jamby Madrigal – moved for the hearing’s suspension because she was stricken with fever and laryngitis.

On hearing that Madrigal has been suffering from fever and a sore throat, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon suggested that she be tested for the influenza A (H1N1) virus as she seemed to be exhibiting symptoms of the disease.

Sen. Manuel Roxas II said Madrigal should be asked to submit a doctor’s certificate declaring her swine flu-free, to allay suspicions that the majority bloc was biased in its treatment of members.

Inquirer
Philstar

Luneta in Australia

2009-06-05T01:58:00.000-07:00

Filipinos in Australia will experience Luneta without having to go back home in Manila.

According to Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), a 2.2-hectare propoerty in the city of Campbelltown, New South Wales, Australia will be developed to become the Rizal Park in.

Consul General Eva Betita said the Rizal Park will be constructed in an empty reserve owned by the city government.

A group of Filipino-Australians and friends started the petition in 1988 to build the park in the city council of Campbelltown and to name it Rizal Park.

Inquirer

Philippine May Inflation at 18-month low

2009-06-04T21:03:00.000-07:00

Philippine May Inflation eased to an 18-month low in May, prompting the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to consider further reduction in interest rates.

Annual inflation of 3.3 in May slowed sharply from 4.8 percent in April as lower rates were observed in all the commodity groups. This brought the year-to-date average to 5.7 percent. The May rate is the lowest since November 2007. Inflation a year ago was 9.5 percent.

Excluding selected food and energy items, core inflation further eased to 4.4 percent in May from 5.0 percent in April.

Inquirer
NSO

Lakers Took Game 1 of the NBA Finals

2009-06-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

Kobe Bryant and the rest of the Los Angeles Lakers dominated the Orlando Magic, 100-75 on Thursday in LA (Friday in Manila) to take Game 1 of the best of seven series of the 2009 NBA finals.

Game 2 will be held on Sunday at the Staples Center in LA (Monday in Manila).

ABS-CBN