Newsbits

Kings turn back Tigers
:Barangay Ginebra extended its winning streak to three at the expense of Coca-Cola, 91-84, last night to keep its bid for an outright semifinal berth alive in the Smart-PBA Fiesta Cup at the Araneta Coliseum.
What stats don’t show about Diaz
On paper, there’s no question in the minds of most boxing men that Manny Pacquiao is the heavy favorite going into his June 28 shot at David Diaz’s world lightweight crown.
Condes loses world crown; Rubillar gets WBC title shot
RAUL GARCIA of Mexico dethroned International Boxing Federation (IBF) minimumweight champion Florante Condes via a 12-round unanimous decision yesterday at the Estadio Arturo Nahl in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico.
Celtics gun for NBA title today
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) — The Boston Celtics plan to ratchet up their intensity against the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday (Monday in Manila) despite holding a commanding 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals.
Gasol vows to be more aggressiveLOS ANGELES (Reuters) — Pau Gasol vowed to be more aggressive when the Los Angeles Lakers host the Boston Celtics in what could be the deciding game of the NBA Finals on Sunday.
Eagles foil Warriors for title
Ateneo went to veteran Chris Tiu at crunch time to beat University of the East, 65-64, and rule the 2008 Nike Summer League at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
.Liga inks deal with NBN-4, IBC-13
As opening day nears in the country’s newest regional basketball league, Liga Pilipinas, organized by CEO and president Noli Eala, wrapped up preparations for an unprecedented two network coverage of its maiden season with government networks NBN-4 and IBC-13.
Barcarse, Monares top JAL run
Abraham Barcarse Jr. and Noemi Monares stamped their class to win their respective divisions in the 2nd Japan Airlines (JAL) Run For A Cause yesterday at the Bonifacio Global City.
Manila nine nips Taguig
Manila clinched the top seeding in the playoffs of Baseball Philippines’ Series 3 after repulsing Forward Taguig with key hits and solid pitching in the closing innings for a 6-4 victory yesterday at the Rizal Baseball Stadium.
Nadal ends Roddick’s reign
LONDON (AFP) — Rafael Nadal ended Andy Roddick’s reign at Queen’s as the Spaniard reached his first final at the pre-Wimbledon tournament on Saturday.
De Luna eyes spot in $ 30,000 pool tilt
Jeffrey De Luna and Chinese No. 1 Li He-Wen will have to go through a two-day qualifying phase starting today to join a stellar cast seeing action later in the week in the Philippine Pool Tour’s Puerto Princesa 10-Ball Mayor’s Cup.
Alcano hopes to end title drought
Former double world champion Ronnie Alcano hopes to finally pocket his first title this year as he competes in the First Senate President Manny Villar Cup Cebu Leg which fires off on Friday at the Trade Hall of SM City in Cebu.
TIGER ROARS
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Tiger Woods delivered a performance worthy of prime time in the U.S. Open on Saturday.
Westwood to stick to game plan
SAN DIEGO, California (AFP) — Lee Westwood is the European with the best chance of winning the US Open and he believes he has what it takes to end the European drought at the second major of the year.
Mickelson shoots a 9 on 13th hole
SAN DIEGO, California (AFP) — Phil Mickelson changed his strategy in the third round of the 108th US Open golf championship, but he couldn’t alter his luck on the 13th hole at Torrey Pines.
What more can Mediate do to stop Tiger from winning?
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Rocco Mediate, professional golfer

NEWSBITS

ABS-CBN buys Lorenzos’ stake in Pilipino Cable for P900 million:
ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation has bought the 47 percent equity of the Lorenzo family in Pilipino Cable Corporation, which controls the operations of Sky Cable outside of Metro Manila, for P900 million.:
2 firms to expand corn plantations:
The Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) has received inquiries from the Limketkai Group and Cornworld for funding integrated corn facilities amid a food crisis that’s prompting companies to boost cost efficiencies.
Chemrez pays P160-M cash dividends:
Chemrez Technologies Inc., the country’s leading producer of biopetroleum, resins, oleochemicals, and powder coatings, announced that its board of directors has approved the declaration of a cash dividend amounting to P160 million.
Standard pushed for cocoa exports:
The Cocoa Foundation of the Philippines (CFP) is pushing for a Philippine National Standard (PNS) on cocoa to help boost the country’s production to more than 200,000 metric tons (MT) worth 0 million.
Business and Society:
During these months of my sabbatical in Spain, I found it necessary for time to time to tell new acquaintances "No soy chinito" (I am not a Chinese). In the same manner that many Filipinos would call all white people they meet "Americano" or "Kastila," many Spaniards tend to consider all Asians Chinese.
P/$ stands at P44.41/$ 1:
The peso exchange rate closed at P44.41 to the US dollar last Friday at the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp., (PDEx). The weighted average rate stands at P44.362.

Research and development

The Manila Economic and Cultural Office aims to give the Philippines’ nascent IC design sector a push by giving local microchip design engineers the opportunity to train at Taiwan’s leading research and development centers, MECO Managing Director and Resident Representative Antonio Basilio said.
For the Philippines to speed up its IC research and development capabilities and gain a foothold in the global supply chain for electronics, the country needs to further improve its human resources, Basilio said in a statement.
"We have to bring our most promising IC designers to Taiwan, and get them trained at Taiwan’s premier technology centers. Ideally, we would also want to bring in Taiwanese experts to the Philippines who would provide the necessary training for our young crop of IC design engineers," said Basilio.
MECO in fact hopes to clinch a long-term training program with Taiwan’s world-class R&D hubs this year. According to MECO director for Commercial Affairs, Maria Bernardita Angara-Mathay, Philippine Trade and Industry Senior Undersecretary Thomas Aquino, who is scheduled to fly to Taiwan on June 13, will be putting the on-the-job training component in the Philippines’ planned Microelectronics Design Center on the agenda during his meetings with Taiwan officials this month.
Basilio said while the Philippines is already recognized as a key player when it comes to IC packaging and assembly, it, however, needs to shift gears and climb up the value chain. "To do that, we need to have IC design capabilities. If we possess that, plum investments will follow. We could go after potentially lucrative strategic partnerships with Taiwan’s top semiconductor companies."
In retrospect, Taiwan and the Philippines already tried such a partnership in 2005. With the assistance of MECO and the Department of Trade and Industry, Taiwan sent two instructors to hold a training course in chip design layout in Manila. A total of 18 local engineers attended, including students from the University of the Philippines and Ateneo.
According to MECO, the Taiwanese instructors were quite impressed with the performance of the Filipino chip design engineers, noting that the latter could "easily pick up skills and learn fast — very fast."
The Philippines produces thousands of engineers annually, but only a "very small portion" of this talent pool is actually being tapped by the IC industry. The country also boasts 97 Centers of Excellence, and two research and development facilities.
In addition to clinching a training program with Taiwan ‘s R&D centers, MECO is also going after "flagship" accounts disclosed Angara-Mathay.
"In the field of electronics, we’d really go after repeat accounts, and they are the 20 biggest semiconductor companies in Taiwan . It’s a very ambitious plan," she said as she cited that out of the 20 companies on MECO’s list, two — Compal and Winbond — had already held meetings with MECO," she said.
One of the key requirements of these potential investment locators is the availability of IC design engineers according to Angara-Mathay. Further, she said a large pool of IC design talents is also needed for the Philippines to establish its Microelectronics Design Center . The government must also allocate at least US$ 1 million for the purchase of the planned center’s electronic design automation (EDA) tools, she cited.
"The project would require or involve the training of a least 100 microchip design engineers a year. We’ve thought of this as early as three years back. When it comes to IC testing and assembly, we rate an ‘8;’ but design, which accounts for about 80 percent of the gross value of the product in that sector, (is really where the money is)," said Angara-Mathay.
Basilio said that Taiwan ‘s top contract wafer foundries — Taiwan Semiconductor and UMC — could also set up their chip design services centers or "fabless" foundries in the Philippines . Semiconductor companies such as Philips, Fuji and Fastech have already established their operations in the province of Laguna , making the province the "Silicon Valley of the Philippines ." (BCM)

Finance Ministers

DELEGATES OF THE G8 FINANCE MINISTERS MEETING POSE FOR A GROUP PHOTO SESSION IN FRONT OF THE OSAKA CFront row LR: EU Commissioner for Economic and Monetary Affairs Joaquin Almunia, Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde, Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti, Australian Finance Minister Wayne Swan, Japanese Finance Minister Fukushiro Nukaga, Thailand Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, Russian Finance Minister Aleksey Kudrin, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, British Finance Minister Alistair Darling, Slovenian Finance Minister Andrej Bajuk. Back row L-R: FSF Chairman Mario Draghi, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Germany State Secretary Thomas Mirow, Brazil Secretary for International Affairs Marcos Galvao, Chinese Vice Finance Minister Li Yong, South Korean Vice Minister Choi Joongkyung, South Africa Special Advisor Michael Sachs, World Bank President Robert Zoellick, Asian Development Bank President Haruhiko Kuroda, IEA (International Energy Agency) Executive Director Nobuo Tanaka. The world's top finance ministers urged oil producers to increase their output as they warned that runaway prices imperil global economic growth.

Movies

Rico Blanco goes solo:
After various speculations as to his whereabouts and what he intends to do following his surprising departure from Rivermaya, one of Philippine rock scene’s most talented musicians returns, this time, armed with a reinvigorated passion to continue making good music.
Rising crooner pays homage to Tony Bennett:
Originality is one key word to survive in the industry.
'Monster Mom' Annabelle gets good reviews:
Talent manager and mother to the Gutierrez siblings, Annabelle Rama, has earned a reputation for being "matapang" and "mataray" in show business.
Cinemalaya: Honoring the spirit of ‘independent expression’:
Shaping independence in independent features, initializing a category for children, and giving mainstream actors second chances, the 2008 Cinemalaya is turning a new chapter in the evolution of independent film festivals in the country.
Arrow taps ‘CSI: New York’ actor as brand ambassador:
Arrow, a brand for people who admire and seek to reflect the youthfulness, industriousness, optimism, freedom and great American style throughout the world, recently tapped popular TV actor Carmine Giovinazzo as part of its 2008 Campaign.
‘Serbis’ and Brillante Mendoza:
It only dawned on Brillante Mendoza that his movie "Serbis" was competing in the 61st Cannes International Film Festival when he was walking on the red carpet.
ABS-CBN’s 55th Year Advocacy ‘Walang Iwanan Sa Bayanijuan’ launched:
ABS-CBN celebrates its 55th year in television not with the stereotypical glamorous lavishness, but with meaningful contributions to the lives of less fortunate Filipinos all over the country with its new advocacy program, "Bayanijuan."
It rains and pours for Karylle:
When it rains, it pours.
‘Urduja:’ One man’s dream is the nation’s pride
The story of how APT Entertainment’s "Urduja" came to life is as magical as the full-length animation film itself.
Divina Valencia, the 60’s femme fatale
Josephine Connie Fuller alias Divina Valencia became the country’s ultimate sex symbol in 1964.
FDCP sponsors Philippine Program of Paris Cinema 2008:
The Film Development Council of the Philippines, headed by Chairman Rolando "Jacky" S. Atienza Atienza, will sponsor the Philippine Program of the forthcoming Paris Cinema International Film Festival 2008.