Erap incredulous over latest SWS survey

Former President Joseph Estrada on Monday expressed incredulity on the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showing him still in third place in the presidential race in the May 10 elections. "I don’t believe that," Estrada said after a press conference in Mandaluyong City when asked for his reaction on the latest SWS poll showing Liberal Party bet Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III enjoying a double-digit lead over closest rival Nacionalista Party’s Sen. Manny Villar Jr. The survey, which was conducted from April 16 to 19, showed Estrada...

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Mosley trainer: Show proof Pacman used drugs

Manny Pacquiao found a new ally in Sugar Shane Mosley’s trainer, Naazim Richardson. Richardson, fondly called Brother Naazim, defended Pacquiao from accusations made by the camp of Floyd Mayweather Jr. that the seven-division world champion is using performance enhancing drugs (PED). Brother Naazim, who is a devout Muslim, said the Mayweathers — along with Floyd Sr. and uncle/trainer Roger — should stop attacking Pacquiao, saying their accusations are baseless since they failed to present any solid evidence to prove their allegations. "If...

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Pacquiao photo endorsing ally’s political rival, fake

Manny Pacquiao was dragged into Visayan politics when pocket calendars showing him endorsing an ally’s political rival surfaced last weekend in Negros Occidental. The pocket calendars showed Pacquiao, who is running for a congressional post in the lone district of Saranggani, raising the hand three-term Bacolod City Rep. Monico Puentevella. Puentevella is challenging incumbent Bacolod City mayor Evelio Leonardia, who is running for election, in the May 10 elections. Pacquiao's personal trainer Buboy Fernandez was shocked to see pocket calendars...

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Villar’s Tondo roots were ‘definitely middle class’

n 1961, when Liberal Party standard-bearer Diosdado Macapagal was in the midst of a victorious presidential campaign, today’s presidential aspirant Manny Villar Jr. was 11 years old and living with his large extended family in a rented three-story corner house along Tondo’s main tree-lined boulevard, Moriones Street. Villar’s father, Manuel Sr., was a US-educated Philippine government budget officer and his mother was an enterprising fish dealer, one of a privileged few with a choice...

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Supporter of mayoral bet shot dead in Iloilo town

A supporter of a mayoral candidate in an Iloilo town was shot dead on Wednesday by suspected members of the New People’s Army, a local police spokesperson said on Thursday. Lenny Liza, a supporter of reelectionist Mayor Salvador Divinagracia Jr. from Calinog town, was killed by a group of 15 NPA rebels in Barangay Agcalaga at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, Supt. Ranulfo Demiar of the Region VI police said. Liza was in a convoy with the town mayor when their vehicles were stopped by the group of rebels, Demiar said. The rebels immediately ordered...

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Ship that damaged barrier reef took 90 minutes to report crash

The master of a Chinese coal carrier that ran aground and cut a long gash in the Great Barrier Reef didn't alert Australian authorities to the crash for an hour and a half, investigators said Thursday. A preliminary report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the Shen Neng 1 slammed into the reef and shuddered to a halt just after 5 p.m. on April 3, but noted it was not until 6:40 that the master reported the grounding to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority. The gap in time...

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WePad launched to challenge Apple's iPad

Neofonie GmbH's, a small German company of some 180 employees, is setting out to take on Apple's iPad with their new tablet PC that promises even more for your money. The WePad offers a bigger screen, a webcam, and USB ports. But Neofonie GmbH's founder and managing director, Helmut Hoffer von Ankershoffen, insists that the WePad is not an "iPad killer," as it has been dubbed in some blogs. "We are a different kind of device, we have more features, we are more flexible," he says. Apple's...

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Adobe needs rebound with latest Creative Suite

Pent-up demand is expected to boost sales of the newest installment of Adobe Systems Inc.'s Creative Suite, the software package for professional designers and Web developers that brings in most of Adobe's revenue. The product launches Monday. Bad timing hurt sales of the previous version, Creative Suite 4, which went on sale in the fall of 2008 just as the financial crisis hit. As a result, many customers — which range from small design shops and Web developers to large ad agencies — held back on buying upgrades. In a challenge for Adobe,...

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Tech firm says Wi-Fi here to stay; plans to put up RP office

Despite the emergence of new wireless Internet technologies such as 3G and WiMax, a Silicon Valley-based firm is convinced that Wi-Fi has yet to reach its full potential and is, in fact, just starting to make its presence felt in the Philippines and around the world. Ruckus Wireless, headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, said Wi-Fi technology is still the easiest and cheapest way to access the Internet wirelessly. Selina Lo, co-founder and president of Ruckus Wireless, visited the country recently as part of her Southeast Asian swing...

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VP bets say Villar endorsed by ‘womanizers’

Vice presidential candidates, at a church-organized forum Tuesday, ganged up on presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Villar Jr. (Nacionalista Party) for seeking the endorsement of popular personalities who are widely perceived as womanizers. “Tila po hindi maganda talaga na gawin mong halimbawa ay taong may question sa bagay na moral," said former Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chairman Bayani Fernando (Bagumbayan) during the vice presidential forum organized by the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP). (It’s...

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Twitter to let paid tweets show up in searches

Twitter announced Tuesday that it is introducing advertising by allowing companies to pay to have their messages show up first in searches on its site. The debut of "Promoted Tweets" comes as Twitter increasingly faces questions about how it can turn its wide usage into profits. The ads apparently won't bring in much money during the experimental phase of Twitter's commercial push. Virgin America, one of the advertisers that Twitter invited to test the concept, isn't paying for its first burst of promotional messages, according to Porter...

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Facebook unveils revamped online safety site

Facebook is unveiling a revamped internal site designed to help people stay safe while surfing online. Facebook's "Safety Center," which features new tools for parents, teachers, teens and law enforcement, is the first major endeavor from the social networking site and its four-month-old global safety advisory board. The board is composed of Internet safety groups Common Sense Media, ConnectSafely, WiredSafety, Childnet International and The Family Online Safety Institute. Some new features of the safety center include four times more...

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Some senior Lakas members mull dumping Gibo

Several senior members of administration party Lakas-Kampi-CMD may withdraw their support from Gilberto “Gibo" Teodoro Jr. in favor of “another presidential candidate," House Speaker Prospero Nograles warned Tuesday. These members were those who were “neglected" and “left out of the loop" in the current presidential campaign, Nograles said as he accused Teodoro of having a “wrong sense of priorities." “The other senior Lakas members I think who have been neglected or even left out of the loop in this presidential campaign may now be thinking...

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Noynoy Still leads Survey

Presidential candidate Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III (Liberal Party) remains on top in a recent survey commissioned by an ally of rival Sen. Manny Villar Jr. (Nacionalista Party) . According to the results of the survey conducted from March 28 to 30 and purportedly commissioned by House Minority Floor Leader Ronaldo Zamora, Villar scored 29 percentage points, or eight points behind Aquino’s 37. The NP claimed the survey was from Social Weather Station (SWS), although the poll firm has yet to confirm it. Calls made by GMANews.TV to its...

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Day 2 Election Problem in Hongkong

A poll automation machine glitch marred the second day of the overseas automated polls in Hong Kong, stalling voting at a precinct for an hour, a Commission on Elections official said on Sunday. "The PCOS (precinct count optical scan) machine [malfunctioned] because of moisture, but it was fixed promptly. It took an hour," Commissioner Gregorio Larrazabal said in a phone interview. The machine reportedly jammed and rejected ballots. Meanwhile, Larrazabal added that voting in Hong Kong continued...

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7.1-magnitude quake strikes off Solomon Islands

A powerful earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands on Sunday, but a monitoring agency said a tsunami was not expected. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.1-magnitude quake hit southwest of the island chain's Kira Kira island in the South Pacific. The temblor's epicenter was about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Honiara. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says a destructive wave is not expected. There were no immediate reports of...

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Eight of the world's strangest houses

As more and more people rebel against ticky-tacky, cookie-cutter homes, options are growing for more unique, satisfying dwellings. Popular Mechanics' Chris Sweeney recently created a great list of 18 of the world's strangest homes. And though there are arguably some even stranger ones out there (the toilet-shaped home, for one, or the coral castle), one of the things we like about Popular Mechanics' list is a strong focus on sustainability. The Popular Mechanics collection focuses on...

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Voting begins in Sudan's historic elections

Sudanese across Africa's largest country voted Sunday in their first competitive elections in nearly a quarter century despite partial boycotts by the opposition and calls to delay the vote. In Khartoum, turnout was lighter than expected in the first few hours of voting, aside from a few enthusiastic supporters of President Omar al-Bashir. Security was tight around polling stations and trucks loaded with uniformed security were deployed around the capital. ...

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Astronauts take 1st spacewalk of shuttle mission

A pair of spacewalking astronauts disconnected an old empty ammonia tank outside the International Space Station on Friday and got a new one ready to put in its place. In the first of three spacewalks needed to complete the job, Clayton Anderson had no problem taking apart the ammonia lines on the old tank. But he needed a pry bar to remove the new tank out of space shuttle Discovery's payload bay. The tank got hung up on a bolt. "Go nice and easy, Clay,"...

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Afghan president urges Taliban to air grievances

Afghan President Hamid Karzai urged Taliban insurgents on Sunday to lay down their arms and air their grievances while visiting a violent northern province, adding that foreign forces would not leave the country as long as fighting continued. In the country's south, meanwhile, a bus carrying Afghans working for a U.S.-supported demining group was struck by a roadside bomb in Kandahar province Sunday, killing five workers and wounding 13 others. Also Sunday,...

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