NBA stars here vs Gilas, PBA

Former NBA Rookie of the Year Chris Paul is joining five-time champion Kobe Bryant in the starting five of the NBA selection playing Smart Gilas Pilipinas and a PBA selection in a dream two-game series set July 23 and 24 at the Araneta Coliseum.

MVP Sports Foundation officials Al Panlilio and Chot Reyes announced in a press conference last night that the blockbuster event is a go.

Dubbed the Ultimate All-Star Weekend, the event pits the NBA stars against the PBA team at 7 p.m. on July 23 and versus Smart Gilas at 1 p.m. the following day.

“The MVP Sports Foundation takes pride in bringing US basketball superstars and world-class basketball entertainment to Filipinos with the Ultimate All-Star Weekend,” said Panlilio.

“In cooperation with Smart, PLDT, Meralco, Maynilad, TV5, Metro Pacific Tollways and Investment Corp. and Philex Mining, the MVPSF is raising funds in line with its vision to uplift Philippine sports and develop Filipino athletes,” Panlilio added. “It is also the gift to the Filipino basketball-loving public by Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president Manny V. Pangilinan.”

“We’re proud to announce that a select group of superstars are coming over to play our own PBA All-Star selection and Smart Gilas Pilipinas in a couple of dream matches,” said Reyes, who will coach the PBA selection.

The Los Angeles Lakers star, who played eight minutes with the UAAP All-Stars against Smart Gilas in a Nike event at the Big Dome Wednesday, will be back serving as player-coach of an eight-man NBA selection including Paul, Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings, James Harden of the Oklahoma Thunder, DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers and Derrick Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Reyes said they’re still finalizing a deal with two more players that would complete the NBA team.

“It could be one more MVP and one more Rookie of the Year,” said Reyes, hinting they might also get the nod of reigning MVP Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls and former ROY awardee and two-time scoring champion Kevin Durant of the Oklahoma Thunder.

PBA commissioner Chito Salud and chairman Rene Pardo said the league readily approved the weekend basketball extravaganza.

“This was unanimously approved by the board of governors to help the MVPSF in this rare occasion. We’ll not let this event pass,” said Pardo.

Salud said the PBA selection will be composed of James Yap and Marc Pingris of BMeg, Mark Caguioa and JC Intal of Ginebra, Arwin Santos and Rabeh Al-Hussaini of Petron Blaze, Ryan Reyes, Jason Castro and Larry Fonacier of Talk N’ Text, Sonny Thoss and LA Tenorio of Alaska, Sol Mercado of Meralco, Gary David of Powerade, Gabe Norwood of Rain or Shine and Danny Seigle of Air21.

Talk N’ Text’s Kelly Williams, Jimmy Alapag and Ranidel de Ocampo, Meralco’s Asi Taulava and Air21’s Dondon Hontiveros will suit up with the Nationals who are preparing for the FIBA-Asia Championship in Wuhan, China.

“We’ve had sleepless nights and we’re really glad this will happen,” said Panlilio, who added proceeds from this two-day event will go to the MVPSF and its eight sports beneficiaries including basketball, football, taekwondo, badminton and running.

Panlilio said tickets are pegged at P5,700 for patron seats, P3,800 for lower box, P1,600 for upper box and P350 general admission.

“We’d like to make it as affordable as possible for our fans to have a chance to watch the games,” said Panlilio.

source: thePhilStar

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Kobe-led UAAP All-Stars plays Exhibition Match against Smart Gilas Pilipinas National Team

MANILA, Philippines – NBA superstar Kobe Bryant gave the Nike-UAAP All-Stars the thrill of their lives when the 5-time NBA champion decided to team with the collegiate players against the Smart Gilas Pilipinas National Team.

JV Casio, Chris Lutz, Japeth Aguilar, Jason Ballesteros and Dylan Ababou of Gilas initially played a 10-minute exhibition game against Nico Salva, Kiefer Ravena, Arnold Van Opstal, RR Garcia and Aldrech Ramos of the UAAP.

The Gilas players triumphed, 33-24.

But Bryant decided that he wanted to play as well, and asked that 8 minutes be added to the game clock.

The sold-out Araneta Center crowd went wild as the NBA star put on a Far Eastern University (FEU) jersey and warmed up before the game.

Bryant teamed up with Kirk Long, Greg Slaughter, LA Revilla and Joshua Webb, while Gilas again fielded Ballesteros, Lutz and Aguilar, along with Mark Barroca and Mac Baracael.

Despite Bryant’s presence on the other team, the Gilas players refused to back down. A lay-up from Ballesteros and a thunderous slam from Aguilar increased the Gilas lead to 37-24.

But Bryant quickly went to work. He fed Long and Slaughter on back-to-back possessions for lay-ups, and then got the crowd on their feet once again with a slam dunk.

With Bryant seemingly inspiring them, the UAAP players were able to cut the lead to 2, 41-39.

A jumper by Barroca gave Gilas some breathing room, but Bryant quickly stole the ball and rose up for a dunk that once again cut the lead to 2, 43-41.

Despite Bryant’s efforts, however, Gilas managed to hold on for the win, with Baracael sealing the victory with a lay-up.

The scoring ended at 45-41 for Smart Gilas.

After the game, both the players from Gilas and the UAAP expressed their amazement about their experience.

Lutz, who was the primary defender on Kobe Bryant, said that defending the “Black Mamba” was “useless.”

“I felt helpless out there,” he said.

“To be honest, I haven’t completely processed the experience yet,” said Slaughter.

FEU players Cawaling and Garcia expressed their happiness over Kobe’s decision to put on their school jersey.

“Nagulat nga ako nung bigla n’yang sinuot yung jersey,” said Garcia.

Cawaling said that he was proud that Bryant had put on their school colors.

But all players were in agreement that Bryant was an inspiration to them.

“His work ethic, he is one of the hardest working people in the world and in the sport,” Lutz said.

Garcia said that it was Kobe’s competitiveness that truly inspired him.

“Talagang ayaw n’yang magpatalo,” he said.

Bryant left quickly after the game, but the NBA superstar had earlier inspired the Araneta crowd with his words.

“This is one of my favorite cities in the world,” Bryant said. “The people are great, the fans are great.”

Bryant said that he appreciated the great love for basketball that the Filipinos showed.

“I’ll keep coming back here, I love it here,” the NBA legend promised.

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Army finds Mexico's biggest marijuana plantation

TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) — Mexican soldiers have found the largest marijuana plantation ever detected in Mexico, a huge field covering almost 300 acres (120 hectares), the Defense Department said Thursday.

The plantation is four times larger than the previous record discovery by authorities at a ranch in northern Chihuahua state in 1984.

The pot plants sheltered under black screen-cloth in a huge square on the floor of the Baja California desert, more than 150 miles (250 kilometers) south of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.

Army Gen. Alfonso Duarte said the screening, which is often used by regular farmers to protect crops from too much sun or heat, made it difficult to detect from the air what was growing underneath.

It was only when soldiers on the ground reached the isolated area Tuesday that they found thousands of pot plants as high as 2.5 yards (meters) tall. The average height of the plants was about 1.5 yards (meters). Duarte said they were not yet ready for harvest.

"We estimate that in this area, approximately 60 people were working. When they saw the military personnel, they fled," Duarte told reporters. A few were later reportedly detained at a nearby roadblock, but Duarte said no arrests were made at the scene.

He said traffickers could have harvested about 120 tons of marijuana from the plantation, worth about 1.8 billion pesos (about $160 million).

Video of the plantation showed a sophisticated system of piped-in irrigation to support the plants, which Duarte said was fed by two wells. The plantation also included some wooden outbuildings, presumably for use by people caring for the plants.

Troops will destroy the fields by burning them, Duarte said.

The site is the near the coastal town of San Quintin. Journalists were en route there Thursday under army escort.

While it's unknown how much of Mexican drug cartels' income comes from marijuana, recent discoveries suggest it remains a large-scale trade.

Last October, Mexican authorities made their largest-ever seizure of marijuana packaged for sale, a record 148 tons (134 metric tons) found in a number of tractor trailers and houses in Tijuana. They appeared to make up a major distribution center traced directly to Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexico's most-wanted fugitive, who has expanded the reach of his Sinaloa cartel along the U.S.-Mexico border since escaping from prison in 2001.

In November, U.S. and Mexican investigators found two long, sophisticated tunnels under the border between Baja California and California, along with more than 40 tons of marijuana in and around the tunnels.

The tunnels ran about 2,000 feet from Mexico to San Diego and were equipped with lighting, ventilation and a rail system for drugs to be carried on a small cart.

U.S. officials say they believe the tunnels also were the work of the Sinaloa cartel.

While the Arellano Felix or Tijuana cartel long dominated the drug trade in Baja California, the cartel has been greatly weakened by government hits on its leadership, and authorities say there are signs that the Sinaloa cartel now also operates in the area.

Duarte said he did not know which group operated the plantation found Tuesday

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Japan's Kan says nuclear clean-up could take decades

Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan said Saturday it will take decades to clean up and decommission the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant after the world's worst atomic accident since Chernobyl.

BEFORE

AFTER

Kan's comments marked the first time that Japan's government has offered a timeframe for the clean-up at Fukushima beyond the emergency measures now underway to shut down its reactors.

"It will take three, five, ten years, or eventually several decades to take care of the accident," Kan told local officials from his Democratic Party of Japan meeting in Tokyo.

The Fukushima nuclear plant lost power after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Three of the reactors had uranium fuel meltdown, and a series of hydrogen explosions scattered radioactive debris across a wide area.

Some 80,000 people have been forced to evacuate the area around the plant because of the threat from radiation.

With the four-month anniversary of the accident approaching, Japanese officials are due to detail progress in bringing Fukushima under control in the coming days.

Kan, who has pledged a blank-slate review of Japan's energy policy, has been under fire for his handling of the nuclear accident and the government's response to the earthquake and tsunami.

Kan has said he will resign but has not specified when he will step aside, saying he sees it as his responsibility to see through initial recovery work and related legislation.

In a move that raised concern about power shortages stretching into 2012, officials said this week that now-idled reactors would be subject to a safety "stress test" before they would be cleared to restart.

The sudden announcement of stress tests for nuclear plants similar to those conducted by the European Union marked a sharp reversal in course. It also prompted criticism from local officials who complained they had been left in the dark.

Japan's Trade Ministry had been pushing for a quick restart of a reactor at the Genkai nuclear plant in southern Japan. Trade Minister Banri Kaieda signaled this week he would resign, saying he would take responsibility for the confusion at a suitable time.

The "stress tests" are intended to assess whether Japan's remaining nuclear plants could withstand the kind of massive earthquake and tsunami that pushed Fukushima into crisis.

Separately, a government senior official was quoted as saying Saturday Tokyo Electric Power Co has met a government-set target of setting up a cooling system at the Fukushima plant.

Goshi Hosono, the government minister appointed to oversee Japan's response to the nuclear crisis, told reporters he believed Tokyo Electric had achieved its target of establishing a stable cooling system for the reactors, the first of a series of steps needed to shut down the plant by January.

Efforts to cool the Fukushima reactors currently hinge on a complex and hastily constructed system to decontaminate thousands of tonnes of water being pumped into the reactors and then to circulate it back through the reactors.

Once the cooling system is in place, officials have said that they can focus on work to bring the reactors to a state of "cold shutdown" by January.

At that point, the uranium in the reactor cores would be cool enough so that it would not cause water being pumped in to boil away. It would also mean that there would be little threat from another loss of power to the plant.

source : REUTERS

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Murdoch flies to London to tackle phone-hack crisis

Rupert Murdoch flies to London on Saturday to deal with the escalating phone-hacking crisis engulfing his British newspapers business, according to two people familiar with his plans.

The arrival of the 80-year-old News Corp chief executive follows the shock announcement on Thursday that he is shutting down the News of the World, the 168-year-old best-selling Sunday tabloid newspaper at the center of the scandal.

News Corp declined to comment on his agenda.

British police on Friday arrested Andy Coulson, the former spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, who had resigned as News of the World editor in 2007 after one of his reporters and a private investigator were convicted of hacking into the phones of aides to the royal family. Coulson has said he knew nothing about the phone hacking.

After years of allegations about hacking the voicemail of celebrities and politicians in search of stories, the scandal reached a tipping point earlier this week when it was alleged that in 2002 the paper had listened to the voicemail of Milly Dowler, a missing schoolgirl who was later found murdered, and even deleted some of her messages to make way for more.

That claim, and allegations that a growing list of victims included Britain's war dead and the families of those killed in the 2005 London transport bombings, outraged readers and caused many brands to pull advertising from the title.

Murdoch, who began his British media arm in the 1960s, will be keen to save News Corp's bid to buy the 61 percent of broadcaster BSkyB, which it does not already own.

Analysts and investors said the deal could be jeopardized if British regulators impose tougher rules in response to new concerns around News Corp's dominance in British media.

Murdoch, who had spent most of the week at a conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, has kept a low-profile since the scandal erupted. On Thursday, he refused to answer journalists' questions on the matter referring them to a Wednesday statement in support of News International chief Rebekah Brooks.

Coulson's arrest by police on suspicion of conspiring in the illegal practice forced the British prime minister to defend his judgment while promising new controls on the British press.

In a sign of how the scandal could escalate further, The Guardian newspaper reported on its website that police were investigating evidence an executive at News International may have deleted millions of emails from an internal archive in an apparent attempt to obstruct investigations.

A spokeswoman for News International, Murdoch's British media arm, said the allegation was "rubbish." She said: "We are cooperating actively with police and have not destroyed evidence."

Cameron said he took "full responsibility" for his decision to appoint Coulson, who quit the prime minister's team in January when police reopened inquiries.

"Murder victims, terrorist victims, families who have lost loved ones in war... That these people could have had their phones hacked into in order to generate stories for a newspaper is simply disgusting," he said.

Cameron said only a new system of media regulation and a full public inquiry into what went wrong over a decade at News of the World and beyond would meet public demand.

"This scandal is not just about some journalists on one newspaper," Cameron said. "It's not even just about the press. It's also about the police. And, yes, it's also about how politics works and politicians too."

In another indication of spreading fallout, police said they had arrested a 63-year-old man in Surrey, southern England over allegations of inappropriate payments to police. A police spokesman said the man was not a serving policeman.

News of the World and other newspapers have been accused of paying the police for information.

Police also raided another tabloid, the Daily Star, earlier on Friday over allegations of phone hacking.

Cameron said politicians of all parties had been in thrall to press barons for decades. He indicated a new assertiveness toward the Murdoch empire by withholding overt endorsement of News Corp's bid for BSkyB.

Shares in the pay-TV chain fell 7.6 percent after the media ministry also said it would take events at the News of the World into account before giving its approval to the takeover. News Corp shares in New York lost around 4 percent.

Cameron's opponents on the left want to block the $22-billion bid on the grounds it would give Murdoch too much political clout.

Cameron also criticized Brooks, his friend and neighbor who was Coulson's predecessor as editor and is now a top executive and confidante of Murdoch. She should have resigned, he said, after closing down the newspaper at a cost of 200 jobs.

"TOXIC" BRAND

Journalists putting together the final edition of the News of the World for Sunday had an emotional, sometimes angry, meeting with Brooks, who told them, according to a staffer who was present, that the title had become "toxic."

But the 43-year-old, whose mane of red hair, sharp wit and seemingly charmed relationship with Murdoch have long made her an object of fascination for fellow tabloid journalists, made clear she was staying on to manage News International.

Brooks denied the company, which many assume will fill the gap left by the News of the World by extending publication of its Sun daily to Sundays, was combining a cost-saving measure with a bid to remove a threat to its expansion in television.

She has denied knowing that journalists on the paper were hacking the voicemails of possibly thousands of people. But she has become the focus of anger among the News of the World staff sacked by Murdoch's son James with little ceremony.

There was "seething anger" and "pure hatred" directed toward her, one reporter said: "We think they're closing down a whole newspaper just to protect one woman's job."

Alan Rusbridger, editor of the left-leaning Guardian newspaper which has campaigned to expose more of the scandal, told Reuters Cameron could be faulted on Coulson: "I just wonder what vetting process was done. I think it shows extremely poor judgment," he said.

Nonetheless, with probably nearly four years until a parliamentary election, the pain for Cameron may be limited.

"It will damage him, but it won't sink him," said Tim Bale, professor of politics at the University of Sussex.

Critics doubted Coulson's assertions that he, as News of the World editor from 2003, had known nothing of the hacking, for which the paper's royal correspondent Clive Goodman and a private detective were jailed in 2007.

"I thought we had a prime minister today who showed he doesn't get it. He doesn't get it over BSkyB," said Ed Miliband, the opposition Labour party leader who wants the bid blocked.

The police also face tough questions over why an initial investigation into phone hacking was closed after Goodman was jailed. Detectives are also now looking into payments, in the tens of thousands of pounds, by journalists to police.

Coulson was bailed until October after nine hours at a London police station. Asked if he was being made a scapegoat for the scandal, he told reporters: "I can't say any more at this stage. There's a lot I'd like to say, but I can't."

Goodman was re-arrested on Friday to answer questions about alleged payments to police officers. Several other journalists have been arrested in recent weeks as police pursue inquiries

source: REUTERS

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