August 6, 2013 Edition

The booming commercial hub that has fueled Taguig City’s economy in recent years belongs to Makati City, the Court of Appeals (CA) ruled August 5. Reversing an earlier lower court verdict, the CA decided in favor of Makati’s appeal to declare some parts of Fort Andres Bonifacio, formerly called Fort William Mckinley and the so-called “embo” barangays (barangays whose names end with “embo”) to be within the city’s territory and not Taguig’s. The court ordered Taguig “to immediately cease and desist from exercising jurisdiction within the disputed area and return the same to Makati; and [ordered it] to pay the cost of suit.” Taguig can still appeal the decision. But if upheld by the Supreme Court, the decision will revert 729.15 hectares of commercial hub to Makati, which includes the bustling Bonifacio Global City.

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The number of fatalities from the August 5 blast in Cotabato City has risen to 8. At least 17 other victims have been discharged from the Cotabato Regional Medical Center, while 13 others are still confined there. The bomb exploded at the city center, damaging  at least 4 vehicles and triggering a fire that engulfed a nearby mortuary and a tire repair shop. It was the second bombing to hit Mindanao in 10 days. A powerful blast at a restaurant packed with doctors and pharmaceutical salesmen left 8 people dead in Cagayan de Oro City on July 26. No group has claimed responsibility for both incidents.

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Gilas Pilipinas bounced back from a tough loss, dealing Japan an emphatic 90-71 demolition to open the second round with a bang in the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship on August 5 at the Mall of Asia Arena. Marcus Douthit asserted himself early and often while Filipino sniper Jeff Chan came alive in a searing 3rd quarter breakaway that gave the Philippines a huge cushion enough to secure their 3rd win in 4 games. Both teams battled toe-to-toe in the early goings. But learning their lessons from a meltdown against Chinese Taipei on August 3, Gilas exploded just as the 3rd quarter began. The win allowed the Philippines to maintain the second-best record in Group E with a 2-1 card even as Japan dropped to 1-2.

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Malacañang has a firm message to informal settlers along Metro Manila’s waterways: it’s time to go, and we mean by year’s end. Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said the government’s plan to relocate over 20,000 families living near Metro Manila esteros — or waterways — is ongoing. On August 5, at least 87 out of 182 families living near the San Juan river left their homes for a relocation site in Bulacan. The relocation is part of the national government’s flood control master plan. The public works department identified 8 major Metro Manila waterways that need to cleared by the year’s end.

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New Zealand moved to seize control of Fonterra’s response to a contaminated milk scare, after criticizing the dairy giant’s handling of a crisis which has tainted the country’s “clean, green” image. Economic Development Minister Stephen Joyce said officials had been sent to Fonterra premises in New Zealand and Australia to ensure the information the company supplied about a potentially fatal bug in some products used to make baby formula was accurate. Joyce acknowledged it was unusual for the government to take such a hands-on approach with a private company but said global consumers needed to regain confidence in New Zealand’s dairy industry, which accounts for a quarter of the country’s exports.

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Sony’s board had “unanimously” decided to reject a US hedge fund’s proposal to spin off part of its profitable entertainment arm. US billionaire Daniel Loeb, who says his hedge fund Third Point has amassed the largest stake in Sony, earlier called on the firm’s executives to spin off up to 20% of the entertainment unit, which includes a music label and a Hollywood movie studio. Sony and its domestic rivals have been undergoing painful restructuring aimed at stemming years of record losses. They have faced serious challenges keeping up in the low-margin television business, while foreign rivals including Apple and South Korea’s Samsung have blown past them in the lucrative smartphone sector.

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Rappler partners with tech search giant Google to explore ideas that are disrupting businesses and societies around the world. On August 23, we mount #ThinkPH: The Internet, Big Data & You. The summit at the New World Hotel looks at how the Internet has disrupted traditional business models: how the development of social media and crowdsourcing has put power in the hands of ordinary people; and how digital exhaust is now big data. On Sept 21, join us for the PH+SocialGood: The Social Good Summit in Manila – Rappler’s second since the website began in January 2012. Held at the Asian Institute of Management, this summit looks at how social media and technology can be used to solve some of the world’s stickiest societal problems.

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Donald Graham stunned the US media industry when he announced that the Washington Post, which his grandfather Eugene Meyer bought during the Great Depression, is being sold to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos for US$250 million.
Graham, chief executive of the Washington Post Co., had given no hint that the newspaper of record for the nation’s capital was up for sale, despite sinking earnings and plunging subscriptions. But he made clear that it was the formidable challenge of the Internet to traditional publishing that brought about the deal, after annual operating losses more than doubled to $53.7 million last year and were $14.8 million in the second quarter of this year. Multi-billionaire Bezos said he was buying the legendary newspaper that broke the Watergate scandal in his personal capacity and hoped to shepherd it through the evolution away from traditional newsprint.

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Pakistan’s new cartoon superhero who fights bad guys disguised in a flowing black burka is set to go global, with plans afoot to broadcast the show in 60 countries. The Urdu-language animation “Burka Avenger,” showing the adventures of a mild-mannered teacher who uses her superpowers to fight local gangsters trying to close down the girls’ school where she works, hit Pakistani TV screens last month. The kids’ action-comedy struck a chord in a country where Taliban militants have prevented thousands of girls from going to school in the northwest and attacked activists campaigning for their education. A TV distribution company in Europe has agreed to translate the show into 18 languages, including English and French.

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Scientists have unveiled the world’s first lab-grown beef burger, serving it up to volunteers in London in what they hope is the start of a food revolution. The 140-gram patty, which cost more than US$330,000 to produce, has been made using strands of meat grown from muscle cells taken from a living cow. Prof Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands, whose lab developed the meat, says the burger is safe and has the potential to replace normal meat in the diets of millions of people. Sergey Brin, one of Google’s co-founders, was revealed as one of the financial backers of the project.

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