By AMD, GMA News

The Miami Heat came up with enough stops late in game six, to force a seventh and deciding battle for the 2013 NBA championship, via a 103-100 overtime victory, Tuesday (Wednesday, PHL time) at the American Airlines Arena in Miami, Florida.

The Spurs had taken a 3-2 series lead by beating the Heat in San Antonio last Sunday (Monday, PHL time) and were hoping to close the series out.

By Leila B. Salaverria, Tina G. Santos Tarra Quismundo, Philippine Daily Inquirer

It’s not just foreign employers who are abusing overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Even Philippine Embassy officials are allegedly involved in the sexual exploitation of their countrymen—so says Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello.

Bello, who chairs the House committee on overseas workers’ affairs, on Tuesday said three “predators” from Philippine overseas offices had been the subject of complaints from their coworkers.

By John Constantine G. Cordon, Manila Times

MEMBERS of the Automated Elections System (AES) Watch and Kontra Daya have asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. and two poll commissioners in connection with the use of “flawed” precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in the May 2013 elections.

Despite their immunity from criminal proceedings, Brillantes and Commissioners Lucenito Tagle and Elias Yusoph were charged before the Ombudsman for purposes of impeachment.

By Michael Lim Ubac, Philippine Daily Inquirer

It’s that time of year again of massive flooding and traffic jams, and in the midst of it all President Aquino called an emergency meeting on Tuesday to assess yet again Metro Manila’s preparedness to deal with the monumental mess during a heavy rain.

Who is to blame for the flooding, the traffic standstill for hours and commuters marooned well into the night on Monday?

By Alder Almo (philstar.com)

It’s no secret that San Antonio Spurs are shooting the lights out in the NBA Finals. But not too many know that one of the reasons why the Spurs are red-hot against the Miami Heat is because of their shooting coach, who once played for the Philippine national team.

Spurs assistant coach Chip Engelland is considered to be the best shooting coach in the league right now according to former Phoenix Suns coach and now Memphis Grizzlies head coach prospect Alvin Gentry as quoted by the Los Angeles Times last week.

By ABS-CBNnews.com

Manny Pacquiao needs a resounding victory to get back into the big picture with Floyd Mayweather Jr., according to a Showtime executive.

Ross Greenburg, former president of HBO Sports and now an executive producer of rival Showtime, said an "aggressive" win by Pacquiao over Mexico’s Brandon Rios could potentially change boxing’s current landscape.

By ABS-CBNnews.com

ABL Most Valuable Player Asi Taulava is eyeing possible talks with the Meralco management to clear things up about his departure from the team in 2012. The 6'9" Taulava said he wants to clear the air with his former team before taking steps for his return to the PBA, possibly with Barangay Ginebra.

"If they want to hear my side to apologize, I would want to talk to them in person," the 40-year-old Fil-Tongan told Spin.ph's Snow Badua. "I wouldn’t want to be seen as the bad guy. No way did I mean to offend boss MVP (Manny V. Pangilinan) when I left for the ABL."

By GMAnews

The San Antonio Spurs are one win away from their fifth NBA title, while the Miami Heat need a series-saving victory when game six of the NBA Finals is played Tuesday (Wednesday, PHL time).

San Antonio took a 3-2 lead with a 114-104 victory Sunday (Monday, PHL time), behind a season-best game from Manu Ginobili and another superb performance from three-point shooter Danny Green.

By Tarra Quismundo, Gil C. Cabacungan, Philippine Daily Inquirer

As Manila and Taipei prepared for fishery talks next month in a bid to ease tensions, the Chinese Embassy on Tuesday issued a reminder of Taiwan’s political status, saying governments should defer to Beijing’s “one-China policy.”

“The Chinese government has no objection to the nongovernmental economic and cultural contacts between Taiwan and foreign countries that have diplomatic relations with China, but we oppose foreign countries and Taiwan to have official exchanges or sign agreements with sovereign and official implications,” said the Chinese Embassy spokesperson, Zhang Hua.

By Angie M. Rosales, Tribune

President Aquino’s partymates in the Senate are out to assert their stronghold on the leadership of the upper chamber in the coming 16th Congress, shutting out any possibility for the Cayetano siblings to secure the position of the president pro tempore and majority leader, sources yesterday revealed.

Members of the Liberal Party (LP) of Aquino in the Senate are out to insist on getting the second and third highest position in the upper chamber and will not even be amenable to any compromise of sorts with the Nacionalista Party (NP), the political party of Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano and his eldest sibling, Sen. Pia Cayetano, the sources added.

By Jaime Laude (The Philippine Star)

Naval forces of the Philippines and the United States are set to conduct joint exercises next week in the waters of Zambales near Panatag Shoal, an area claimed by the Philippines which Chinese ships have occupied.

“Next week’s joint naval exercises will be just 20 nautical miles from Panatag Shoal,” a senior security official who declined to be named said.

By Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star)

The Philippines and China are standing firm on their respective positions on maritime territorial disputes but are committed to keeping peace in the region and improving bilateral relations.

This was stressed by delegates of the two countries to the 19th Philippines-China Foreign Ministry Consultations (FMC) in Beijing held last June 14.

By Frances Mangosing, Agence France-Presse, INQUIRER.net

Communist insurgents killed five civilians and kidnapped five soldiers in the southern Philippines on Tuesday in the latest of a series of violent acts following the collapse of peace talks, authorities said.

About 40 New People’s Army guerrillas attacked a tree plantation on the island of Mindanao on Tuesday, killing five workers and burning equipment, said military spokesman Colonel Ramon Zagala.

By DJ Yap, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Tropical Depression “Emong” turned into a storm on Tuesday, enhancing the southwest monsoon and bringing moderate to heavy rains over large parts of the country, weathermen said Tuesday.

Packing peak winds of 65 kilometers per hour and gusts of up to 80 kph, the storm was located 470 km east of Tuguegarao City as of 5 p.m. Tuesday, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).

By Agence France-Presse

Eighteen Vietnamese crew members of a cargo ship have been detained after it ploughed into a coral reef in the central Philippines, the Coast Guard said Tuesday.

The Unicorn Logger, a Panama-flagged freighter, ran aground at a protected marine sanctuary off the tiny island of Sambawan in Biliran on Friday, Coast Guard spokesman Armand Balilo said.

By RG Cruz, ABS-CBN News)

It's final. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) is not using the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines in the October 2013 barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan election.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said the poll body won't have time to prepare for automated elections this October. The Comelec agreed on this in a regular en banc session today.

By Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon

The National Democratic Front, the political arm of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), has ruled out “localized peace talks,” the government’s preferred method of negotiations to deal with the decades-old communist insurgency.

Luis Jalandoni, the lead negotiator of the NDF peace panel, on Tuesday said the units of the New People’s Army (NPA)—the armed wing of the CPP—operating in different parts of the country “are not authorized to engage in peace negotiations.”