By Gorgy Rula, Abante Tonite

ILANG araw ring sinubaybayan ng Startalk ang kuwento ng mag-inang Raquel at Charice Pempengco na tila lumalala na ang problema. Sinadya ng Startalk ang tahanan nina Charice sa Alfonso, Cavite pero walang lumabas sa kanila.

Nakita roon ang kotse ni Charice, pero sinabi ng kasambahay nito na wala siya.
Ang tiyuhin ni Charice na kapatid ni Raquel ang lumabas at nagsabi itong hindi na raw muna magsasalita ang kanyang kapatid.

By Nitz Miralles (Pilipino Star Ngayon)

Nakita namin sa dalawang blogs ang si­na­sabing scandal ni Jake Vargas. Sa u­nang blog, blurred ang kuha nina Jake at nonshowbiz girl at sa isa pang blog ay malinaw ang mukha ng aktor pero ’yung girl ay hindi.

Nasa kama sina Jake at ang girl, shirtless ang binata, pero walang ginagawang masasabing iskandalo. Unan ang kayakap ni Jake at hindi ang babaeng kasama sa bed.

By Jerome Aning, Philip C. Tubeza, Tarra Quismundo, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Commission on Elections (Comelec) Chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. on Thursday rebutted the so-called “60-30-10” theory, saying he was willing to have all the ballot boxes in the country opened to show that there was no fraud.

Brillantes said he was confident that the review by political parties and citizen watchdogs of the source code of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines would show that these were not programmed to cheat in the elections.

By Agence France-Presse

The Philippines vowed Thursday to fight China "to the last man standing," as a Chinese warship patrolled around a remote reef occupied by a handful of Marines in disputed waters.

In the latest flare-up over competing claims to parts of the South China Sea, the Philippines this week denounced the "provocative and illegal presence" of the warship and a fleet of Chinese fishing vessels near Second Thomas (Ayungin) Shoal.

By Aurea Calica (The Philippine Star)

Talks are underway for the selection of the next Senate president, and President Aquino is obviously pitching for the “Big Man,” Sen. Franklin Drilon, to lead the chamber in the 16th Congress.

Aquino has openly expressed admiration for Drilon, Team PNoy campaign manager and architect of the administration slate’s win in the last elections.

By ABS-CBNnews.com

Freddie Roach believes that the Manny Pacquiao-Brandon Rios fight in November will be a highly entertaining slugfest. But he predicted that the Mexican brawler will eventually find his way to the canvass once the Filipino connects a knockout punch.

“I think Manny's power will prevail. We may knock him out along the way, somewhere. Obviously, a very good fight is gonna happen,” Roach said in an interview with Koncrete Jungle.

By Waylon Galvez, Manila Bulletin

Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is looking to improve its lineup – particularly its frontline unit – for the next conference, and the Kings’ are hoping to add a solid post player, something the team lacked in the previous Commissioner’s Cup when it lost in the finals.

Robert Non, the league’s chairman who represents the team to the PBA Board of Governors, said yesterday that they are looking to that direction and they are hoping something will materialize this nearly three-month break of the PBA.

By Karl Decena, InterAKTV

The Philippine national women’s football team suffered a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to powerhouse Thailand in the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup qualifiers Thursday at the Bangabandhu National Stadium in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Thailand got the first blood of the match, with its player getting past the Malditas defense for a breakaway shot at the 37th minute which gave the Thais a 1-nil lead.

By Associated Press (The Philippine Star)

Miami’s LeBron James made a buzzer-beating layup in overtime as the Heat narrowly escaped a shock loss on their home court and beat the Indiana Pacers, 103-102, in Wednesday’s opening game of the NBA Eastern Conference finals.

James finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for the Heat – his ninth postseason triple-double. All that mattered was the last shot, which simply saved the Heat after a thrilling contest in which there were 18 ties and 17 lead changes, the last two of those coming in the final 2.2 seconds.

By Hector Lawas, Journal

JUSTICE Secretary Leila de Lima yesterday said that Filipino and Taiwanese probers will simultaneously inspect the boat where a Taiwanese fisherman was killed, and the patrol vessel used by Phi-lippine Coast Guard personnel.

“The arrangement is that the inspection of the fishing vessel and the PCG (Philippine Coast Guard) vessel will be simultaneous or almost simultaneous,” she said.

By Andreo Calonzo and Marc Jayson Cayabyab/KBK, GMA News

President Benigno Aquino III himself approved the Commission on Elections' (Comelec) intelligence funds which are being questioned by a former poll commissioner for supposed irregularities, a Palace spokesperson said Thursday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said Aquino III allowed the realignment of some of the Comelec's savings in 2012 to intelligence funds for this year's midterm elections.

By Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star)

Japan backed yesterday the Philippine initiative for arbitral proceedings to clarify maritime zones and entitlements in the South China Sea.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the commitment to Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario during a courtesy call at the Kantei (Prime Minister’s Office) in Tokyo.

By Edu Punay (The Philippine Star)

Sen. Pia Cayetano asked the Supreme Court (SC) yesterday to allow the implementation of the controversial Reproductive Health (RH) law.

In a petition for intervention, Cayetano asked the high court to lift the status quo ante order it issued last February that indefinitely suspended the implementation of Republic Act 10354.

By RSJ/KBK, GMA News

Despite two consecutive defeats in the boxing ring last year, Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao grew richer in 2012, with a net worth of more than of P1.7 billion -- making him the lone billionaire and still the wealthiest member of the House of Representatives.

Pacquiao, whose net worth was at P1.3 billion in 2011, had real properties worth P1.03 billion, personal properties worth P990 million and liabilities worth P258 million, a summary of the House members' statements of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALNs) sent by the House secretariat to the media showed.

By Ernie Reyes, InterAksyon.com

After initially blaming corrupted compact flash cards for the delay in the transmission of certificates of canvass to the National Board of Canvassers, Commission on Elections chairman Sixto Brillantes Jr. said Thursday the countryâ??s telecommunications firms were really at fault.

Brillantes said this was because around 25 percent of the country has no radio signals, a fact he acknowledged the poll body knew beforehand.

By Benjamin B. Pulta, Tribune

Government lawyers have announced what they termed as an “enhanced version” of the Cybercrime Prevention Act which does away with the libel provision from the original version. The libel provision is one of the more contentious provisions in Republic Act (RA) 10175 since it would constitute double jeopardy and imposes harsher penalties.

“There is no perfect law so we continue to repeat, reiterate it until we get it right. The libel provision will be eliminated for sure which the Department of Justice in the first place never supported,” DoJ Cybercrime Office chief Assistant Secretary Geronimo Sy told reporters.

By Willard Cheng, ABS-CBNnews.com

Will the connotation of “Filipino time” now change? President Aquino has signed Republic Act 10535 that sets the Philippine Standard Time (PST), synchronizing the time of all government offices.

Aside from mandating national and local government offices to display the PST on their official time devices including bundy clocks, the law penalizes “owners of private television and radio stations who shall fail to calibrate and synchronize their time devices with the PST during their broadcast.”