Monthly Archives: January 2019

DECIDED to go for a new-look roster after having a “pedestrian” season at the Philippine Basketball Association last year, the TNT KaTropa aim to do better when a new edition of the premier local professional basketball league unfurls later this month with help from the players they had acquired.

FILIPINO athletes under the Go For Gold program are gearing up for peak performance in time for the 30^th Southeast Asian Games.

SERENA WILLIAMS made a winning return to competitive action at the Hopman Cup on Monday but could not prevent the United States from losing, 2-1, to Greece in their opening round-robin match.

SYDNEY -- The 17^th Asian Cup finals will be the biggest in the 62-year history of the tournament but even with 24 teams battling it out, it is hard to look much beyond regional powers Iran, Japan and South Korea as potential champions.

The Year 2018 was also a standout year for female national athletes who made their presence felt in various international competitions.

Yesterday’s match between the Spurs and Celtics highlighted plenty of similarities between the protagonists. Both encountered adversity early in the season, and both appeared to have overcome it heading into the new year. Both faced roster and rotation changes that required systemic adjustments, albeit not to the point of loss of identity. Both bucked modern-era trends prompted by advanced metrics in allowing for seemingly unhealthy doses of midrange shots. And both, most importantly, leaned on outstanding mentorship to stay competitive regardless of circumstance.

THE doors to the 2019 edition of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) open on Jan. 8 across 11 venues in Las Vegas, Nevada. The annual event owned and staged by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) is fancied as the “world’s gathering place for all who thrive on the business of consumer technologies… [serving] as the proving ground for innovators and breakthrough technologies… [a] global stage where next-generation innovations are introduced to the marketplace.”

HALF a century on and Porsche channels the purposeful vibe of its 911 T from 1968 in the newly released 718 T versions of the Boxster and Cayman.

GENERAL Motors (GM) International said it collaborated with Richard Watson, founder of the NowAndNext Website and author of Digital vs. Human, in a study meant to determine trends in the automotive industry in 2019. The projections, specific to Asia Pacific, will not all be evident in the region this year, GM said. But it added “one can expect to see them emerge very soon.”

AN EMPLOYEE of the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC), which drafted the Bangsamoro Organic Law (BOL) that is intended to strengthen peace efforts in the country’s south, was one of the two casualties in the Dec. 31 bomb blast in Cotabato City that also left more than 30 injured.

A TECHNICAL working group (TWG) composed of representatives from the Department of Justice (DoJ), Bureau of Immigration (BI), and Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) will be formed to address the influx of foreign workers in the country.

The transport network vehicle service industry was rocked early last year when Singapore-based Grab acquired the Southeast Asian operations of bitter rival Uber, essentially kicking out the American transport network company from the Philippines and subsequently cornering the bulk of the TNVS business in Metro Manila. To me, however, this wasn’t the biggest news about Grab in 2018. As an automotive journalist, I found Toyota’s sudden involvement in the transport startup more intriguing.

THE LAST typhoon to hit the country in 2018, locally named Usman, claimed 75 lives with 16 still reported missing and 12 injured, according to the Jan. 1 update from the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC).

ANALYSTS agreed with the call of Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana to review the decades-old Mutual Defense Treaty with the United States, a move that is seen to help with the Philippines’ future agreements with other countries.

Fireworks spectacles sponsored by local government units and commercial establishments have become more common during New Year’s eve in different parts of the Philippines as the government campaigns to minimize fireworks-related injuries (FRIs).

THE BUSINESS Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) of Zamboanga City is now setting up the Business One Stop Shop (BOSS), which will be in operation from Jan. 3 to Jan. 20.

THE three-hectare lot at the South Road Properties (SRP) in Cebu has been opened for public bidding by the city government.

News stories from across the nation. Visit www.bworldonline.com (section: The Nation) to read more national and regional news from the Philippines.