World Youth Day Pope Benedict XVI waves to pilgrims as he passes the Sydney Opera House in his Pope mobile after addressing thousands at Barangaroo on his first day of official duties during World Youth Day activities in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday. See story on page B7. AP

BSP hikes rates by 50 basis pts

THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised its policy rates 50 basis points higher on Thursday instead of the 25-basis-point adjustment seen by consensus.

Rice-land conversion barred for 2 years

PRESIDENT Arroyo has suspended for two years the processing and approval of all land-conversion applications of rice lands under Republic Act (RA) 8435, even as the group of former senior government officials, called the FSGO, assailed her record in rice self-sufficiency, citing it as one of the biggest unfulfilled promises after Edsa 2.

‘Japanese leaders recognize Senate concerns on Jpepa’

JAPANESE government leaders have acknowledged valid concerns raised in the Senate on the ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (Jpepa) that relates to its constitutionality, Sen. Mar Roxas II reported on Thursday.

Long-term projects, not doles, needed

DESPITE the billion-peso proceeds of the value-added tax (VAT) collected by the national government, the government should stop giving doles and instead pool the funds to create long-term, well-targeted programs for the poor.

LGUs, CSOs unite to fight graft

LOCAL civil society organizations (CSOs) and former government officials have now deemed the rampant and, at times, blatant graft and corruption practices in the national government as beyond repair, and are focusing their energies toward improving local government units (LGUs), seeing this as a better use of their time and resources.

P120-M ‘conficetel’ up at Subic

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — Unveiling a new concept in modern condominium living, a Korean property developer here inaugurated on Tuesday the Subic World Plaza (SWP), a P120-million three-story project, the first in a planned series of “conficetels”—condominium-office-hotel.

GRP, MILF hurdle ‘domain’ issues

PRESIDENT Arroyo said on Thursday that Mindanao is closer to attaining sustainable development following the removal of the remaining hurdle—differences over the ancestral-domain issue—to formal peace negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

Contest season keeps RP mathletes, trainers very busy

SARAH JANE CUA, the Filipino teenager who bagged the title of Asia-Pacific Sudoku champion in the BRAND’S Sudoku Challenge in Singapore on July 12, is leaving again Friday (July 18) for another international contest: the International Mathematics Competition (IMC), also in Singapore, this weekend.

Cory, Erap worry over arrest of Anwar Ibrahim

TWO former Philippine presidents, one installed by people power and another deposed by it, have issued statements expressing serious concern over the arrest of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The big COOKfest US Ambassador to Manila Kristie Kenney leads cake-cutting rites at the opening of the Great American Food Festival Thursday at the Glorietta Activity Center in Makati City. The festival, organized by the US Department of Agriculture, the US Embassy in Manila and COOK magazine, features such all-American gustatory treats as roast turkey, cheesecake and apple pie. Joining the ambassador are (from left) BusinessMirror’s VP for corporate affairs Ricky Alegre, BM publisher T. Anthony C. Cabangon, Malacañang executive chef Babes Austria and BM president Benjie Ramos. Nonie Reyes

Sarah Jane Cua holds her Brand’s Asia-Pacific Sudoku trophy at a sendoff lunch for the Philippine team and the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild (MTG), as they will see action anew in Singapore at this weekend’s International Mathematics Competition. Beside her are the trophies, also won this week, by an MTG-trained team at a contest in Hong Kong. Roy Domingo