LONDON (Reuters) - China's Huawei unveiled its flagship smartphone, the Ascend P6, at its first standalone launch event on Tuesday, underlining its ambitions to compete with Apple and Samsung in the top tier of mobile technology.
The company says the device, at 6.18 mm thick, is the world's slimmest. It has a 5 megapixel front-facing camera, designed for taking "selfies", or pictures of the owner to be shared on social media networks.
The company picked the launch date - 6/18 (June 18) - to tie in with the smartphone's dimensions.
The launch, at an arts venue in North London, takes a cue from Apple and Samsung, both of which have made new product announcements at high profile events for a number of years.
Previously Huawei unveiled its handsets at industry trade shows like Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
Huawei, which also makes telecom networking gear, is looking to drive sales of its consumer devices, a sector in which it has only had its own brand for about three years.

“Emong” has further strengthened into a tropical storm on Tuesday noon, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical, and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) reported.

In its 10 am update on Tuesday, Pagasa said Emong now packs maximum sustained winds of 65 kph near its center and a gustiness of up to 80 kph.

The state weather bureau last spotted the storm at about 460 kms east of Isabela, Cagayan, with "Emong" accelerating its northward movement at 19 kph.

Should it maintain its current pace, Emong is expected to be 470 kms east of Basco, Batanes by Wednesday morning and out of Philippine area of responsibility by Thursday morning.

“Tropical Storm Emong is still too far to directly affect any part of the country. However, it will enhance the Southwest Monsoon,” Pagasa said.

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - San Antonio Spurs forward Tracy McGrady was one of the NBA's premier players in his prime but lately he has been imitating the game's biggest name as he seeks a maiden championship.

Heading into the 2013 Finals, McGrady took on the role of simulating LeBron James in practice to help his team prepare for the best-of-seven series against the Miami Heat.

"That was before this series even started, just simulating a little bit of what LeBron does on the basketball court," said McGrady, whose Spurs lead the best-of-seven series 2-1.

"I'm just doing the best I can and contributing in whatever fashion I can for this team to prepare themselves to win a championship."

McGrady's National Basketball Association (NBA) career began with much promise, entering the league as a teenager when he was drafted ninth overall by the Toronto Raptors in 1997.

He averaged under 10 points a game in his first two seasons but enjoyed a breakout campaign in 1999-2000 when he helped lead Toronto to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

McGrady was eventually dealt to the Orlando Magic, where he enjoyed his best seasons. He then had a stint with the Houston Rockets, where a knee injury in 2008 triggered a downward spiral in his career.

Sweden's Princess Madeleine and U.S.-British banker Christopher O'Neill leave Riddarholmen for a boat trip to Drottningholm Palace for their wedding dinner, after their wedding ceremony in the royal castle in Stockholm June 8, 2013. Princess Madeleine, 30, daughter of Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, married O'Neill, 38, on Saturday at a wedding attended by European royals and socialites from across the Atlantic.

It came about a week early.
The Samsung Galaxy Mega, which we said would be launched June 15, was officially introduced to the local market the day Samsung Philippines opened its first Experience Store (think Apple Store) at the second floor of SM Aura Premier in Taguig City.
Samsung Galaxy Mega to go on sale in PH starting June
And Samsung wasn't kidding when they named it Mega. Its 6.3-inch variant is the biggest smartphone/phablet that we've come across thus far; people with small hands would have a hard time wrapping their fingers around it.
It could turn off some people because it is hard to type on the device using one hand. However, those who always use their phones to play games and watch TV shows and movies may appreciate the Samsung Galaxy Mega's huge screen.

John “Sweet” Lapus has been making people laugh for two decades now – back when social media has not been invented and someone who cracks an insensitive joke doesn’t get crucified in Twitter of Facebook.

Now that social media is everywhere, John has steered clear of bashers. He has been spared from the kind of criticism Vice Ganda has been getting, courtesy of his Jessica Soho jokes.

Read related story: John Lapus returns to ABS-CBN

More than nine million students packed exam halls across China for the opening day of the country's university entrance exam on Friday -- with attempts to stop cheating even leading to bans on metal bra clasps.
Students in the northeastern province of Jilin were banned from wearing clothing with metal parts and education authorities installed metal detectors in exam centres to clamp down on "wireless cheating devices", the state-run Global Times reported.
Authorities have become increasingly concerned about the risk of examinees using devices such as smartphones -- some of which have become smaller and easier to hide -- as an illicit aid during tests.
Around 9.12 million high school students were registered across China to sit the crucially important two-day exam, known as the gaokao, an education ministry spokeswoman said.

Sarah Lahbati, who’s currently in Switzerland, might land in jail once she goes back to the Philippines.

The Makati City Prosecutor’s Office recently recommended filing a libel case against the Kapuso star. This, after she accused GMA Films President Annette Gozon-Abrogar of questionable talent management deals via micro-blogging site Twitter late last year.

In an interview with Startalk on June 1, Abrogar’s counsel Atty. Gener Asuncion said the court found probable cause upon investigating the case.

This compelled the Makati Regional Trial Court to issue a warrant of arrest against Lahbati.

Assistant City Prosecutor Torres Peña, meanwhile, pointed out that Sarah failed to present evidence to show that her ‘malicious’ tweets were made in good faith.