The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business

Chevron Philippines Inc. (Chevron) will help 33 public schools in Metro Manila upgrade their science and technology (S&T) capabilities through a donation of P150,000 for each school through the Caltex Fuel Your School (FYS) program.

Ayala-led Globe Telecom has been cited in American online news site Huffington Post as a Philippine mobile brand that has helped position the country as the “Digital Lifestyle Capital of the World.”

By Jerry Maglunog When the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) raised the minimum paid-up capital for rural banks (RB), it sent an underlying message for small struggling banks to merge for survival. Under the new memorandum, anyone who wants to put up an RB needs at least P10 million, if it is located in a fifth-class municipality.

More Americans bought new homes in April—evidence that the stronger job market is powering the housing sector. The United States Commerce Department said last Tuesday new-home sales climbed 6.8 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 517,000. Sales recovered from a 10 percent dip in March to an annual pace of 484,000.

Greece is proposing to legalize tax-dodgers’ undeclared money for a fee, a way to raise money as the country tries to reach a deal with creditors to get more bailout money and avoid default.

SINGAPORE—China’s land reclamation in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) is out of step with international rules, and turning underwater land into airfields won’t expand its sovereignty, United States Defense Secretary Ash Carter told an international security conference on Saturday, stepping up America’s condemnation of the communist giant as Beijing officials sat in the audience.

United Nations—The boys said they approached the French soldiers because they were hungry. Some were so young that they didn’t quite understand the acts the soldiers demanded in return. One boy, 8 or 9 years old, said he did it several times to the same soldier, “until, one day, an older kid saw him and told him what he was …

Oakland, California—After a generation of wishing and waiting, the Golden State Warriors have finally arrived on basketball’s biggest stage again, booking their place in the NBA Finals with a 104-90 win against Houston on Wednesday.

Bern, Switzerland— For months, American and Swiss investigators worked in secret to prepare for the raids that would shake the soccer world. They knew that the moment to strike would come when Fifa, the sport’s governing body, held its annual congress in Zurich, gathering all of its top officials—including the main suspects in a far-reaching US corruption probe.

By Tom Krisher / The Associated Press Detroit—By the end of the year, nearly every major automaker will begin offering Apple’s CarPlay or Google’s Android Auto, two systems that effectively turn a car’s dashboard screen into a smartphone.