Regine Velasquez-Alcasid highlights musical on upcoming concert

MANILA, Philippines – Regine Velasquez-Alcasid is back on doing concert series with “Regine at the Theater.”

“Ang concept is theater, so it’s all musicals,” she said about the concert. “So marami kaming Broadway pero mayro’n din kami OPM, kasi nga musical siya.”

Regine added that this is somehow a way to celebrate the growing popularity of musicals here in the country.

So aside from the Broadway songs she usually perform, she’ll be doing Ryan Cayabyab pieces and songs used on local musicals.

The planning of the series concert has been for a while now but didn’t push through because of some factors.

“Never naming nagagawa kasi first ‘yong venue, we want to find a really nice venue na pang theater talaga, given the title. So we want a nice, beautiful theater,” she explained. “Also my schedule, kasi no’ng time na nakahanap kami ng theater ako naman ‘yong…I had a hard time singing pa.”

“So ngayon naging perfect na ang mga situation kaya tinuloy na namin, finally,” she added.

Aside from doing a series concert, it has been a while since Regine starred in a soap opera. Her last TV series is “I Heart You, Pare!” in 2011, which is the same year when she got pregnant with her son Nate.

“‘Yong pag-arte, kung mayro’n talagang magandang project siyempre gagawin ko naman ‘yon,” she replied when asked if she has given up acting. “Naghihintay ako ng magandang proyekto. Ayaw ko naman gumawa ng hindi ko mapapanindigan.”

“Since I have more time, parang gusto kong kumanta muna. Kasi ‘yon naman talaga ang first love ko, ang pagkanta. So I just want to go back to singing first,” she added.

Also part of the “Regine at the Theater” concert are Jonalyn Viray and Aicelle Santos who will alternate in the two set of weekends, and Audie Gemora who’ll be present in all of the shows.

It will happen on November 6, 7, 20 and 21 at The Theater in Solaire Resort and Casino. Tickets are available at SM Tickets.

source: philstar.com

World oil prices edge higher on OPEC remarks

LONDON - The oil market drifted higher Thursday as investors digested an upbeat demand forecast from the head of the OPEC crude producers' cartel.

Brent North Sea crude for delivery in November added seven cents to stand at $51.40 per barrel just after midday in London.

US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in November won eight cents to $47.89 per barrel compared with Wednesday's close.

"Oil prices are... recouping some of the losses they suffered yesterday," said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritsch.

"The optimistic remarks made about oil demand by OPEC Secretary General El-Badri still appear to be having after-effects," he added.

Traders were mulling remarks by Abdalla Salem El-Badri, secretary-general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, who stated that demand will rise more than projected this year.

"World oil demand is estimated to increase by 1.5 million barrels per day in 2015, higher than the initial projection," El-Badri said in a statement to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

"In 2016, improvement in global economic activities is anticipated to support world oil demand to grow by 1.3 million barrels per day."

Prices had tumbled Wednesday after a US Department of Energy report showed commercial crude stockpiles rose more than expected in the week ending October 2, indicating softer demand in the world's top oil consuming nation.

Stockpiles rose by 3.1 million barrels, more than the market estimate of 2.25 million barrels. That brought inventories to 461.0 million barrels, more than 27 percent higher than a year ago.

US production, which had fallen by 40,000 barrels per day in the previous week, unexpectedly surged by 76,000 barrels per day, dousing hopes of an easing in the global crude oversupply.

Sanjeev Gupta, who heads the Asia Pacific oil and gas practice at professional services firm EY, added that traders were waiting for Thursday's release of minutes of the last meeting of the Federal Reserve for further clues on the health of the US economy.

source: interaksyon.com

Sony cuts prices for PlayStation 4

TOKYO — Sony Corp said it was cutting the price of its PlayStation 4 videogame console to around $350 from $400 to boost sales ahead of the year-end holiday season.

Thursday’s announcement follows similar price cuts of the console in Asia, including its home market Japan, and adds pressure on rival Microsoft Corp, whose Xbox One system has lagged the PlayStation 4 in global sales.

Videogames, along with sensors, have helped lead a turnaround at Sony which is still struggling with weak smartphone and TV sales.

In July, Sony raised its full-year operating income forecast for its game and network services division to 60 billion yen ($501.3 million) from a previous 40 billion yen, due to solid PlayStation demand.

source: interaksyon.com

Simple test may reduce hospital admissions for suspected heart attacks - study

PARIS, France -- A simple blood test can reduce unnecessary hospital admissions by pinpointing people seeking medical help for chest pain caused by something other than a heart attack, a study said Thursday.

Researchers said they had identified the optimal level of a protein called troponin in the blood below which a heart attack can be all but ruled out as the cause of chest pain.

In a trial of about 6,300 people who went to the emergency room with chest pain at four hospitals in Scotland and the United States, the test correctly identified about two-thirds of those who were not having a heart attack -- all had a troponin level under five nanograms (billionths of a gram) per deciliter (a tenth of a liter).

This meant everyone under this threshold could probably have been sent home instead of being admitted to hospital, the research team wrote in The Lancet medical journal.

"Implementation of this approach would reduce avoidable hospital admission and have major benefits for both patients and health-care providers," the researchers wrote.

But they underlined the approach should not be applied without consulting a patient's medical history and profile.

Chest pain is one of the most common causes of hospitalization worldwide, with international guidelines recommending that people who complain of chest pain be admitted for extensive testing. The vast majority do not have a heart attack.

"Until now there were no quick ways to rule out heart attack within the emergency department," lead author Anoop Shah from the University of Edinburgh said in a statement.

In a comment also carried by The Lancet, experts Louise Cullen and William Parsonage from the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Australia, and Martin Than from Christchurch Hospital in New Zealand, urged further study before a troponin benchmark is determined for early discharge of people with chest pain.

source: interaksyon.com

Singer-comedian Elizabeth Ramsey, 83, passes away

Singer-comedian Elizabeth Ramsey has passed away in her sleep. She was 83 years old.

Her daughter, singer and TV host Jaya, announced her demise on Facebook Thursday morning.

“Mama Beth is now with our Lord… 83 years has been full. Love and laughter, she has given not just our family but the whole nation. Thank you for your love and prayers and I rejoice because she passes in her sleep. In peace. In God’s loving arms. Bye mama, until we meet again. I love you forever. Thank you Jesus,” Jaya posted.

Last August, it was reported that Ramsey was confined at the intensive care unit of an undisclosed hospital following what Jaya said was a hyperglycemia attack and not a stroke as had been initially reported.

Ramsey recovered and Jaya vowed to make sure her mother feel loved as she also declared her intention to take her under her personal care in her own home.

With an entertainment career spanning over five decades, Ramsey was a native of San Carlos, Negros Occidental who was best known for her wacky delivery of English and Tagalog in her trademark Visayan accent, as well as for her signature song “Waray-Waray”.

In March of last year, Ramsey shared her life story in a DZMM radio interview with hosts Jobert Sucaldito and Ahwel Paz. In that interview, she revealed that she had been raised in a broken family and had started performing with bands at the age of 16 to be of financial help to her then ailing mother.

She later worked as a househelp when she came to Manila as she admitted that she was not really big on going to school and was more interested in singing. By 19, her father married her off but her desire to be a performer never waned.

She finally got her big break when she joined the singing contest of the noontime show “Student Canteen” and became an undefeated champion.

After that, Ramsay never stopped performing in places like the Manila Grand Opera House and Clover theaters mixing music and her livewire brand of comedy as she later became known as both “Queen of Rock and Roll” and the “Original Queen of Comedy.”

Over the years, she appeared on several films and television programs even as she never stopped doing live shows both here and abroad. One of her memorable screen performances came opposite Fernando Poe Jr. in the 1959 movie “Prinsesa Naranja”.

In 1963, she was even nominated for a FAMAS Best Supporting Actress award for her performance in “Ang Bukas ay Akin” topbilled by Charito Solis and Nestor de Villa, both now deceased.

One of her last memorable performances was a hilarious television commercial for Datu Puti vinegar in 2012 where she gamely “flirted” with TV5’s Derek Ramsay.

“Hindi mo nga ako Mama pero Papa kita… Sino’ng nanay mo?!” went her famous lines in that commercial.

In an interview with InterAksyon last year, Jaya talked fondly about her mother and the thrill of sharing the same stage with the one and only Elizabeth Ramsey.

“You know, I recently did a tour with my mom. Imagine, 83 na siya, hanggang ngayon nagto-tour pa rin. She’s still got it, the voice and everything. Gustong gusto nya, ako ang nag-i-introduce sa kanya pag magkasama kami sa show,” she quipped.

source: interaksyon.com

WATCH | Pretty Fil-Am wows ‘The Voice’ judges with audition

Her father used to be in a Grateful Dead cover band while her mother comes from a political family in Cebu.

So it was just a matter of time before 26-year old Amy Vachal would embrace the spotlight herself. Last Monday, October 5 (Tuesday, Manila time), she did just that at the popular reality talent show “The Voice” when she passed the blind auditions and moved on to the Battle Rounds phase of the competition.

Vachal is a granddaughter of Cebu political kingpin Pablo Garcia and niece of ex-governor and Cebu 3rd District representative Gwendolyn Garcia. The pretty Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter breezed through the Blind Auditions of “The Voice” with a breathtaking rendition of the 1930s classic standard “Dream A Little Dream of Me.”

Her reading of the song, accompanied only by her acoustic guitar, was obviously influenced by the 1968 version of The Mamas & The Papas featuring the late Mama Cass Elliott on vocals.

“There was an effortless beauty to Amy’s audition — in the way she made little tweaks to the classic melody, through her starry-eyed connection to the lyrics, by virtue of her decision to avoid the reality-competition trap of making everything (or anything) about pure bombast,” wrote Michaeal Slezak of TVLine.com in his review of the show.

All four judges were just as mesmerized as three of them turned around for her while a fourth judge expressed regret for not pressing his buzzer.

Adam Levine sounded apologetic for not turning around but pointed out that his team was already full.

“Not only am I sad that I didn’t get to turn for you, but you could win this whole thing,” the Maroon 5 frontman boldly declared.

Gwen Stefani was next to comment and said, “First of all, I don’t have a beautiful Pocahontas, fairy princess, angel-like singer on my team. You’re creative with the way that you’ve performed and you seemed like a real honest artist…“I can really help you on this journey, because I did this already. I feel like we could have such a connection.”

Pharell then asked Amy what she wanted to do and what genre she wished to specialize in. When she replied that she wanted to “blur lines,” citing crooners like Ella (Fitzgerald), Billie (Holliday), Frank (Sinatra) and Sam Cooke, he pitched, “I would be unbelievably appreciative to have the opportunity to aid you in that journey…Let me be the guy that can help you explore that side.”

And finally, there was Blake Shelton who seemed to be the judge who wanted Amy the most and was already exclaiming, “Please, Lord! Please pick me!” even while she was singing.

Comparing Amy to Norah Jones and Colbie Caillat, the country superstar said, “I’m already sad right now, just thinking that I don’t probably seem like the right guy for you. But let me say this, I know that I’m looking at a superstar…I’m so impressed, please pick me”.

In the end, Amy picked Pharell but Shelton was happy she made it on the show and looked forward to the prospect of stealing her in a future episode.

Here in the Philippines, “The Voice” airs every Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:50PM.

Watch Amy Vachal’s sensational blind audition performance in “The Voice” here:

source: interaksyon.com

Big US firms, led by Apple, hold $2.1 trillion overseas to avoid taxes: study

WASHINGTON - The 500 largest American companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid US taxes and would collectively owe an estimated $620 billion in US taxes if they repatriated the funds, according to a study released on Tuesday.

The study, by two left-leaning non-profit groups, found that nearly three-quarters of the firms on the Fortune 500 list of biggest American companies by gross revenue operate tax haven subsidiaries in countries like Bermuda, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The Center for Tax Justice and the US Public Interest Research Group Education Fund used the companies' own financial filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission to reach their conclusions.

Technology firm Apple was holding $181.1 billion offshore, more than any other US company, and would owe an estimated $59.2 billion in US taxes if it tried to bring the money back to the United States from its three overseas tax havens, the study said.

The conglomerate General Electric has booked $119 billion offshore in 18 tax havens, software firm Microsoft holding $108.3 billion in five tax haven subsidiaries and drug company Pfizer is holding $74 billion in 151 subsidiaries, the study said.

"At least 358 companies, nearly 72 percent of the Fortune 500, operate subsidiaries in tax haven jurisdictions as of the end of 2014," the study said. "All told these 358 companies maintain at least 7,622 tax haven subsidiaries."

Fortune 500 companies hold more than $2.1 trillion in accumulated profits offshore to avoid taxes, with just 30 of the firms accounting for $1.4 trillion of that amount, or 65 percent, the study found.

Fifty-seven of the companies disclosed that they would expect to pay a combined $184.4 billion in additional US taxes if their profits were not held offshore. Their filings indicated they were paying about 6 percent in taxes overseas, compared to a 35 percent US corporate tax rate, it said.

"Congress can and should take strong action to prevent corporations from using offshore tax havens, which in turn would restore basic fairness to the tax system, reduce the deficit and improve the functioning of markets," the study concluded.

source: interaksyon.com

Beyonce in brief superstar collaboration with Drake

NEW YORK | Two of music’s top-selling stars have come together, however briefly, as Drake put out a new song featuring Beyonce.

Drake, the Canadian rapper who has found massive commercial success thanks in part to surprise releases, brought in the pop superstar on a song entitled “Can I?”

A similar version of the song had recently leaked on the Internet but it started airing officially over the weekend on Beats One, Apple’s online radio station where Drake is a major player.

The song immediately fueled speculation on social media that “Can I?” would be part of Drake’s eagerly anticipated next album, whose release date has not been set.

Despite the big names, “Can I?” runs for only around two minutes and Beyonce’s contribution is limited to one line — “Can I, baby?” — which she recites repeatedly over one of Drake’s trademark slow, minimalist beats.

Drake in February put out a mixtape, “If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late,” which is so far the only album released this year to go platinum, or sell more than one million copies, in the United States.

Another mixtape, “What a Time To Be Alive,” performed with fellow rapper Future, came out last month and debuted at number one on the Billboard chart.

For both releases, Drake gave little prior notice and put them out first on an Apple platform.

Beyonce unveiled her blockbuster last album, which was self-titled, on Apple’s iTunes in December 2013 without advance warning.

But the release with Drake on Apple Music could surprise some fans as Beyonce is closely involved with her rap mogul husband Jay Z in the Tidal streaming service, which has heavily promoted exclusives by her.

Beyonce may be repaying a favor after Drake appeared on “Mine,” a song from her latest album about her fears on motherhood.

source: interaksyon.com

MAIA SERIES | Cherry Mobile unveils Intel-powered mobile devices

MANILA, Philippines — Local phone brand Cherry Mobile launched their Intel-powered MAIA Series of smartphones and tablets, along with their announcement of their newest brand endorser, Janella Salvador.

“Cherry Mobile’s latest MAIA series is dedicated to the youth with their untiring passion in mind,” said Maynard Ngu, Cherry Mobile chief executive.

MAIA, which is an abbreviation for Making Amazing Innovation Available, was introduced with the “hope that the youth and young professionals would have more avenues to express their passions and dreams, just like Janella,” according to Ngu.

“Today’s youth are more empowered and capable than ever,” said Calum Chilsholm, country manager at Intel Philippines. “This is what we aim to leverage through our partnership with Cherry mobile. The new MAIA Series of mobile devices can help us provide amazing experiences with the youth, empowering them through affordable but competitive devices.”

The three main devices launched by Cherry Mobile were the MAIA Fone i4, MAIA PAD, and the MAIA SMART TAB.

The MAIA Fone i4 comes with an Intel Atom x3 processor, Android Kitkat 4.4 OS, a 4-inch capacitive screen, 4GB internal memory expandable up to 64 GB with an microSD card, and dual-SIM Capabilities. The smartphone is priced at P1,999.

The MAIA Pad is also powered by an Intel Atom x3 processor, as it comes with an Android Kitkat 4.4.4 OS, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory expandable by up to 32GB through microSD, has dual-SIM options, and has a 7” screen. The tablet is priced at P2,999.

The MAIA Smart Tab with its 8-inch screen is powered by an Intel Atom Z3735F 1.8GHz quad-core processor, as it comes with Smart Boot, enabling the tablet to function with operating systems: Kitkat 4.4 and Windows 8.1; 2BG RAM, 32 GB internal memory expandable up to 64 GB through microSD, and 3,800mAh battery. The tablet is priced at P4,999.

The MAIA Series smartphones and tablets are available at Cherry Mobile Kiosks and Concept Stores nationwide starting October.

source: interaksyon.com

Angela Merkel lands in India, with trade high on the agenda

NEW DELHI, India - German Chancellor Angela Merkel landed in New Delhi late Sunday for a visit in which she is expected to push for closer trade ties, and during which India's leader hopes to draw investment from the European powerhouse.

Briefly leaving behind a refugee crisis in Europe, Merkel arrived with a delegation including Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and German business leaders for her first visit to India since the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party stormed to power last year.

"Namaste Chancellor Merkel! Warm welcome to you & the delegation. I look forward to fruitful discussions & strengthening India-Germany ties," Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted on Twitter.

She will meet with Modi, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee and Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday before she heads to the southern technology hub of Bangalore for a businness conference the next day.

Modi and Merkel will hold talks on "issues of mutual interest", including trade, defence and renewable energy, according to the Indian foreign ministry.

The two are likely to discuss resuming stalled India-EU Free Trade Agreement negotiations -- a market-opening pact to boost bilateral commerce.

German investments in India stand at 9.7 billion euros with about 1,600 companies in the country.

Modi officially visited Germany in April when he sought to attract more industries to set up shop in Asia's third-largest economy for his flagship "Make in India" campaign and boost the manufacturing sector.

source: interaksyon.com