But by some weird twist of fate, Isabel’s life turns upside down when she encounters a near-death accident. The wicked antagonist experiences a sudden change of heart and being the top kontrabida of her soap opera, Isabel couldn’t just deliver her heartlessness and cruelty in front of the camera. Her over-the-top villainous persona disappears and she finds herself powerless to kick and slap the lead star.

Isabel’s show hits a major ratings lump andthe network advises her to take a break from work with hopes of reigniting her passion. To solve her dilemma, Isabel seeks the help of the biggest kontrabida icon in the country, no less than Ms. Bella Flores. She finds her on YouTube and says that for Isabel to get herself back, she needs to find the person who hurt her the most. And that person for Isabel is Chris Bernal (Aljur Abrenica).

Armed with pure wits and sheer determination, Isabel sets off to meet Chris who is still living in the same town where she left him many years back when she was a child. As they navigate their way through romance and heartbreak, will it further sabotage Isabel’scareer and their chances for a relationship?

As they rediscover their past, Isabel begins to see Chris in a new light and she unexpectedly finds herself falling in love all over again with the very same guy who broke her heart. Will they ever get the right timing to be together? Will the Kontrabida girl find the perfect and genuine love she has been wishing for in thearms of Chris?

Directed by:
Jade Castro

Cast:
Rhian Ramos, Aljur Abrenica, Bea Binene, Jake Vargas, Chariz Solomon, Gwen Zamora, Bela Padilla, Enzo Pineda, Ken Chan, Kevin Santos, Sef Cadayona, Sabina Santiago, Bella Flores, Celia Rodriguez, Odette Khan, Gladys Reyes, Lolit Solis, Tia Pusit

Alleged rape victim "Pamela" is seen during the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing regarding the allege rape incident by Panamanian Diplomat Erick Shcks held at the Senate in Pasay City, south of Manila, on 17 May 2012. (Voltaire Domingo/NPPA Images)

During the Senate committee hearing, Department of Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rafael Seguis said the department only abided provisions of the Vienna Convention when it issued a certification of immunity to the accused Erick Bairnals Shcks, a member of the administrative and technical staff of the Panamanian embassy.

The 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relation states that “a diplomatic agent shall enjoy immunity from the criminal jurisdiction of the receiving State.”

Senator Vicente Sotto III, however, questioned if the act of rape should be part of the privileges and immunities enjoyed by diplomats.

Sotto initiated the Senate investigation on the case of a 19-year-old Filipina, whom he called Pamela, who was allegedly forced to sniff drugs before she was raped by Bairnals last month.

The senator said the case filed by Pamela against the Panamanian was dismissed after the DFA issued certifications that the suspect has immunity from arrest and detention.

Department of Justice Secretary Leila de Lima said the government tried to convince the Panamanian ambassador to the Philippines to waive Bairnals’ diplomatic immunity but to no avail.

“We’re restricted by the provisions of the Vienna Convention. Dito siya dapat panagutin,” De Lima said in an interview after the hearing.

Since the suspect has already left the country and the Philippine government has no jurisdiction in Panama, De Lima said the DFA will request the Panamanian government to investigate and prosecute Bairnals.

The victim Pamela attended the Senate hearing but refused to talk to reporters.

Senator Loren Legarda, Senate committee chair on foreign relations, instructed the DOJ and DFA to submit on Monday a draft of guidelines and procedures to avoid the abuse of diplomatic immunity.

Always out under the sun? Know how excessive sun exposure damages (and ages!) your skin

By Maui V. Reyes for Yahoo! Southeast Asia

Sun exposure isn’t entirely a bad thing. You get Vitamin D from the sun, which is needed to help the body absorb calcium and phosphorous (you can get Vitamin D from food sources, but they’re usually insufficient). Studies have also shown that the sun can improve one’s mental well-being, giving one happier, more “positive” feelings. Sun exposure may also prevent multiple sclerosis, and heal certain skin conditions such as eczema and psoriasis.

That being said, it’s still not an excuse to don a bikini and fall asleep on the beach at noon. For starters, getting “sunned” in the morning for a maximum of 15 minutes, twice a week, should give you the proper amount of Vitamin D. Anything more than that is just exposing yourself to unnecessary skin damage. Here are the short-term and long-term effects of excessive sun exposure.

Short-term effects

Tanning happens when the pre-formed melanin in your skin turns into melanin (melanin is what’s responsible for your skin color). The melanin is then distributed on the upper layers of your skin, giving you that sun-kissed look. Melanin actually helps protect your skin from UV damage, so getting a tan is our body’s way of telling us that we’ve already been exposed to too much UV rays.

Your skin may also noticeably thicken and appear “leathery”. That’s because the upper layers of your skin called the epidermis creates more cells to “buffer” UV rays from reaching sensitive basal cells.

Another short-term effect of sun exposure is getting sunburnt. That’s when your skin becomes red, swollen, tender, and painful. UV rays kill skin cells, and those that weren’t killed are permanently damaged. A sunburn is an acute inflammatory response—meaning it’s your body’s way of letting you know (in a rather painful way) that you should really stay out of the sun before you seriously damage your skin any further.

Long-term effects

The thing about sun damage is that it’s cumulative, which means it adds up over time. So while you don’t see any major changes now, you’ll surely notice—and feel!—the damage you’ve done to your skin in the years to come.

Some of the things you should look out for are wrinkles, dull skin, and sun spots. Wrinkles happen when your skin loses its elasticity. Free radicals in UV rays break down the production of collagen, which is responsible for skin elasticity. This leaves your skin looking saggy and dull. UV rays can also cause mottled pigmentation, sun-induced freckles, and age spots. It’s no wonder that The Skin Cancer Foundation in the United States has estimated that about 90% of aging signs we experience were caused by UV rays!

Excessive exposure to the sun can also affect your eyes. Cataracts, an eye condition that causes blindness, has been believed to occur from enhanced exposure to UVB rays. The World Health Organization estimates that about 20% of those suffering from cataracts were exposed to too much UV radiation.

Of course, what you most need to be worried about is cancer. UV light affects the cellular DNA of our skin cells, which can lead to several types skin cancers (as well as eye cancers, such as Ocular Melanoma). And just like any kind of cancer, skin cancer can quickly spread to other organs in the body. One of these is melanoma, currently amongst the fastest growing cancers in the United States. According to the Charlie Guild Melanoma Foundation, melanoma is the primary cause of cancer death in women between the ages of 25 and 29.

If you really can’t avoid excess sun exposure, do your skin a favor and slather on sunscreen, lotion, or moisturizer with an SPF of 30 or higher. Also make sure to reapply every two to three hours, as water and sweat can wash away sunscreen.

Read up on more tips on how to stay safe under the sun here, and how to treat sunburns here.

Disco legend Donna Summer

Known as the Queen of Disco, the singer whose hits also included “I Feel Love” and “She Works Hard for the Money,” died in Florida from lung cancer, the TMZ celebrity news website said.

“Early this morning, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith,” said a family statement.

“While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can’t express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at this sensitive time.”

Tributes started pouring in within hours of death on Twitter, where it became one of the top trending topics, along with “I Feel Love.”

“She was truly the #Disco Queen!” said La Toya Jackson, adding “She will be terribly missed,” while singer Mary J Blige tweeted: “RIP Donna Summers!!!!!!!!!??. You were truly a game changer!!!”

Harry Casey, lead singer and “KC” of fellow disco greats KC and the Sunshine Band, said he was stunned.

“I saw her several months ago at a performance, she looked great, she sang great, her performance was amazing. We got together backstage and had some good laughs and walked down memory lane.

“I’m just in shock. I had no idea anything was wrong.”

In Hollywood, flowers were placed on her sidewalk star on the storied Hollywood Walk of Fame, across the street from the world-famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre.

Summer, who also became something of an icon in the gay community, shot to fame during the disco era of the 1970s with hits like “MacArthur Park,” “Hot Stuff” and “Bad Girls.”

The orgasmic-sounding “Love to Love You Baby,” released in 1975, was one of the first disco songs to be released in extended form, giving full vent to Summer’s erotic moans and groans.

In the 1980s her hits included “She Works Hard for the Money” and “State of Independence.”

The disco diva was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines into a large devoutly Christian family in Boston and started singing in the local church, before performing in a number of Motown-influenced groups in her teens.

Summer took her stage name after marrying Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer in 1972, anglicizing her name after divorcing him. She spoke fluent German and the couple had a daughter, Mimi Sommer.

The singer won five Grammy awards during her spectacular career, including in 1980 for best rock female vocalist for the 1979 “Hot Stuff,” but also as recently as 1997 for best dance recording for “Carry On.”

She holds the record for most consecutive double albums to top the Billboard charts — three — and first female with four #1 singles in a 12-month period, three solo and one with Barbra Streisand, according to the IMDb website.

“Hot Stuff” also got a boost from being used in the 1997 hit movie “The Full Monty,” as the track to which a group of unemployed British steel workers performed a striptease act.

TMZ reported that she had kept her illness quiet, and didn’t appear too sick only a couple of weeks ago, citing sources as saying she was focused on trying to finish a new album she had been working on.

It cited sources as saying Summer believed she developed lung cancer after inhaling toxic particles following the September 11, 2001 Al Qaeda attacks in New York.

She married singer Bruce Sudano in 1980, and they had two daughters together, according to TMZ.

Researchers at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) fed two groups of rats a solution containing high-fructose corn syrup — a common ingredient in processed foods — as drinking water for six weeks.

One group of rats was supplemented with brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while the other group was not.

Before the sugar drinks began, the rats were enrolled in a five-day training session in a complicated maze. After six weeks on the sweet solution, the rats were then placed back in the maze to see how they fared.

“The DHA-deprived animals were slower, and their brains showed a decline in synaptic activity,” said Fernando Gomez-Pinilla, a professor of neurosurgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

“Their brain cells had trouble signaling each other, disrupting the rats’ ability to think clearly and recall the route they’d learned six weeks earlier.”

A closer look at the rat brains revealed that those who were not fed DHA supplements had also developed signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar and regulates brain function.

“Because insulin can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss,” Gomez-Pinilla said.

In other words, eating too much fructose could interfere with insulin’s ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar, which is necessary for processing thoughts and emotions.

“Insulin is important in the body for controlling blood sugar, but it may play a different role in the brain, where insulin appears to disturb memory and learning,” Gomez-Pinilla said.

“Our study shows that a high-fructose diet harms the brain as well as the body. This is something new.”

High-fructose corn syrup is commonly found in soda, condiments, applesauce, baby food and other processed snacks.

The average American consumes more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the US Department of Agriculture.

While the study did not say what the equivalent might be for a human to consume as much high-fructose corn syrup as the rats did, researchers said it provides some evidence that metabolic syndrome can affect the mind as well as the body.

“Our findings illustrate that what you eat affects how you think,” said Gomez-Pinilla.

“Eating a high-fructose diet over the long term alters your brain’s ability to learn and remember information. But adding omega-3 fatty acids to your meals can help minimize the damage.”

The study appeared in the Journal of Physiology.

Retreat to your room with a box of tissues and several pints of ice cream? Start sorting through all your photos together, deleting them from your cell phone, hard drive, camera, USB… why are there so many photos of both of you all of a sudden?!

Then there’s the change of status on Facebook and all the text messages and private messages asking if you’re okay.

How are you going to stay sane throughout all this?

1. Know that it takes two

You’re grateful for the support of your family and friends, but the worst thing that happens after you are dumped is your self-esteem takes a nosedive. You start wondering where you went wrong, why you weren’t enough to keep him, and what he was looking for that you couldn’t give him.

Former guidance counselor Nympha Banzon says you shouldn’t blame yourself. “Always realize that a relationship involves two different individuals,” she says. “You should be asking yourself, ‘Where did we go wrong?’ Never put the blame on one person. Remember, it takes two to make a relationship work.”

2. Get to the bottom of things

If your ex wasn’t a jerk about the breakup and is still willing to be friends, Banzon says you can ask him to help you realize where both of you went wrong. Learn from the mistakes of your relationship. Talk to him calmly, after all the tears have been shed, when you’re feeling stronger and not so vulnerable anymore.

But if it was a bad breakup, then maybe you should skip this part and move on to the next suggestion.

3. Work on yourself 

It will be impossible not to dwell on your breakup and what your ex could be doing at every possible moment, but if you force yourself to shift focus, you may be able to get over this sooner.

“Take this time to assess yourself and how you can best improve yourself,” says Banzon.

If you were able to talk to your ex and reach some conclusions about why your relationship suffered, Banzon says you can then work on your weaknesses. But if you didn’t, then make a list of what you want to improve in your life—and finding another boyfriend should not be on it yet (beware the rebound relationship!). Take a class, volunteer for a good cause, start a small business. Get out there and get busy!

4. Move on the right way

This is a choice you have to make for yourself, says Banzon. First of all, you need to be willing and ready to let go of your ex, your relationship, and being someone’s girlfriend.

“Moving on is when you tell yourself, ‘Enough is enough,’” she says. “But it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process.”

What it all boils down to is choosing to love yourself despite everything that’s happened. Even if you made a fool of yourself, stalked your ex (and not just on Facebook), and turned all your friends away because all you could talk about was your broken heart, there is still hope. Once you have made the decision to focus on and love yourself, you’ll notice that your disastrous relationship is something you could actually live with and leave in the past.

“Do not get stuck with the pain and the bitterness,” adds Banzon. Do not stay angry at your ex and believe that it means you have moved on. It doesn’t. “It can destroy you even more,” she says.

What you need to realize is, “Ako naman: two simple but powerful words that express that you want to love yourself this time while you still can and are able to.”

Got a question or comment for Olivia? Email her at threeolivias@yahoo.com.

Olivia Yao has been writing ever since she can remember. She has written for health, teen, parenting, and children’s magazines. Her latest endeavor is being a mom to her three-year-old daughter—her toughest assignment yet.

One woman was rushed to a hospital in Cebu City after she was pinned to the ground by a fallen tree.

Barangays Lamac and Punod are about 14 kilometers from the poblacion of the town in Cebu’s third district.

Rep. Pablo John Garcia (Cebu, 3rd district), who sent staff members to the area, said that based on the report he received, the two barangays were hit by a “buhawi” or whirlwind and hail stones.

He instructed his staff to assess the damage and see how his office could help.

In a phone interview, Pinamungajan Mayor Geraldine Yapha told Sun.Star Cebu that the disturbance hit the houses alternately, damaging the structures.

Yapha said that while the ice-like drops and the strong winds would hit a house and damage it, these would leave the next house intact.

Yapha said that it was very hot and sunny yesterday morning, but at 11:30 a.m. dark clouds mantled the sky.

She quoted residents who saw that thunder struck and a series of lighting bolted the sky.

These were followed by strong winds, and ice-like particles fell from the sky.

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Services Administration (Pagasa) said the hailstorm in Pinamungahan did not register on their radar.

Alice Canasa, a Pagasa weather specialist, told Sun.Star in a separate interview, that a hailstorm occurs when the clouds in the area are too low.

She said that these come in a form of hail stones when there are cumulonimbus clouds or a mix of cumulus and nimbus clouds.

“Rain drops are crystal forms of water and because the clouds are too near the ground, wala na mahilis ang raindrops, so they remain solid when they hit the ground,” Canasa said.

A hail or a hail storm is a form of solid precipitation. It consists of balls or irregular lumps of ice, each of which is referred to as a hail stone.

A hail is possible within most thunderstorms as it is produced by cumulonimbi (thunderclouds), and within two nautical miles (3.7 km) of the parent storm.

Alexander Ygay, 35, said several houses were damaged and trees were fallen everywhere.

Pinamungajan town Councilor Geronimo Geronga had to bring a chainsaw to cut fallen trees that block the road.

Ygay, who was sent by Provincial Board Member Alex Binghay to the area to help the residents, said some people swept the ice drops that accumulated on the road beside the school.

As of 8 o’clock last night, Congressman Garcia received an initial report that 80 houses were damaged in Barangay Lamac and six houses in Barangay Punod.

Ygay said residents told him the hail stones, which were slightly bigger than marbles, dropped from the sky and pierced their plastic roofs.

Mayor Yapha immediately made her rounds in the community after she received the alarm.

She rushed to the hospital in Cebu City a middle-aged Mercedes Bacoro who was pinned to the ground by a fallen tree.

The Municipal Health Office also provided medical relief to those who were slightly injured.

Among those admitted to the Pinamungajan District Hospital were Juliet Demol, 23.

Reports were not clear as to what hit Demol.

Charmel Balutag, 10, was wounded on her left cheek.

Daniel Wenceslao, 24, hurt his toe in the left foot.

The mayor also asked Lamac Barangay Captain Flor Cantero to see what other assistance the town could provide.

Yapha said affected residents are now staying in the houses of their neighbors and in the barangay hall.

Pinamungajan is a third class municipality southwest of Cebu City. It has 26 barangays.

The PHAs are considered robust enough to survive the passage through Earth’s atmosphere. If they were to collide with Earth they could cause damage on a large scale, experts warn.

Positions of a simulated population of PHAs are shown in bright orange and Earth's orbit in green. Photo: Nasa

An image released by Nasa shows the distribution of the PHAs – with every orange dot representing an asteroid measuring 330 feet (100 metres) or more that is in orbit.

Only 20% to 30% of these objects have previously been charted.

Although there is no cause for immediate alarm, Nasa said the information could prepare us for future disasters.

Lindley Johnson, programme scientist for the Near-Earth Object Observation said: “The NEOWISE analysis shows us we’ve made a good start at finding those objects that truly represent an impact hazard to Earth.

“But we’ve many more to find, and it will take a concerted effort during the next couple of decades to find all of them that could do serious damage or be a mission destination in the future.”

Amy Mainzer, NEOWISE principal investigator, at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California added: “It turned out to be a huge bonus.

“Everything we can learn about these objects helps us understand their origins and fate. Our team was surprised to find the overabundance of low-inclination PHAs.

“Because they will tend to make more close approaches to Earth, these targets can provide the best opportunities for the next generation of human and robotic exploration.”

The three trends on a path where their gender roles is being ostracized by their village who follows many beliefs on what a specific gender must do and be.

Directed by:
Auraeus Solito

Cast:
Desiree Del Valle, Carlo Aquino, Vanna Garcia, Bembol Roco, Luis Alandy, Eugene Domingo, Ama Quiambao

Pound-for-pound king Manny Pacquiao

The world champion boxer and Filipino congressman has been criticized ever since he was quoted in an interview on the examiner.com website saying he opposed President Barack Obama’s support for gay marriage.

Pacquiao said Wednesday in an interview with The Associated Press that he doesn’t support gay marriage because of his Roman Catholic beliefs. But he said he has gay friends and relatives, and supports their rights.

“I’m not against the gay people,” Pacquiao said. “I’m not condemning them. … I have a cousin (who is) gay. I have relatives (who are) gay. I have a lot of friends (who are) gay, so I’m not condemning gays. What I said is I’m not in favor of same-sex marriage. That’s the one thing I said to the guy.

“I told (the reporter) I’m against same-sex marriage,” Pacquiao added. “He said, ‘Why?’ I said, ‘It’s the law of God.’ That’s all I said.”

The examiner.com story contained a bible passage from Leviticus calling for the death of “a man (who) lies with a man,” and Pacquiao said many readers erroneously believed he had quoted that verse.

He said he had not, and the writer later clarified in a follow-up post that he had included the verse himself.

“My favorite verse in the bible is ‘Love one another,’ and ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself,’” Pacquiao said. “It’s in the bible: Do not judge. I’m not judging.”

Pacquiao was banned from a popular Hollywood shopping mall after the article was publicized Tuesday, and an online petition encouraging sponsor Nike to drop Pacquiao received 4,868 signatures before it was suspended Wednesday morning. The petition site, change.org, posted a note saying that the author of the original article had clarified that Pacquiao didn’t cite the bible passage.
Pacquiao spoke to the AP next to his pool at his comfortable Los Angeles home, where the congressman lives while training for fights at Freddie Roach’s Wild Card Gym in Hollywood. The champion had the day off from training, spending the morning in medical exams before a big lunch and some relaxation.

Although Pacquiao is experiencing a newfound passion for his religion and has socially conservative views in line with many Filipinos’ beliefs, he was eager to clear his name after a 24-hour avalanche of criticism over the belief that the eight-division world champion boxer had denounced gay rights and even supported the killing of gay people.

Although he opposes same-sex marriage, Pacquiao declined to weigh in on civil unions, the internationally popular alternative, saying he didn’t know enough about the concept to form an opinion.

“It’s hard to give a correct answer to what’s the right situation,” he said.

The expansive Los Angeles mall known as The Grove, where the syndicated entertainment-news show “Extra” films its episodes, wouldn’t allow Pacquiao to film a segment on its premises, worrying that an appearance by the boxer could be disruptive. Host Mario Lopez, an avid boxing fan, instead filmed an interview with Pacquiao at the fighter’s home.

Pacquiao chuckled at the knowledge that his words – even words he said he didn’t say – carry more weight than those of an average athlete because of his political aspirations. – By AP (Philstar News Service, www.philstar.com)