Certified Kapuso stars na ang Final 14 ng StarStruck V matapos silang pumirma ng exclusive contract na ginanap sa GMA Network Center nitong Huwebes ng hapon.

PARIS – After a week of shows dominated by the rail-thin teens who are ubiquitous on today's catwalks, Paris fall-winter ready-to-wear 2010-11 displays concluded Wednesday with a sensual celebration of women in all their curvaceous glory at Louis Vuitton.

ATHENS, Greece – Greek police battled demonstrators in Athens on Thursday as the country ground to a halt in the latest strike against government austerity measures aiming to end a crippling debt crisis.

But the press people are a little bit worried about the exposure and projects that they will get from GMA-7.

A series of killings since the political massacre of 57 people in the southern Philippines last year has set the stage for the country’s most violent election in recent history, experts warn.

By Malcolm Brabant BBC News, Athens Greece is expected to grind to a halt for the second time in a month as hundreds of thousands of state and private workers stage a general strike. The stoppage is in protest at the country’s austerity measures. The head of the employers’ federation has accused the strikers of trying to make Greece into a charity case. More groups of workers are staging industrial action and officers from the police, fire and customs services are planning to join the street protests. Greece’s links to the outside world have been severed. Air traffic controllers have closed the country’s airspace for 24 hours and ferries are stuck in harbours as maritime unions join the strike. The government says it sympathises with public anger over the tax rises and wage cuts, but it is refusing to water down the measures. Belt tightening Potential rebels within the governing socialist party who have objected to the belt tightening have been forced to toe the official line. In his first major public pronouncement, the head of Greece’s employers’ association has denounced the street protests. Dimitris Daskalopoulos said the government had no alternative but to start again and reform the country. He condemned what he called the perpetrators of demonstrations, agitation and violence. He said they wanted to maintain the deplorable conditions that had forced Greece to look for charity from foreign markets.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has arrived in India for talks expected to focus on arms and energy contracts. The two sides are due to sign two deals worth over $10bn in defence and civilian nuclear reactors and Russia will refit an aircraft carrier. They will also try to boost bilateral trade, which is currently worth $8bn. The two countries traditionally have had close links since Soviet times, with India remaining a top buyer of Russian weaponry. However, the relationship faces new challenges, including competition from the West and the growing economic and military might of China. Mr Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov has told reporters that Russia expects the “signing of 14-15 agreements after the talks and contracts worth over $10bn” during the prime minister’s two-day visit. He said the two sides would hold talks on civilian nuclear energy, arms and production of telecom equipment. The two sides also plan to sign agreements on retrofitting a Russian aircraft carrier, supply of additional 29 fighter aircraft and a deal to jointly develop transport aircraft. Russia will build a number of nuclear reactors in energy-hungry India as well as increase atomic fuel exports to it. Russia is among a number of countries seeking to expand their activities in India following its landmark nuclear deal with the US in 2005. That accord ended India’s nuclear isolation after it tested an atom bomb in 1974.

By Subir Bhaumik BBC News, Calcutta Indian security forces have stepped up their operations against Maoist rebels, officials say. Thousands of newly-arrived federal forces have joined those already in ground in three eastern states where rebels have a formidable presence. A major security offensive -Operation Green Hunt- to flush out the rebels is already underway in several states. More than 6,000 people have died during the rebels’ 20-year fight for communist rule in many Indian states. The rebels now have a presence in 223 of India’s 600-odd districts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has described the Maoist insurgency as India’s “greatest internal security challenge”. The newly-arrived federal forces are now moving into the jungles of West Bengal, Orissa and Jharkhand states that may house a number of rebel hideouts. West Bengal police chief Bhupinder Singh said 6,000 new forces had arrived in the state’s Purulia and West Midnapore districts, which have seen rebel violence. In neighbouring Jharkhand state, police chief Neyaz Ahmed said that federal forces along with local armed police had begun attacking rebels hideouts in the jungles. “We have seized a lot of explosives and destroyed a few rebel camps,” he said. With chances of peaceful negotiations with the government fading, the Maoist military wing chief Koteswara Rao has threatened to attack targets in the cities of Bengal and Orissa. Mr Rao said his offer of a 72-day ceasefire with government forces stands. He has also named three “intellectuals” to mediate between the government and the rebels. The federal government has not reacted to the latest demand of the rebels, and called some of their demands “bizarre”.

Election laws announced by Burma’s military rulers have provoked a storm of condemnation. A United States State Department spokesman, Philip Crowley, said it made a mockery of the democratic process. Burma has prohibited political prisoners – including the pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi – from participating in forthcoming elections. However, several offices of her National League for Democracy were re-opened for the first time since 2003. “Maybe they want to show some flexibility,” said NLD spokesman Nyan Win, adding that about 100 branch offices had been reopened across the country, including several in the main city, Rangoon. ‘Farce’ The government had sealed NLD branch offices with red wax after a deadly attack on Ms Suu Kyi’s convoy by pro-regime elements on 30 May 2003. ” It’s a complete farce and therefore contrary to their roadmap to democracy ” Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo “Yes, it’s a positive step,” he said. “I think they want us to take part in the election, but we still haven’t made up our mind about this. We still need to talk it over among the top leaders, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.” But he described the latest laws as “completely unacceptable”. Not only do they bar Ms Suu Kyi, but require participants to follow the 2008 constitution, which the NLD rejects and campaigned against. “It’s completely impossible for us,” Nyan Win said. Condemnation came from one Asian neighbour, the Philippines, as well as from the US, the UN and Britain. “Unless they release Aung San Suu Kyi and allow her and her party to participate in elections, it’s a complete farce and therefore contrary to their roadmap to democracy,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo told The Associated Press. The Philippines is a partner with Burma in Asean, whose 10 members rarely voice criticism of each other. “The political party registration law makes a mockery of the democratic process and ensures the upcoming election will be devoid of credibility,” US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said. “Our engagement with Burma will have to continue until we can make clear that… the results thus far are not what we had expected and that they’re going to have to do better,” he added. Mr Obama met the Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein on the sidelines of a recent summit of the Association of South East Asean Nations (Asean). Gun power The US and Asean had called for the planned elections top be free, fair and “inclusive” – code for the participation of Ms Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy which she leads. “We’re going to need to study the election laws carefully once they’ve all been released,” British Ambassador Andrew Heyn said. ” So many of us suspected this wasn’t about bringing any real change to Burma, but it is surprising how nakedly they’re going about it ” Sean Turnell of Australia’s Macquarie University “But it’s regrettable and very disappointing that the laws are not based on a dialogue with a range of political opinion.” “They’ve used so many devices. It’s like using a machine gun to kill a mosquito,” said Sean Turnell of Australia’s Macquarie University. “So many of us suspected this wasn’t about bringing any real change to Burma, but it is surprising how nakedly they’re going about it.” Ms Suu Kyi has been detained on various charges for most of the past 20 years, after winning the last polls in 1990. She was already excluded from political office by a constitutional bar on people with foreign spouses. The regime enacted five election-related laws on Monday, two of which have now been made public. Three more are to be unveiled in coming days. Critics say the elections, the first to be held in Burma for 20 years, will be a sham designed to entrench the military’s grip on power.

Nigerian police say 49 people are to be charged with murder after communal violence left scores of villagers dead. Most of those facing charges are Muslims from the Fulani group, police spokesman Mohammed Lerama told the BBC. The number of those arrested since the killings near the city of Jos has risen to 200, he said. Police say 109 people – thought to be mostly Christians – died in Sunday’s bloodshed. Earlier reports put the toll at more than 500. The violence followed sectarian killings near Jos in January that left more than 300 dead, most of them believed to be Muslims. Plateau State, in central Nigeria, sits between the mainly Christian south and the predominantly Muslim north. International pressure Officials say police and troops are patrolling the area to prevent further trouble. Chief of police for Plateau State Ikechukwu Aduba said on Wednesday he had asked for extra help. “Our urgent patrol efforts after the incident… have yielded good results,” he said. “We have requested reinforcements, and have been reassured… that reinforcement is on its way.” However, international pressure is growing on the Nigerian government to take further action. On Wednesday Pope Benedict XVI denounced the bloodshed as “atrocious”. He urged civil and religious leaders “to work towards security and peaceful co-existence”. The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions called on the Nigerian government to “move swiftly” to prevent further attacks. Earlier, the governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, said security lapses had worsened the carnage in the three villages targeted. He said he had warned the army about reports of suspicious people with weapons hours before they attacked, but they failed to take action. “Three hours or so later, I was woken by a call that they [armed gangs] have started burning the village and people were being hacked to death,” Mr Jang said. “I tried to locate the commanders. I couldn’t get any of them on the telephone.” Mercenaries Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has sacked the country’s national security adviser, Sarki Mukhtar, in an apparent response to the killings. But the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, said the villages should have been properly protected after the January killings. The head of the northern area of Nigeria’s Christian Association has said he believed mercenaries were involved. Saidu Dogo told the BBC that fighters from neighbouring Chad and Niger took part in the violence. State information commissioner Gregory Yenlong said on Monday that more than 500 people were killed. That figure was also given by religious leaders and rights activists. But state police commissioner Ikechukwu Aduba says 109 people are known to have died.