By Mathew Carr and Lananh Nguyen

(Updates with revision to 2010 growth in second paragraph.)

Jan. 18 (Bloomberg) — BP Plc cut its estimate of global energy demand growth through 2030 to 1.6 percent annually from 1.7 percent a year ago, according to statements on its website.

The cut followed an increase in BP’s estimate of 2010 demand by 1.6 percent to 12 billion metric tons of oil equivalent Replica Watch, said Christof Ruehl, BP’s chief economist.

Demand will jump 39 percent by 2030, with the expansion coming almost entirely from developing nations Watches Replica, to 16.6 billion tons, the London-based company said in its Energy Outlook 2030 report. That’s 1.2 percent higher than last year’s estimate of 16.4 billion.

–Editors: Raj Rajendran, John Buckley.

To contact the reporters on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net; Lananh Nguyen in London at lnguyen35@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Stephen Voss at sev@bloomberg.net

Business Exchange E-mail Print READER DISCUSSION

TARLAC, Philippines  – Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, on course to win the Philippine presidential race Fake Watches, said on Tuesday he will work at cutting unnecessary spending in the national budget and increase perennially weak tax revenue.

Aquino, son of democracy icon Corazon "Cory" Aquino, also said he was not in favor of raising the rate of consumption tax, adding the government needs to raise more revenue from taxes already in place.

Raising revenue also entails going after smugglers and tax evaders, he said.

"We have to do away with the frivolous items of this government," Aquino told Reuters in an interview at a museum devoted to his parents inside the family estate in Tarlac province north of Manila.

"Before we start imposing new taxes, we should be collecting the taxes that are already there," he said regarding a proposal from Finance Secretary Margarito Teves to raise the consumption tax rate.

Financial markets were set for a boost on Tuesday after national elections delivered the result many investors hoped for — a decisive and credible victory for presidential frontrunner Aquino.

Technical problems with a new automated system of voting and results tallying forced many to wait for hours to cast their ballots in Monday’s polls — including Aquino himself who faced a 4-hour delay. But fears of a wholesale failure of the election due to technical problems or violence failed to materialize.

An unofficial tally with 57% of votes counted showed Aquino well in front with 40.6%, ahead of former President Joseph Estrada in second place with 25.7%, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said.

That was in line with opinion polls which gave Aquino a commanding 20-point lead.

Comelec put turnout at 75% — 10 points lower than forecast but still high enough to dispel concerns the polls to elect Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s successor would lack credibility.

 The broadly successful ballot — despite technical problems Replica Watch, shootings and bombings in some remote areas and allegations of vote buying — is a relief for domestic financial markets that feared a failed vote above all other outcomes.

That, along with a bounce in global markets on the rescue package for the Euro zone, was set to lower the risk premium priced into Philippine assets when local markets reopen on Tuesday, with attention turning to Aquino’s policy agenda and in particular how he plans to get the fiscal deficit under control.

"If all goes smoothly and the president is proclaimed on time, I think the market will react positively," said Barclays Capital economist Prakriti Sofat in Singapore.

"However, market participants will be keen to hear the strategy of the next government to address fiscal concerns."

The ‘Silence of the Lambs’ star admitted he is a loner who prefers his own company to other people’s and loves to watch the VH1 show which follows the lives of four women whose husbands or fathers are doing time for Mob-related activities. Replica Watch

He told The Guardian newspaper: “My idea of a good night is staying in and watching ‘Mob Wives’ on TV. I don’t have many friends; I’m very much a loner. As a child I was very isolated and I’ve never been really close to anyone. Ask nothing, expect nothing. That’s my creed. We’re all just a bunch of sinners crashing around in the darkness.”

Anthony also revealed despite the perception that he was close friends with legendary fellow Welsh actor Richard Bruton Replica Watch, the pair were never pals.

He said: “I don’t know where everyone gets the idea we were good friends. I suppose it’s because we are both Welsh and grew up near the same town. I didn’t really know him at all. I once went up to his sister’s house to ask for his autograph which he gave me and the only other time I met him was in his dressing room in New York when he was performing in Equus.”

MANILA, Philippines – Actress-host Kris Aquino said she is no longer close to actor Diether Ocampo.

In an interview during a photo shoot for the music video of the song "Love Moves" from her album "My Heart’s Journey" under Universal Records, Aquino said that Ocampo’s "Marcus Aguilar" mood was the reason behind their misunderstanding.

"Kasi alam mo, siya, may kadramahan siya. Kasi ang character niya [si] Marcus Aguilar. Kapag hindi siya nagre-reply sa text or sa BBM, [sinasabi niyang], ‘Sorry, naka-Marcus Aguilar ako’. Sabi ko, ‘Ah, method acting.’ Eh 36 hours bago mag-reply kaya naging inconsistent na din ako. Deadma na," Aquino said.

Marcus Aguilar is the character Ocampo is playing in "Guns and Roses", a new action drama series of ABS-CBN set to start airing on June 6.

Aquino added: "Parang hindi na kami close–bakit? Kasi totoo Replica Watch, kasi hindi niya ako nire-replayan. So ‘yon, huwag na lang. Ang daming gustong mag-reply (sa akin). Ang babaw. High school lang. High school na high school."

Ocampo and Aquino’s friendship started when they worked together on the film "Dalaw."

Aquino also shared that Ocampo felt bad when she and her son Bimby didn’t attend a party that the actor organized.

She also left Ocampo at a birthday party of one of the executives of ABS-CBN.

"Nagkita kami sa party ni Tita Cory. Iniwan ko siya kasi inantok na ako. Sabi niya Replica Watch, ‘Ikaw ang nagpapunta-punta dito tapos biglang lumayas ka.’ Sabi ko, ‘Sleepy na ako.’ Kasi ang aga ng call time. ‘Yun na ang last," she explained.

MANILA, Philippines – Globe Telecom has asked the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to cancel and revoke all licenses, frequencies, and authorizations granted to Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and its subsidiaries Smart Communications Inc. and Connectivity Unlimited Resource Enterprise Inc. (CURE) since they are not Filipino-owned companies.

In the company’s latest filing with the NTC, Globe chief legal counsel Rodolfo Salalima pointed out that the issuance of various authorizations (certificates of public convenience and necessity) to PLDT, Smart and CURE “are void from the very beginning” considering the recent findings that majority of the voting shares of PLDT are foreign-owned.

PLDT officials, however Replica Watch, said that Globe’s newest filing does not contain any new allegations and is a mere rehash of its earlier unfounded claims.

The NTC is expected to decide in the next few days on PLDT and Digitel’s joint application seeking approval of PLDT’s acquisition of an initial 51.55% stake in Digitel, after the case has already been submitted for decision.

“PLDT and all its subsidiaries cannot engage in public service Replica Watches, not being utilities or Philippine nationals in the contemplation of Philippine laws. They are not even entitled to any frequency at all,” Salalima said.

According to him, all the radio frequencies assigned to or acquired by PLDT and its subsidiaries must be divested from them and returned to the State. The grants, assignments and acquisitions of the frequencies, he said, “are void ab initio, legally flawed and thus are legally incurable and beyond remedy in law.”

Globe noted that PLDT, earlier, admitted that of its total voting shares, foreign ownership represents roughly 60%, which is against the Foreign Investment Act of 1991 which defines a Philippine national as “a corporation organized under the laws of the Philippines of which at least 60% of the capital stock outstanding and entitled to vote is owned and held by citizens of the Philippines.”

He said that independent of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Gamboa case (now the subject of a motion for reconsideration), PLDT is still not a Philippine national based on the provisions of the FIA, PLDT corporate secretary Lourdes Rausa-Chan’s testimony that “the foreign ownership of the voting shares (of PLDT) only are roughly 60%; and PLDT’s 2010 and 2011 General Information Sheets (GIS) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission which prove indubitably that 60% of PLDT’s voting shares are owned by foreigners.

Salalima pointed out that as a foreign corporation, PLDT cannot purchase or acquire control over Digitel Telecommunications Philippines Inc. (Digitel). He noted that under the Public Service Act, it is unlawful for the operator of any public service company to sell or transfer its capital stock to any alien if the move will result in the reduction to less than sixty per centum of the capital stock belonging to Philippine citizens and that “such sale, alienation or transfer shall be void and of no effect and shall be sufficient cause for ordering the cancellation of the certificate.”

MANILA, Philippines – Merchandise exports in the first 4 months of the year grew 38.9% from a year ago, but exports in April was the slowest pace since December, as demand was tempered by uncertainties over the pace of the global economic recovery.

Data from the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed the country’s export earnings for January to April rose to $14.903 billion from $10.73 billion a year ago.

For April alone Replica Watch, the export bill grew 27.4% to $3.57 billion from $2.8 billion.

April’s exports came off a peak of 43.8% growth in March, the strongest annual growth since records began in 1981.

Electronics shipments, which dominate exports and are largely assembled for imported parts, jumped 29.7% year-on-year to $2.1 billion in April after a 49.1% rise in March, the NSO said. Electronics made up 61.1% of April export revenues.

Japan, including Okinawa, was the country’s top export destination, with total receipts of $616.97 million or 17.3% of total earnings. This was 42.2% higher than last year’s $433.85 million.

The United States came in second with export earnings of $573.62 million, followed by China ($352.83 million), Hong Kong ($349.11 million), and Singapore ($307.43 million).

Kenneth Cheng, chief analyst at Informa Global Markets said the April data was disappointing.

"It was a bit of a surprise that it come lower than expectations."

Cheng said it is too early to say that the drop is due to the European debt crisis.

"I think we will start to see most of that in the next couple of months, I mean the slowing down.You can see mixed data coming out of Asia, Taiwan is still strong so I don’t want to generalise that it is Europe. So this is a bit odd for me."

The Philippine government may raise its economic growth target for 2010 to between 5.9% and 6.9% Replica watches, possibly the fastest expansion since 2007, following a strong first-quarter performance.

The economy grew at its quickest pace in 22 years in January to March on a seasonally adjusted basis, thanks to election spending, government pump-priming and a turnaround in exports.

This year, the government expects exports, which account for about two-fifths of the country’s economic output based on expenditure terms, to grow 12%, and imports to rise 18%. In 2009, exports fell 21.9%, not as sharp as the government’s forecast drop of 25%.

The main electronics industry group expects shipments to grow 20% or more this year on strong demand from China and India.

About 10% of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing services, including for mobile phone chips and micro processors, are imported from the Philippines.

The country’s other key exports include garments and accessories, vehicle parts, coconut oil, tropical fruit and wood furniture. With Reuters

MANILA, Philippines – Won fight. Will travel.

This seems to be the mantra these days of the country’s premiere pugilists as they go jetsetting, taking advantage of the long holiday to spend time with their families.

Filipino bantamweight boxer Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire Jr. spent Christmas with his family and fans in Japan– where an active fans club was organized in the country’s capital, Tokyo.

It was a quick but enjoyable break for Donaire, his wife Rachel and relatives.

The Donaires are headed to San Francisco, California to begin the boxer’s training for a huge fight against world bantamweight champ Fernando Montiel on February 19.

Pacquiao thankful for 2010

Meanwhile, Pound-for-Pound King Manny Pacquiao has just arrived in Japan with his family for an extended vacation.

Pacquiao said he is extremely thankful and happy for the incredible year that 2010 was.

This year, he won two fights against bigger opponents: Joshua Clottey in March, and Antonio Margarito last month. He then has set a new record in boxing by winning titles in 8 different weight classes.

Sports Illustrated also had Pacquiao as the top boxing story of the 2010.

Winning a congressional seat was also a dream come true for the boxing champion. Because of this Replica Watch, US-based news channel CNN has included Pacquiao’s win as congressman of Sarangani, Philippines, as one of the top 20 stories that changed our world this year.

Furthermore, Bob Arum Fake Watches, promoter of the Fighter of the Decade says the Pacquiao name will get even bigger and more popular in the United States and around the world in 2011.

What’s up for Pacman next year?

The 32 year-old champion said he is very upbeat for the coming year.

He said foremost on his agenda is to continue to uplift the lives of Filipinos, most especially his constituents in the province of Sarangani.

Pacquiao will return to the Philippines early January to continue his duties in Congress.

His boxing work steps in two months before his May 7 bout with Shane “Sugar” Mosley. —Dyan Castillejo, ABS-CBN News

MANILA, Philippines – The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) return to the birth place of mixed martial arts (MMA) was an enormous success, says UFC President Dana White.

UFC 134, which was held last Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, saw a crowd of over 14,000 Brazilians passionately and loudly cheer for their hometown heroes.

"There were some impressive crowds, and I’ve been to some amazing events, but this one topped it all. I have never seen anything like it Replica Watch," White told MMAFighting.com.

"It was insane," he added. "The first fight of the night sounded like it was the Anderson Silva fight."

The Brazilian fans were given a treat as their homegrown fighters ended up victorious, with the legendary Minotauro Nogueira scoring a sensation knockout of Brendan Schaub.

Mauricio "Shogun" Rua got revenge by knocking out Forrest Griffin, and Anderson Silva ended the show on a high note by knocking out Yushin Okami in 2 rounds.

"Rio exceeded our expectations before we even got to the show," White said.

In his Twitter account, White said that the UFC Rio crowd was the "loudest ever" in the last 10 years.

He paid tribute to the fighters who participated in the pay-per-view Replica Watch, saying that all of them gave incredible performances.

It was the first time in 13 years that the UFC held an event in Rio de Janeiro.

MANILA, Philippines – Most people want to put their best foot forward, and fashion plays an important role in accomplishing that.

But unwittingly, some people still follow fashion trends that ought to die or fade away as these just make a person look "not awesome."

Fashion designer and artist Patty Eustaquio shared on the ANC show "Tease" last week the 3 fashion trends she wished had died a long time ago.

Patty Eustaquio: ‘Loose pants are so passe.’

Number 3: Flip-flops. "Don’t wear flip-flops if you’re not in the beach. I think that people have become way too casual about wearing clothes and it would be nicer to see more people wearing shoes around in public," said Eustaquio.

Number 2: Loose clothes. "Do wear good fitting clothes. Ill-fitting pants are the worst. And I still see so many boys wearing really loose pants. I think they’re so passe Replica Watch," she said.

Number one: Going over-the-top. "Don’t go over the top. I guess with the proliferation of so many fashion magazines, everybody wants to be different. They pile on all these clothes, they overdo their hair, their makeup, their accessories. Everything’s overdone. And you’re just hiding, sort of, in a mountain of things," said Eustaquio.

"So you’re no longer an individual. You’re actually a walking sculpture. It doesn’t really work that way so much. So I think just be yourself. If you want to wear something different, go ahead Replica Watch, but be comfortable. Just be yourself."

In fact, dress for yourself and other women. Eustaquio added: "I don’t really think of clothes as a way to attract men. I do think strongly that women dress up for other women because it’s only the other women who will actually talk about what you wore."

Fashion and art

Eustaquio, a former president of the Young Designers Guild of the Philippines, knows inside out what looks good or not as she is also a serious visual artist. In fact she was named one of the Thirteen Artists awardees by the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

"I just call myself an artist. I just really make things. I love working with my hands. A lot of people would categorize between design and art. I like to blur boundaries," she said.

Eustaquio’s fascination with art started when she was young. "As a child I was introduced more to paintings and more wall-bound works. I reacted to that and thought that I could express myself more in different media."

To her, creating art is like making a story. "I think of it more like these are words. All these different materials, all these different ideas in my head, they’re words. And the way I put them together is making a story," she said.

Planning is essential for her. "I really do plan. I spend so much time planning my pieces. Everything is more or less written out and then as I make it, then of course things will change, accidents will happen, and during that time, then I just sort of accept, ‘Ok this is how it turned out. How can I make it better? How can I achieve what I want to say?’"

Designs made by Patty Eustaquio

For Eustaquio, fashion and art exact the same of her. "I see fashion as art in the sense that the process for me is exactly the same."

Social issues

Eustaquio showed that one can merge social consciousness with art.

"My last show, I called the exhibit ‘Dear Sweet Filthy World’. Basically it was my reaction to the calamities that have happened in the past year. I really made pieces that talked about the Ondoy flood. So I made these boat sculptures made out of fabric which I plasticized as well. Basically they look like shells of boats that had been fished out of swampy waters so they are like these mossy things."

She also made a cardboard piece that depicted the earthquake in Haiti, and painted 2 dead birds fished out of an oil spill.

Eustaquio’s cardboard sculpture depicts the earthquake in Haiti

"They were all sort of socially relevant. This is actually the first time that I made a narrative about actual social events. My main interest in telling a story is how I made certain pieces that have a negative space in them so that when I combine all these different objects, there is a space for the viewer to complete the narrative," she explained.

Eustaquio said her favorite medium right now is cardboard. "I’ve been making these huge sculptures out of cardboard. I find that it’s really easy to use. It’s green. I don’t have to use a lot of materials and it’s recycled.

"So I think maybe these social things, that’s why I started making these socially relevant narratives, is because they started getting to me and it’s starting to show in my choices of medium," she added.

For Eustaquio, fashion and art have a deeper meaning. More than being trends, they tell a story.

Pole Academy Philippines creative director Ed Aniel (left) and instructor Merry Farnal-Ballinger. Photos courtesy of PAP

MANILA, Philippines – What would you think if you see a woman who wears sexy clothes dancing and climbing a pole?

A taboo perhaps for many, especially for Filipinos.

Contrary to what others believe Replica Watch, pole dancing is not just for strip clubs, said veteran dancer Ed Aniel, who aims to wipe out the stigma attached to the performance art.

Aniel, who began his dancing career at age 18, introduced pole dancing as a form of exercise in the country by founding the Pole Academy Philippines (PAP) in 2007.

He has 2 other senior instructors: Eisa Jocson and Merry Farnal-Ballinger.

Asked who can join his classes, Aniel said, "Sex, age, height and weight don’t matter. As long as you are willing to learn and you are passionate about it, you can enroll in our pole dancing classes."

Pole dancing as fitness craze

Geri Gatchalian-Gil, managing director of PAP, said pole dancing is fast gaining popularity in the Philippines as a way to get fit.

She said students initially enroll in their classes as an alternative to gym sessions.

PAP associate director Eisa Jocson. Photo courtesy of PAP

"But eventually, they enjoy going to the classes especially since we don’t just do tricks on the pole. We have dance numbers every night at the end of the class," she said.

Gatchalian-Gil, a 42-year-old mother of two, said she first had inhibitions in showing some skin, but this changed after enrolling at PAP.

The academy, she said, helped her learn not only to pole dance but also to express herself better.

"Some actually lose weight from pole dancing, and even tone their muscles in the arms, legs and abs," she said.

True enough, PAP students shared that attending pole classes under Aniel "brought out the goddesses in them."

With pole dancing gaining ground in the Philippines, Aniel dreams of elevating it to the stage and showing the public his "hybrid style" of theatrical pole art.

"Pole dancing is an art form. At PAP, we call our brand of pole dancing as ‘Jazz Le Pole,’ a combination of jazz, ballet and pole dancing, which sets our school from other pole dancing schools in the country," he said.

PAP has classes at Arts in the City (FVR Park, 26th Street corner 7th Avenue, Fort Avenue, Taguig City) and Unit 312 Jaio Building (#2 Timog, Quezon City). For inquiries Fake Watches, visit PAP’s website and Facebook page.