Blood samples from patients suspected of having the Ebola virus disease are prepared for transportation to Freetown for testing, at the Port Loko District Hospital September 27, 2014.
CREDIT: REUTERS/CHRISTOPHER BLACK/WHO/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

(Reuters) – For months, Vanderbilt University researcher Dr. James Crowe has been desperately seeking access to the blood of U.S. Ebola survivors, hoping to extract the proteins that helped them overcome the deadly virus for use in new, potent drugs.

His efforts finally paid off in mid-November with a donation from Dr. Rick Sacra, a University of Massachusetts physician who contracted Ebola while working in Liberia. The donation puts Crowe at the forefront of a new model for fighting the virus, now responsible for the worst known outbreak in West Africa that has killed nearly 7,000 people.

“They can take antibodies they find in my blood and map them out,” Sacra said in an interview. “They are looking for the ones that are most important in neutralizing the virus.”

Sacra, a medical missionary for Christian group SIM USA, said he made the blood donation with “no strings attached,” and does not stand to gain financially if a product based on his antibodies reaches the market.

Crowe is working with privately-held drugmaker Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc, which he said will manufacture the antibodies for further testing under a National Institutes of Health grant. Mapp is currently testing its own drug ZMapp, a cocktail of three antibodies that has shown promise in treating a handful of Ebola patients.

Crowe’s hope is to improve on ZMapp by isolating the human antibodies of actual survivors and create a drug effective against all strains of Ebola.

Several leading scientists have embraced the idea of using survivors’ antibodies as the most promising approach in the fight against Ebola. Crowe is also part of a large consortium of academic and corporate partners working to develop and test human antibodies from Ebola survivors treated at Emory University that is being assembled by Department of Defense.

The push is part of the race to develop drugs to address the ongoing outbreak in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. Canada’s Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp is also testing a treatment, while drugmakers including GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Merck & Co, in partnership with NewLink Genetics Corp, are working on vaccines.

Last month, a group of prominent scientists including three Nobel laureates, urged the U.S. government to accelerate the antibodies push, Reuters reported.

“We’ve moving night and day around this,” Crowe said.

FOREIGN INVADERS

Antibodies are immune-system proteins that seek and destroy foreign invaders, such as viruses or bacteria. Crowe, who directs the Vaccine Center at Vanderbilt, is working with Sacra’s B cells – white blood cells that form antibodies. They will synthesize genes from the most potent of these antibodies, which can be made into treatments.

Drugs created this way are called monoclonal antibodies, a manufactured protein that attacks a specific target, in this case a receptor on the Ebola virus.

The current version of ZMapp was developed in mouse blood cells that were exposed to samples containing Ebola virus fragments from the 1995 Kikwik outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. These cells were genetically modified to make them more human.

“They may or may not work. We don’t know that yet,” Crowe said of ZMapp. The next-generation product Crowe is working on will be fully human, using antibodies generated by Ebola survivors, making it less likely to cause side effects. Mapp would not comment about its drug development plans.

All of the antibodies generated in this work will be tested against live Ebola virus samples in a high-security laboratory run by Dr. Thomas Geisbert at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Promising candidates will be tested in mice and guinea pigs before going to primates than then humans, a process that could take several months.

“We hope to have antibodies that are like ZMapp or better,” said Geisbert, who has a $26 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study experimental Ebola treatments.

A key production issue for ZMapp has been its slow method of growing antibodies in the cells of tobacco plants. In October, Mapp started working with biotechnology company Amgen to mass produce ZMapp antibodies in mammalian cells, a well established manufacturing process.

Crowe said the antibodies he is working on would be produced in both cell lines and tobacco plants. Vanderbilt will license the most promising drug candidates, and at least four commercial partners, including Mapp, are considering whether to license them.

Crowe said he has also been in discussions with U.S. health regulators about how to design clinical trials for drugs developed from survivors’ antibodies. He estimates trials could begin in late spring or early summer of 2015.

SAMPLE SHORTAGE

Crowe’s lab has been working on Ebola for the past two years. In that time, he said he has spent “a tremendous amount of effort” trying to get samples from Ebola survivors out of Africa.

Obtaining the samples during the current outbreak has proved nearly impossible, as governments in West Africa struggle to curb the virus and U.S. authorities tighten restrictions around the transfer of highly infectious materials.

As a result, Crowe and his peers in the field have been seeking out the small number of U.S. survivors who were treated in this country.

Scarcity has made the Sacra donation all the sweeter for Crowe and Geisbert.

Crowe believes his luck turned when he mentioned the problem to Dr. Larry Zeitlin, Mapp’s president. Zeitlin used his connections with missionary organizations, some of which have used ZMapp to treat their infected staff, Crowe said. Soon after, Sacra volunteered.

While none of the experimental Ebola treatments have been proven effective in rigorous clinical trials, Sacra believes they played a significant role in his own recovery in September. He received Tekmira’s TKM-Ebola and a plasma infusion from fellow survivor, and medical missionary, Dr. Kent Brantly, and said his condition improved immediately.

With a new lease on life, Sacra announced last week that he would return to Liberia to continue his medical work.

(Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen; Editing by Michele Gershberg)

A wounded passenger is helped as he leaves from the ” Spirit of Piraeus ” cargo container ship after the car ferry Norman Atlantic caught fire in waters off Greece December 29, 2014. REUTERS/Stringer

(Reuters) - Five people were confirmed to have died in car ferry that caught fire off the coast of Greece and rescue teams were working to save another 22 still stranded on board more than 24 hours after the blaze started.

As some of the rescued passengers arrived in Italy, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi told reporters that four more bodies had been recovered. One man was reported dead on Sunday.

Renzi, speaking at a year-end media conference in Rome, said that rescue efforts should be completed within a “few hours” and praised the work of rescuers, who had helped avoid a “massacre”.
The Norman Atlantic was carrying 478 passengers and crew and more than 200 vehicles.

Helicopter crews have been airlifting passengers from the upper deck of the ferry, now drifting in rough seas between Greece and Italy.

After initial rescue efforts were impeded by bad weather that stopped other ships getting close, Italian and Greek helicopter crews began the airlift on Sunday afternoon.

Rescuers worked through the night to pull people off the multideck ferry, the Italian navy said. Several passengers have been flown to Galatina in southern Italy.

A medical team and a flight operator had boarded the vessel to assist the passengers and crew as the rescue proceeds, a statement from the Italian navy said. Its San Giorgio amphibious transport ship is coordinating the rescue operation.

A merchant ship carrying a reported 49 of the ferry passengers, including four children, arrived in the southern Italian port of Bari on Monday, and Italian Admiral Giovanni di Tullio told Sky TG24 they would receive medical attention.

Bad weather hampered efforts overnight to attach cables to the ferry for towing, and a tug boat is expected to reach the ship to make another attempt on Monday, Greece’s shipping minister Miltiadis Varvitsiotis told Skai TV.

No decision had been made on where the ferry would be taken, he said, although there had been expectations that it would be towed to the Italian port of Brindisi.

Eighty five people had been transferred to the San Giorgio by 0750 GMT and one person suffering from heart disease was taken to the Italian mainland by helicopter, the navy said.

The Italian-flagged ferry, chartered by Greek ferry operator Anek Lines, was sailing between Patros in western Greece to Ancona in Italy.

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined but the Greek coastguard said might have started in the parking area.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie in Athens and Steve Scherer in Rome; Additional reporting by Antonio Defano in Bari, George Georgiopoulos in Athens and Isla Binnie in Rome; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Medics transport a wounded woman from the ” Spirit of Piraeus” cargo container ship as they arrive in Bari harbour, after the car ferry Norman Atlantic caught fire in waters off Greece December 29, 2014. REUTERS/Yara Nardi

(Reuters) - Rescue teams evacuated more than 400 people from a car ferry that caught fire off Greece’s Adriatic coast in a 36-hour operation on roiling seas, but 10 people were killed in the disaster.

Italian and Greek authorities continued an air search of the sea around the vessel while they sought to verify the number of passengers who had been on board, fearing that many people could be missing.

The fire broke out on Sunday on a vehicle deck of the Norman Atlantic ferry, whose manifest said should be carrying 478 passengers and crew and more than 200 vehicles. Rescue efforts were complicated by bad weather.

Italian and Greek helicopters began airlifting passengers from the upper deck as the ferry drifted in rough seas between Greece and Italy on Sunday afternoon and continued throughout the night. Ten people aboard the ferry were killed, the Italian coastguard said.

“It was hell,” Dimitra Theodossiou, a Greek soprano opera singer, told Italy’s la Repubblica newspaper. She was evacuated by helicopter during the night.

“It was very cold, terribly cold. Nearby ships sprayed water from their hydrants (to fight the fire) and we were completely wet,” she said.

She was treated for a mild case of hypothermia at a hospital in Lecce, Italy, and later released.

The Italian captain, Argilio Giacomazzi, abandoned the ship once all others had been evacuated, Italian Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi said.

Fifty-six crew members were evacuated, while 234 of those rescued were Greek, 54 Turkish, 22 Albanians and 22 Italians, Lupi said.

He would not confirm a report from Greece that there were 38 still missing.

“It’s absolutely premature” to say how many are missing, Lupi said.

Some of those rescued were not on the original ship’s manifest, and Italian authorities are looking for a definitive list of passengers to cross-check it with the names of the survivors, he said, adding that it was possible that there were illegal migrants aboard.

A medical team and a flight operator had boarded the vessel to assist the passengers and crew during the rescue, the Italian navy said. Its San Giorgio amphibious transport ship coordinated the rescue operation.

A merchant ship carrying a reported 49 of the ferry passengers, including four children, arrived in the southern Italian port of Bari early on Monday.

Bad weather hampered efforts overnight to attach cables to the ferry for towing. Pictures from Monday afternoon showed the ship still smoldering, and Lupi said tow cables attached overnight broke.

Italian and Albanian magistrates ordered that the ship be seized in order to investigate the cause of the fire, which is still unknown, and magistrates in both countries are deciding together where the vessel should be towed, Italy’s Transport Ministry said in a statement.

The Italian-flagged ferry, chartered by Greek ferry operator Anek Lines, was sailing from Patras in western Greece to Ancona in Italy.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, speaking at a year-end news conference in Rome, praised the work of the Italian-led rescue effort, which he said had helped avoid a “massacre”.

(Additional reporting by Antonio Defano in Bari, George Georgiopoulos in Athens and Isla Binnie in Rome; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

(Left-Right) Walang Hanggan composer Benedict Sy and interpreter Daryl Reynes. (Jonathan Adizas / Photoville International)

MANILA, Philippines – Hindi inaasahan ng baguhang kompositor na tubong Cavite na si Benedict Sy ang pagkapili sa kanyang obra bilang “song of the month” ngayong Disyembre sa A Song of Praise Music Festival (ASOP), Linggo ng gabi.

Ang kanyang komposisyon na “Walang Hanggan” ay pasok na sa grand finals ng ASOP sa susunod na taon.

Nagkataon na kapwa power ballad kasi ang nakatunggali ng kanyang awit.

Ayon kay Benedict, “Hindi ko po talaga ine-expect na tatawagin ‘yung pangalan ko kasi malulupit ‘yung kalaban eh. Talagang magagaling talaga sila tsaka putok litid ‘yung mga kanta nila eh. Talagang pang-praise song talaga.”

(Left-Right) Iba pang ASOP participants: Ruth Regine Reyno (interpreter) at Ella Mae Septimo (composer) para sa awiting “Dakila Ka Ama” at sina Mart Ilagan (composer) at Cath Loria (interpreter) para sa awiting “Sino Pa”. (MADZ MILANA / Photoville International)

“Sobrang everyday ko siya pinapakinggan. Para ko na siyang prayer. So ang nangyari parang binigay talaga siya ni God na nag-meet kami, ako ‘yung nag-interpret… God is really amazing,” saad naman ni Daryl.

Mas nakitaan ng potensyal na maging hit song ang “Walang Hanggan” ng mga huradong sina OPM icon Pat Castillo, singer/composer Rannie Raymundo at Doctor Musiko Mon Del Rosario kumpara sa power ballad genre na “Dakila Ka Ama” ni Ella Mae Septimo na inawit ni Ruth Regine Reyno, at “Sino Pa” ni Mart Ilagan na inawit naman ni Cath Loria. (Adjes Carreon / Ruth Navales, UNTV News)

(Left-Right) ASOP Judges Doc Mon Del Rosario, Ms. Pat Castillo at Mr. Rannie Raymundo. (FREDERICK ALVIOR / Photoville International)

A search and rescue worker prepares to load body bags onto a flight to Kalimantan in Pangkal Pinang, Bangka December 30, 2014. REUTERS / Darren Whiteside

(Reuters) - Indonesian rescuers searching for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo on Tuesday, prompting relatives of those on board watching TV footage to break down in tears.

Indonesia AirAsia’s Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

The navy said 40 bodies had been recovered. The plane has yet to be found.

“My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501,” airline boss Tony Fernandes tweeted. “On behalf of AirAsia, my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am.”

The airline said in a statement that it was inviting family members to Surabaya, “where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met”.

Pictures of floating bodies were broadcast on television and relatives of the missing already gathered at a crisis center in Surabaya wept with heads in their hands. Several people collapsed in grief and were helped away.

“You have to be strong,” the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, said as she comforted relatives. “They are not ours, they belong to God.”

A navy spokesman said a plane door, oxygen tanks and one body had been recovered and taken away by helicopter for tests.

“The challenge is waves up to three meters high,” Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters, adding that the search operation would go on all night. He declined to answer questions on whether any survivors had been found.

About 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States have been involved in the search.

The plane, which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic, officials said.

It was traveling at 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet, officials said earlier.

Pilots and aviation experts said thunderstorms, and requests to gain altitude to avoid them, were not unusual in that area.

The Indonesian pilot was experienced and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, the airline said.

The aircraft had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights, according to Airbus.

Online discussion among pilots has centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow, and that it might have stalled.

CLUES WHEN THINGS GO WRONG

The plane, whose engines were made by CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and Safran of France, lacked real-time engine diagnostics or monitoring, a GE spokesman said.

Such systems are mainly used on long-haul flights and can provide clues to airlines and investigators when things go wrong.

Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country’s aviation industry and spooked travelers across the region.

Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline’s Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

Bizarrely, an AirAsia plane from Manila skidded off and overshot the runway on landing at Kalibo in the central Philippines on Tuesday. No one was hurt.

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

U.S. law enforcement and security officials said passenger and crew lists were being examined but nothing significant had turned up and the incident was regarded as an unexplained accident.

Indonesia AirAsia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.

(Additional reporting by Fergus Jensen, Wilda Asmarini, Charlotte Greenfield, Fransiska Nangoy, Cindy Silviana, Kanupriya Kapoor, Michael Taylor, Nilufar Rizki and Siva Govindasamy in JAKARTA/SURABAYA, Al-Zaquan Amer Hamzah and Praveen Menon in KUALA LUMPUR, Saeed Azhar, Rujun Shen and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE, Jane Wardell in SYDNEY, Tim Hepher in PARIS and Mark Hosenball, David Brunnstrom and Lesley Wroughton in WASHINGTON; Writing by Dean Yates and Robert Birsel; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Ang paggunita sa kamatayan ang ating pambansang bayani na si Dr. Jose Rizal sa pangunguna ni Pangulong Benigno Aquino III sa Luneta nitong Martes, Disyembre 30, 2014. Makikita rin sa larawan sina National Historical Commission of the Philippines chairperson Dr. Maria Serena Diokno at Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff General Gregorio Pio Catapang, Jr. (Photo by Benhur Arcayan / Malacañang Photo Bureau)

MANILA, Philippines – Naging maikli lamang ang programa sa Luneta Park, Martes, para sa paggunita ng kamatayan ng ating pambansang bayani na si Dr. Jose Rizal.

Tema ng programa ngayong taon ay “Rizal 2014: Dunong at Pusong Pilipino”.

Pinangunahan ni Pangulong Benigno Aquino III ang paggunita sa ika-118 anibersaryo ng kabayanihan ni Rizal.

Ala-7 ng umaga nang pangunahan ng pangulo ang flag raising ceremony sa Rizal Park kasama ang ilang opisyal ng pamahalaan kabilang sina Vice President Jejomar Binay, Department of National Defense Sec. Voltaire Gazmin, AFP Chief of Staff General Gregorio Catapang Jr, at National Historical Commission of the Philippines Chairperson Dr. Maria Serena Diokno.

Kasunod nito ay isinagawa ang pag-aalay ng pangulo ng bulaklak sa bantayog ng ating pambansang bayani.

“Napakagandang pagkakataon ito ginugunita natin ang ating national hero na kahit saan mang dako sa mundo talagang maipagmamalaki mo yung kaniyang nagawa, yung kaniyang karunungan ay talagang kahanga-hanga,” pahayag ni Vice Pres. Jejomar Binay.

Kasama ring sumaksi sa programa ang mga kaapu-apuhan ng mga kapatid ni Jose Rizal,

Kasama rito si Gemma Cruz Araneta na kaapu-apuhan ni Doña María na isa sa mga kapatid ng ating pambansang bayani.

Nakiusap naman si Gemma sa mga kabataan na huwag sanang kalimutan ang ginawang kabayanihan ni Gat Jose Rizal.

“Andami ngang itinuro sa atin ni Jose Rizal na hindi na natin sinusunod sana na lang kung ating gagampanan nung lahat ng kaniyang itinuro sa atin baka naman siguro mas mahusay ang kalagayan ng ating bayan,” saad nito. (Nel Maribojoc / Ruth Navales, UNTV News)

FILE PHOTO: President Benigno S. Aquino III delivers his speech during the Presidential enactment ceremony of Republic Act No. 10651, the P2.606-trillion General Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2015 at the Rizal Ceremonial Hall of the Malacañan Palace on Tuesday (December 23). (Photo by Rey Baniquet / Malacañang Photo Bureau / PCOO)

MANILA, Philippines – Iniulat ni Pangulong Benigno Aquino III ang ilang reporma at programa ng pamahalaan na naisakatuparan ng administrasyon sa nakalipas na isang taon.

Sa mensahe ng pangulo bago magpalit ang taon, inihayag nito na nakuha ng bansa ang kabuuang 21+ credit rating mula sa malalaking credit rating agencies.

Ayon sa Pangulo, nangangahulugan ito ng positibong pananaw mula sa international community partikular sa mga nag-iibig na mag-invest sa Pilipinas.

Dagdag ng pangulo, naisulong ng administrasyon sa taong ito ang usapang pangkapayapaan sa Mindanao matapos lagdaan ang Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, gayundin ang pagtugon sa pangangailangan sa edukasyon bunsod ng K-12 program ng Department of Education (DepED).

Maging ang mga malalaking infrastructure project ng pamahalaan sa ilalim ng Public-Private Partnership Program (PPPP) ay ibinida rin ng Pangulo.

“Sa atin namang Public-Private Partnership program: Ang dating iniiwasan, ngayon, nililigawan. Mula Disyembre 2011 hanggang Disyembre 2014, walong (8) PPP projects na ang nai-award at nalagdaan ng inyong pamahalaan. Ang halaga nito: mahigit 127 bilyong piso. Sa apat na taon natin sa tuwid na daan, nahigitan na natin ang pinagsamang anim (6) na aprubadong solicited PPP projects mula sa nakaraang tatlong administrasyon.”

Pinasalamatan rin ng pangulo ang mga first responder, volunteer at iba’t-ibang grupo na tumulong sa mga nakaraang kalamidad na naranasan ng bansa katulad ng pagragasa ng Bagyong Ruby.

Muli namang umapela ang pangulo sa mamamayan na patuloy na magmatyag sa nangyayari sa bansa.

“Mga Boss, patuloy sana tayong maging mapanuri at mapagmatyag. Sa pagpasok natin sa ikalimang taon ng ating pamahalaan, tiwala akong malinaw na sa inyo kung sino ang mga tunay na kakampi ng taumbayan, at kung sino ang nagpapanggap lang. Ngayong napipitas na natin ang positibong bunga ng pagtahak sa tuwid na landas, mga Boss, lilihis pa ba tayo?”

Sa huli ng mensahe, nakiusap rin si Pangulong Aquino sa publiko na huwag na sanang gumamit ng paputok sa pagpapalit ng taon.

“Mga Boss bago ako magtapos may pakiusap sana ako sa inyo. Sana naman iwasan na natin ang pagpapaputok ngayong Bagong Taon. Isipin natin ang naidudulot nito sa ating kapwa at kapaligiran. Nariyan ang kalat at makapal na usok na nagbubungsod ng matinding polusyon pati na ang malalakas na ingay na maaring makapinsala sa pandinig ng iba. Higit sa lahat, nagdudulot din ito ng peligro sa ating mga kababayan na kung tutuusin ay hindi naman kailangan,” saad nito. (Nel Maribojoc / Ruth Navales, UNTV News)

PAGASA-DOST Satellite Image on Tropical Storm Jangmi (Seniang)

MASBATE CITY, Philippines – Daan-daang motorista at mga pasahero ang stranded ngayon sa Masbate dahil sa pag-apaw ng ilog sa Baranggay Banadero sa bayan ng Mobo, Masbate bunsod ng patuloy na pag-ulan dulot ng Bagyong Senyang.

Madaling araw kanina nang rumagasa ang flashflood sa bgy. Banadero kaya’t hindi madaanan ang pansamantalang dinadaang tulay.

Kahit mapanganib tumawid sa malakas na ragasa ng tubig ay pinipilit ng ilang motorista na makatawid gamit ang lubid na inilagay ng lokal na pamahalaan ng Mobo.

Ang iba naman sumasakay sa balsa na yari sa kawayan upang makauwi sa kani-kanilang bayan.

Ayon sa mga stranded na pasahero, galing pa sila ng Maynila at umuwi lamang upang humabol sa bakasyon ngayong pagpapalit ng taon.

Ilan sa nakausap ng UNTV News ay nilalamig na dahil sa tagal na paghihintay sa bangka.

Ang iba namang may dalang motorsiklo ay umuupa ng isandaang piso upang buhatin at maitawid sa rumaragasang agos ng tubig.

Nakabantay naman ang Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office upang umasiste sa mga motoristang tumatawid.

Buwan ng Oktubre 2013 nang simulang kumpunihin ng DPWH ang tulay sa bayan ng Mobo.

Samantala, hindi pinahintulutan ng Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) na bumiyahe ang dalawang roll-on roll-off vessel at dalawang fast craft at lahat ng motorized banca sa Masbate City Port dahil sa malalakas na pag-alon dulot ng Bagyong Senyang. (Gerry Galicia / Ruth Navales, UNTV News)

Ang pinagbigyang visiting hours extension sa PNP Custodial Center na hiling ng 2 senador na naka-detain dito. (UNTV News)

MANILA, Philippines – Pinagbigyan ng Philippine National Police (PNP) ang hiling na extension sa visiting hours ng dalawang senador na naka-detain sa PNP Custodial Center.

Ngunit nilinaw ni PNP PIO Chief P/CSupt. Wilben Mayor na hindi ito para lamang sa dalawang senador, kundi sa lahat ng nakakulong sa PNP Custodial Center.

Sinabi ni Mayor na mula sa regular visiting hours na 1pm to 5pm ng weekdays ay pinalawig ito mula 5pm ng Dec. 31 hanggang 1am ng January 01, 2015.

Nilinaw naman ng opisyal na pawang mga immediate family members lamang ang papayagang dumalaw sa mga ito.

“Immediate family members include spouse, fiancée, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent o grant child, uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, guardian,” ani Mayor.

Maaari ding magpasok ng mga pagkain subalit bawal ang party sa loob ng kulungan at tanging sa common area lamang maaaring mag-stay ang mga bisita.

Sa kasalukuyan ay nasa mahigit 70 ang mga nakakulong sa PNP Custodial Center. (UNTV News)

UNTV GEOWEATHER CENTER (5am, 12/31/14) – Napanatili ng bagyong Seniang ang taglay nitong lakas ng hangin na 65kph at pagbugso na 80kph.

Namataan ito ng PAGASA sa layong 150km sa Southwest ng Cuyo, Palawan at kumikilos ito pa-Southwest sa bilis na 13kph.

Nakataas ngayon ang Signal #2 sa Palawan kung saan mararanasan ang masungit na lagay ng panahon habang nakataas naman ang Signal #1  sa Calamian Group of Islands at Cuyo Island na mararanasan din ang pag-bugso ng hangin.

Sa forecast naman ng weather agency, mararanasan ang mahina hanggang sa katamtamang pag-ulan sa Visayas, Bicol Region at mga probinsya ng Quezon, Mindoro, Marinduque, at Romblon.

Mahinang pag-ulan din ang mararanasan sa Metro Manila at iba pang lugar sa Luzon habang sa Mindanao ay magkakaroon din ng papulo-pulong pag-ulan, pagkidlat at pag-kulog.

Mapanganib na pumalaot ang mga sasakyang pangisda at maliliit na sasakyang pandagat sa mga baybayin ng buong Luzon at Silangang baybayin ng Visayas.

Ayon sa PAGASA, maaaring ngayong tanghali o mamayang hapon ay tatama ang bagyong Seniang sa Central Palawan at inaasahang lalabas naman sa Philippine Area of Responsibility bukas ng hapon. (REY PELAYO / UNTV News)

UNTV GEOWEATHER CENTER ( 11am, 12/31/14) – Humina ang bagyong Seniang na taglay na lamang ang lakas ng hangin na 55kph.

Kaninang 9am ay namataan ito ng PAGASA sa layong 245 km South Southeast of Cuyo, Palawan.

Tinatahak nito ang direksyong West Southwest sa bilis na 13kph.

Ibinaba sa signal number 1 ang babala ng bagyo sa Palawan kung saan mararanasan ang mga pagulan at pagbugso ng hangin sa loob ng 36hrs.

Kung hindi magbabago ang direksyon nito ay posibleng hindi na tumama sa Palawan subalit maaapektuhan parin ang dulong katimugan ng Lalawigan.

Mapanganib na pumalaot sa mga baybayin ng Luzon at Visayas dahil sa taas ng mga pag-alon. (Rey Pelayo / UNTV News)

END

An MH-60R helicopter, attached to the USS Sampson (DDG 102), approaches an Indonesian patrol vessel while searching for debris, during the Indonesian-led search and recovery operations for the downed AirAsia flight QZ8501, in the Java Sea in this December 31, 2014 handout photo released by the U.S. Navy. REUTERS/U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters

(Reuters) - A body recovered on Wednesday from the crashed AirAsia plane was wearing a life jacket, an official with Indonesia’s search and rescue agency said, raising questions about how the disaster unfolded.

Rescuers believe they have found the plane on the ocean floor off Borneo, after sonar detected a large, dark object beneath waters near where debris and bodies were found on the surface.

Ships and planes had been scouring the Java Sea for Flight QZ8501 since Sunday, when it lost contact during bad weather about 40 minutes into its flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.

Seven bodies have been recovered from the sea, some fully clothed, which could indicate the Airbus A320-200 was intact when it hit the water. That would support a theory that it suffered an aerodynamic stall.

The fact that one person put on a life jacket would appear to indicate those on board had at least some time before the aircraft hit the water, or after it hit the water and before it sank.

And yet the pilots did not issue a distress signal. The plane disappeared after it failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic.

“This morning, we recovered a total of four bodies and one of them was wearing a life jacket,” Tatang Zaenudin, an official with the search and rescue agency, told Reuters.

He declined to speculate on what the find might mean.

Hernanto, head of the search and rescue agency in Surabaya, said rescuers believed they had found the plane on the sea bed with a sonar scan in water about 30 to 50 meters (100 to 165 feet) deep. The black box flight data and cockpit voice recorder has yet to be found.

Authorities in Surabaya were making preparations to receive and identify bodies, including arranging 130 ambulances to take victims to a police hospital and collecting DNA from relatives.

“We are praying it is the plane so the evacuation can be done quickly,” Hernanto said.

Most of the people on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found.

Officials said waves two to three meters (six to nine feet) high and winds were hampering the hunt for wreckage and preventing divers from searching the crash zone.

“The fact that the debris appears fairly contained suggests the aircraft broke up when it hit the water, rather than in the air,” said Neil Hansford, a former pilot and chairman of consultancy firm Strategic Aviation Solutions.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said his priority was retrieving the bodies.

Widodo, speaking in Surabaya on Tuesday after grim images of the scene in the Java Sea were broadcast on television, said AirAsia would pay an immediate advance of money to relatives, many of whom collapsed in grief when they saw the television pictures from the search.

AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes has described the crash as his “worst nightmare”.

About 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States have been involved in the search.

Singapore said it was sending two underwater beacon detectors to try to pick up pings from the black boxes, which contain cockpit voice and flight data recorders.

BAD WEATHER

The plane was traveling at 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet. When air traffic controllers granted permission for a rise to 34,000 feet a few minutes later, they received no response.

Online discussion among pilots has centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow, and that it might have stalled.

Investigators are focusing initially on whether the crew took too long to request permission to climb, or could have ascended on their own initiative earlier, said a source close to the inquiry, adding that poor weather could have played a part as well.

A Qantas pilot with 25 years of experience flying in the region said the discovery of the debris field relatively close to the last known radar plot of the plane pointed to an aerodynamic stall. One possibility is that the plane’s instruments iced up, giving the pilots inaccurate readings.

The Indonesian captain, a former air force fighter pilot, had 6,100 flying hours under his belt and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, said the airline, which is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country’s aviation industry and spooked travelers.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing in March on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline’s Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.

(Additional reporting by Cindy Silviana, Charlotte Greenfield and Michael Taylor in JAKARTA/SURABAYA/PANGKALAN BUN, Jane Wardell in SYDNEY; Writing by Mark Bendeich and Robert Birsel; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Health workers pack dead chickens into trash bins at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong December 31, 2014. CREDIT: REUTERS/TYRONE SIU

(Reuters) - Hong Kong began culling 15,000 chickens on Wednesday and suspended imports of live poultry from mainland China for 21 days after the H7 bird flu strain was discovered in a batch of live chickens from the southern province of Guangdong.

Authorities also ordered the closure of the wholesale poultry market, where the virus was discovered, for 21 days for cleaning and disinfection.

The chickens infected with the H7 avian flu were imported from a farm in Huizhou city across the border from Hong Kong, said the Secretary for Food and Health Ko Wing-man.

The Agricultural, Fisheries and Conservation Department is culling all live poultry in the Cheung Sha Wan wholesale market, which is assigned to keep only imported poultry.

Hong Kong authorities usually cull birds by suffocating them in black bags filled with carbon dioxide.

“The department will conduct inspections as well as collect additional samples from all the 29 registered live chicken farms in Hong Kong to ensure that they are not affected by H7 influenza,” Ko said.

Hong Kong confirmed its first case of deadly bird flu this winter at the weekend after a woman fell critically ill with the H7N9 strain of bird flu. It was suspected she caught the disease in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, where she recently visited and consumed chicken.

The city’s authorities had culled 20,000 poultry in January this year when birds imported from the mainland were found to have the H7N9 strain.

China has had a problem with bird flu for several years, and new infections tend to crop up in the winter months.

The Xinhua state news agency said six people in the eastern province of Zhejiang had contracted the H7N9 bird flu strain this winter, one of whom had died.

Shanghai and the southeastern province of Fujian have also reported cases, the news agency added.

The H7N9 virus passes between birds, but there is not enough evidence to prove that it passes between humans, according to the World Health Organisation.

(Reporting by Venus Wu and Donny Kwok; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Editing by Ryan Woo)

(PNP FILE PHOTOS)

QUEZON CITY, Philippines — Pasado alas dos ng madaling araw nitong Miyerkules nang matuklasang nakatakas sa detention cell ng Quezon City Police District Station 7 ang 16 sa 53 bilanggo.

Gamit ang lagaring bakal na ipinuslit ng dalaw ng isa sa mga bilanggo, nilagare ng mga ito ang bakal sa kisame ng kulungan upang makatakas.

Salaysay ni QCPD Director P/SSupt. Joel Pagdilao, “Ang kwento is madaling araw, nagkukwentuhan nang maingay siguro nagpalit palitan silang lagariin yung bakal nung oras na yun so yun na yung time na nakatakas tong nga to.”

Pagkumpirma naman ng isang bilanggo na si alyas Steve, “Lagaring bakal ginamit, pinutol yung dalawang side ng bakal kaya kumasya sila dun sa taas papunta nang kisame.”

“Kinilala ang labing anim na pugante na sina John Sicat, Benedict Guinto, Roberto Valdez, Roland Araneta, Wilmar Morales, Jeremy Llena, Miguel Glino, Rigor Alejandrino, Rene Flores, Alvin Lorensaga, CJ Nuque, Dennis Natividad, Thomas Evan Labutong, Emerson Castro na may kasong frustrated homicide, John Patrick Dionido na nahaharap sa kasong rape at si Robert Lacaba na agad ding nahuli ng mga awtoridad.

Nagtalaga na ng mga tracker team ang QCPD upang maaresto ang mga pugante.

Mahaharap din ang mga ito ng karangdagang reklamo dahil sa ginawang pagtakas.

Dahil sa insidente, inalis naman sa pwesto ang commander ng QCPD Station 7 na si Superintendent Wilson Delos Santos at pansamantalang papalitan ni superintendent Marlo Martinez.

Inihahanda naman ang kasong kriminal at administratibo laban sa mga pulis na nagpabaya sa kanilang trabaho.

“Sa admin case, yung serious neglect of duty. Second, dun sa criminal case yung infidelity in the custody of prisoners or detainees,” paliwanag ni Pagdilao.

Ipinag-utos na rin ng QCPD Chief na magdagdag ng bantay sa kulungan at maging istrikto sa pagrekisa sa mga dala-dalahan ng mga dalaw at magsagawa rin ng inspeksyon sa mga detention cells upang maiwasang maulit ang insidente. (VICTOR COSARE / UNTV News)

FILE PHOTO: Mga pulis na naka-destino sa isang anti-pork barrel protest. (ROMALDO MICO SOLON / Photoville International)

MANILA, Philippines — Makatatanggap ng insentibo ang mga pulis pagpasok ng 2015.

Nai-release na ng Department of Budget and Management ang P1.3 bilion para sa Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) ng mga tauhan at opisyal ng PNP.

Ayon kay PNP-PIO Chief P/CSupt. Wilben Mayor, i-a-assess ng pamunuan ng PNP ang naging performance ng mga pulis sa kategoryang good, better at best.

“Ibibigay ito sa January 6 doon sa ATM at yung wala pang ATM ay itsi-cheque nila. Naka-base ito sa performance evaluation ng bawat pulis.”
Sinabi pa ni Mayor na ang Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) ay bukod pa sa naunang Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) na limang libong piso bawat isa para sa 150,000 tauhan ng PNP.
Ibinigay naman ito kasabay ng sweldo noong Dec.15-30.

“Natanggap na yung five thousand. Natanggap na yung 13th month pay sa January 6, meron pa.”

Ang PBB ay matatanggap ng mga pulis sa pamamagitan ng kanilang ATM .

Ang Productivity Enhancement Incentive (PEI) at Performance-Based Bonus (PBB) ng mga pulis ay bukod pa sa 13th month pay na itinatakda ng batas. (LEAH YLAGAN / UNTV News)

UNTV GEOWEATHER CENTER (9.30pm, 12/31/14) – Inalis na ng PAGASA ang anumang signal ng bagyo sa anumang lugar sa bansa matapos humina at maging isa na lamang Low Pressure Area ang bagyong Seniang.

Kaninang 8pm ay namataan ito ng weather agency sa layong 220km South Southwest ng Cuyo, Palawan.

Bagama’t humina ay maaari paring magdulot ng katamtaman hanggang sa paminsan-minsan ay malalakas na mga pag-ulan sa Southern Palawan.

Matataas parin ang mga pag-alon sa mga baybayin ng Luzon at Visayas kaya’t mapanganib itong pagpalautan ng mga sasakyang pangisda at maliliit na sasakyang pandagat. (Rey Pelayo / UNTV News)

People wait in line to enter the Nassau County Mega Job Fair at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York October 7, 2014. CREDIT: REUTERS/SHANNON STAPLETON

(Reuters) - The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, but the trend remained consistent with sustained strength in the labor market.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased by 17,000 to a seasonally adjusted 298,000 for the week ended Dec. 27, the Labor Department said on Wednesday. That followed four straight weeks of declines.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 290,000 last week. Claims are volatile around the Christmas holiday period.

Despite last week’s increase, the trend in claims continued to point to a tightening labor market.

The four-week moving average of claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose only 250 to 290,750 last week. It has remained below the 300,000 mark for 16 straight weeks.

The Conference Board’s consumer confidence survey on Tuesday showed households were increasingly upbeat about prospects of securing employment.

The government is expected to report next week that nonfarm payrolls increased 240,000 in December after surging 321,000 in November, according to a Reuters survey of economists.

That would mark the 11th consecutive month of job gains above 200,000, the longest stretch since 1994. The unemployment rate is forecast dipping one-tenth of a percentage point to 5.7 percent, which would be the lowest since June 2008.

The claims report showed the number of people still receiving benefits after an initial week of aid fell 53,000 to 2.35 million in the week ended Dec. 20.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and W Simon)

Indonesian Search and Rescue crews unload one of two bodies of AirAsia passengers recovered from the sea at the airport in Pangkalan Bun, central Kalimantan December 31, 2014. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

(Reuters) - The first two bodies from the AirAsia plane that crashed off the coast of Borneo arrived on Wednesday in the Indonesian city of Surabaya, where relatives have gathered to await news of their loved ones.

Rescuers believe they have found the plane on the sea floor off Borneo, after sonar detected a large, dark object beneath waters near where debris and bodies were found on the surface.

Ships and planes had been scouring the Java Sea for Flight QZ8501 since Sunday, when it lost contact during bad weather about 40 minutes into its flight from Surabaya to Singapore.

Seven bodies have been recovered from the sea, some fully clothed, which could indicate the Airbus A320-200 was intact when it hit the water. That would support a theory that it suffered an aerodynamic stall.

Tatang Zaenudin, an official with Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, said earlier that one of the bodies had been found wearing a life jacket.

But he later said no victim had been recovered with a life jacket on.

“We found a body at 8.20 a.m. and a life jacket at 10.32 a.m. so there was a time difference. This is the latest information we have,” he told Reuters.

Two bodies, in coffins bedecked with flowers and marked 001 and 002, arrived by an air force plane in Surabaya.

Most of the 162 people on board were Indonesians. No survivors have been found.

HUNT FOR “BLACK BOX”

Hernanto, of the search and rescue agency in Surabaya, said rescuers believed they had found the plane on the sea bed with a sonar scan in water 30-50 meters (100-165 feet) deep.

The black box flight data and cockpit voice recorder have yet to be found.

Authorities in Surabaya were making preparations to receive and identify bodies, including arranging 130 ambulances to take victims to a police hospital and collecting DNA from relatives.

“We are praying it is the plane so the evacuation can be done quickly,” Hernanto said.

Strong wind and waves hampered the search and with visibility at less than a kilometer (half a mile), the air operation was called off in the afternoon.

“The weather today was really challenging in the field, with waves up to 5 meters high, wind reaching 40 km per hour (and) heavy rain, especially in the search area,” Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, the head of the search and rescue agency, told reporters in Surabaya.

He added that the plane’s whereabouts had not yet been confirmed and so the search for it would continue.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said his priority was retrieving the bodies.

Relatives, many of whom collapsed in grief when they saw the first grim television pictures confirming their fears on Tuesday, held prayers at a crisis center at Surabaya airport.

“UNBELIEVABLY” STEEP CLIMB

The plane was traveling at 32,000 feet (9,753 meters) and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet to avoid bad weather. When air traffic controllers granted permission for a rise to 34,000 feet a few minutes later, they received no response.

The pilots did not issue a distress signal.

A source close to the probe into what happened said radar data appeared to show that the aircraft made an “unbelievably” steep climb before it crashed, possibly pushing it beyond the Airbus A320’s limits.

“So far, the numbers taken by the radar are unbelievably high. This rate of climb is very high, too high. It appears to be beyond the performance envelope of the aircraft,” he said.

The source, who declined to be named, added that more information was needed to come to a firm conclusion.

Online discussion among pilots has centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow, and that it might have stalled.

The Indonesian captain, a former air force fighter pilot, had 6,100 flying hours under his belt and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, said the airline, which is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier AirAsia.

Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country’s aviation industry and spooked travelers.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 went missing in March on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline’s Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.

The AirAsia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.

(Additional reporting by Gayatri Suroyo, Kanupriya Kapoor, Michael Taylor and Charlotte Greenfield in JAKARTA/SURABAYA, Jane Wardell in SYDNEY and Anshuman Daga in SINGAPORE; Writing by Mark Bendeich and Robert Birsel; Editing by Nick Macfie/Mike Collett-White/Susan Fenton)

A man holds a woman after a stampede during a New Year’s celebration on the Bund, a waterfront area in central Shanghai, January 1, 2015. CREDIT: REUTERS/STRINGER

(Reuters) - A stampede killed at least 36 people during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Shanghai, authorities said, possibly caused by people rushing to pick up fake money thrown from a building overlooking the city’s famous Bund waterfront district.

The government in China’s gleaming business capital said large crowds started to stampede in Chen Yi Square on the Bund just before midnight, in the cosmopolitan city’s worst disaster since 58 died in an apartment building fire in 2010.

The trigger for the stampede has still to be confirmed, but state media and witnesses said the incident was at least partly caused when people tried picking up fake money.

A man who brought one of the 47 injured to a local hospital for treatment said fake money had been thrown down from a bar above the street as part of the New Year’s Eve celebrations. People rushed to pick up the money, triggering the stampede, said the man, who gave his family name as Wu.

Cui Tingting, 27, said she had picked up some of the bank notes but had thrown them away when she realized they were fake.

“It’s too cruel. People in front of us had already fallen to the floor, and others were stepping all over them,” she said.

State television cited others as saying the fake bills came fluttering down “like snow”.

Shanghai police said they were not yet able to confirm whether the fake money was the cause of the stampede, adding that a probe was ongoing and asking people be patient, according to state television.

The glass doors to the bar, whose name appeared on the fake bills, was locked on Thursday, though signs of the previous night’s party could be seen with debris strewn on the floor.

People inside the bar did not answer the door when a Reuters reporter knocked.

Another witness, who gave his family name as Wei, said there also had been a problem away from the area where the fake bills were thrown, with people trying to get on to a raised platform overlooking the river.

Xinhua news agency said that people had been trampled on after falling down on the steps up to the platform.

“We were caught in the middle and saw some girls falling while screaming. Then people started to fall down, row by row,” a witness surnamed Yin told Xinhua.

Some Chinese media outlets carried criticism of the authorities for lack of adequate policing and planning.

“It was chaos, and there were only one-third of the number of police there compared with previous years,” the Beijing News quoted one Shanghai resident as saying.

Foreign media were forbidden from attending a police press conference, underscoring government sensitivity about any critical coverage of disasters.

State media said many of the dead and injured were students, with 28 of the dead women.

Authorities had shown some concern about crowd control in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve. They recently canceled an annual 3D laser show on the Bund, which last year attracted as many as 300,000 people.

On New Year’s Eve, Beijing also canceled a countdown event in the central business district, Chinese media said, due to police fears about overcrowding.

President Xi Jinping has asked the Shanghai government to get to the bottom of the incident as soon as possible, and ordered governments across the country to ensure a similar disaster could not happen again, state television said.

The Shanghai government said on its official microblog that an inquiry had begun, and that all other New Year events had been canceled.

Photographs on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, showed densely packed crowds of revelers along the Bund where buildings from Shanghai’s pre-communist heyday face the Huangpu River and house upscale restaurants, bars, shops and hotels.

In 2004, 37 people died in a stampede in northern Beijing, on a bridge at a scenic spot, during the Lunar New Year holiday.

(Aditional reporting by Pete Sweeney and Fayen Wong, and Judy Hua in BEIJING; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Howard Goller, Mark Bendeich and Ryan Woo)