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3 Red Cross Hostages Survive Philippine Clashes

AFP/Vice Governor of Sulu/Ho/File – Three abducted Red Cross workers, Filipino Mary-Jean Lacaba (L), Italian Eugenio Vagni (2nd R), Andreas …

MANILA, Philippines – Three Red Cross hostages survived two days of fierce jungle clashes that killed three marines and up to seven al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf captors in the southern Philippines, officials said Wednesday.

The Italian, Swiss and Filipino aid workers, their hands tied, were seen running with their captors toward a mountain after the militants fought with marines near Indanan township on southern Jolo Island, police Chief Superintendent Bensali Jabarani said.

Sen. Richard Gordon, who heads the local Red Cross, said he spoke with Abu Sayyaf commander Albader Parad by mobile phone and was told the hostages, who have been held for more than two months, were unharmed.
Gordon strongly criticized the marines for opening fire on the Abu Sayyaf gunmen Monday because it could have provoked the militants to hurt the hostages. 

Read the rest of the story here.

What Do You Know About Friday 13th?

Do you really believe that Friday the 13 th is unlucky day?

If you are conscious the beginning of the connection between bad luck and Friday the 13 th is very ominous, have you thought that it might be a biblical date, remember the Last Supper the 13 th guest betrayed Jesus, and during the Middle ages both Friday and 13 were considered bearers of bad luck.

Well, if you do believe that Friday the 13th is unlucky then 2009 is strangely a doomed year because today is Friday 13th. And as you may have noticed the first came last month, the next is in November. What a rare triple-threat happens only once every 11 years. I find it interesting!

Until today, the superstition remains in people’s mind. So, I would like to present to you our top favorite Friday the 13th facts:

• Fear of Friday the 13th - one of the most popular myths in science - is called paraskavedekatriaphobia as well as friggatriskaidekaphobia. Triskaidekaphobia is fear of the number 13.
•  Many hospitals have no room 13, while some tall buildings skip the 13th floor and some airline terminals omit Gate 13.
• President Franklin D. Roosevelt would not travel on the 13th day of any month and would never host 13 guests at a meal. Napoleon and President Herbert Hoover were also triskaidekaphobic, with an abnormal fear of the number 13.
• Mark Twain once was the 13th guest at a dinner party. A friend warned him not to go. "It was bad luck," Twain later told the friend. "They only had food for 12." Superstitious diners in Paris can hire a quatorzieme, or professional 14th guest.
• The number 13 suffers from its position after 12, according to numerologists who consider the latter to be a complete number - 12 months in a year, 12 signs of the zodiac, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 labors of Hercules, 12 tribes of Israel, 12 apostles of Jesus, 12 days of Christmas and 12 eggs in a dozen.

And also, for your information “numerology” is the belief that numbers are connected to life and physical things.You can read more facts about Friday the 13th here.

So, whatever your beliefs are, stay safe always!

AIDS becomes China's deadliest infectious disease

AFP/File – A Chinese man flies an AIDS "red ribbon" kite by the National Olympic Stadium during an event …

BEIJING – AIDS was the top killer among infectious diseases in China for the first time last year, with 6,897 people dying from the virus in the nine months through September, a state news agency said.

Source: Yahoo! News

More than 200 melon-headed whales stranded off Bataan, 3 reported dead

MANILA, Philippines - More than 200 melon-headed dolphins were beached off the coastal area of Pilar town in the northern Philippines province of Bataan, 3 reported dead.

Something's fishy?

Japan scientists identify enzyme that may suppress cancer

Reuters – A doctor exams mammogram x-rays in a file photo. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

• Play Video Video: Some cancer patients removing second breast WRAL Raleigh

HONG KONG (Reuters) – Scientists in Japan have identified an enzyme which appears to suppress breast cancer and they hope the finding will spur new therapies to control the second most common cancer in the world.

At issue is the enzyme CHIP, which experts say can stunt cancer growth by degrading a number of cancer-causing proteins. The enzyme occurs naturally in human breast tissue.

From (http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090209/sc_nm/us_cancer_breast)