Tropical Storm Ketsana (locally known as Ondoy) brought flood on the streets of Manila due to continuous heavy rains. Thousands of Filipinos suffered from hunger and fear while the heavy downpours drenched the main island of Luzon, which includes Metro Manila and other nearby provinces. Some of them were stranded on the rooftops, while others were completely swept away by the strong current along the flooded streets.

Ketsana dumped more than a month’s worth of rain in just 12 hours, causing the government to declare a “state of calamity” in metropolitan Manila and 25 storm-hit provinces. The declaration allowed officials to use emergency funds for relief and rescue.

The rains swamped entire towns and set off landslides that have left at least 83 people dead and 23 others missing, Defense Secretary Gilbert Teodoro said. Garbage-choked drains and waterways, along with high tide, compounded the flooding, officials said.  — source: http://news.yahoo.com

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Help Typhoon Ondoy Victims in the Philippines

BANGKOK (AFP) - – An experimental AIDS vaccine has for the first time cut the risk of infection in humans in what scientists Thursday called a “breakthrough” in the quarter-century fight against the epidemic.

The vaccine reduced the chance of being infected by a third, researchers announced after the world’s largest trial of 16,000 volunteers, carried out by the US Army and Thailand’s Ministry of Public Health.

The surprising result comes after years of fruitless attempts by the medical world to find an HIV vaccine, including one trial jab that apparently boosted infection rates.

“It is the first demonstration that a vaccine against HIV can protect against infection,” Colonel Jerome Kim of the US military HIV research programme told a news conference in Bangkok via videolink.

“This is a very important scientific advance and gives us hope that a globally effective vaccine may be possible in the future,” he said.

Thai Public Health Minister Witthaya Kaewparadai said the “outcome of this study is a scientific breakthrough.”

The vaccine was a combination of two older drugs that had not reduced infection on their own and the researchers said they were now studying why the two apparently worked together.

The study combined the canarypox vaccine ALVAC, manufactured by Sanofi-Aventis of France, and AIDSVAX, originally made by VaxGen Inc and now licensed to the non-profit Global Solutions for Infectious Diseases.

Researchers said the latest vaccine showed a 31.2 percent efficacy in reducing the risk of HIV infection.

“The outcome represents a breakthrough in HIV vaccine development because for the first time ever there is evidence that HIV vaccine has preventative efficacy,” said the research team in a statement.

The vaccine was tested on volunteers — all HIV negative men and women aged from 18 to 30 — at average risk of infection in two Thai provinces near Bangkok starting in October 2003.

Half received the vaccine and the rest were given a placebo. Out of the placebo recipients 74 of 8,198 became infected compared with 51 of 8,197 who got the vaccine.

The World Health Organization and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS congratulated the researchers for the “encouraging” results.

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Source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com

Jason Hargett’s shot Tuesday on the 150-yard hole cut in the driving range at Red Ledges golf resort near Heber City was the winner. He hit a nine-iron about 10 feet past the hole and the ball rolled back and in, giving the 35-year-old restaurant manager the $1 million.

The contest was part of the Mark Eaton Celebrity Golf Classic.

Hargett says he almost didn’t play in the tournament because of a sore wrist and ended up using his brother’s clubs.

The tournament benefits a fund at the University of Utah’s Diabetes Center.

Source: http://www.usatoday.com

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