It’s the old Filipino practice of bayanihan, expressed in the age of Web 2.0. As strong winds, torrential rains and extensive flooding due to tropical storm “Ondoy” buffeted Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, Filipinos turned to various Internet sites not only for the latest news updates, but also to share information and to call for help.  Read more... (317 words, estimated 1:16 mins reading time)

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PARIS (AFP) – – Middle-aged male smokers with high cholesterol and blood pressure die, on average, a decade sooner than peers without any of these heart disease risk factors, according to a study published on Friday.

Many studies have shown that not smoking, eating healthily and exercising cut heart disease rates.

But few have tackled the problem from the other end: to what extent is life expectancy shortened by having these heart disease risk factors?

To find out, researchers from Oxford University sifted through data from 19,000 male civil servants who were examined in the late 1960s when they were 40 to 69 years old.  Read more... (195 words, estimated 47 secs reading time)

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BLIT, Philippines (AFP) – – When he was young Lobo swung on vines and hung around a cave, the long-haired, loinclothed poster child of a sensational Stone Age tribe supposedly lost in the time warp of a remote Philippines rainforest.

Now with the western scholars, journalists and celebrities a distant memory, Lobo Bilangan wears faded tracksuits, chainsmokes, and eats canned sardines — just one among hundreds of poor farmers slashing and burning their way through the forest.

“We were denounced as a hoax,” said Lobo, a thin man with a receding hairline who sows maize on the cleared land to feed his three wives and 10 children.  Read more... (244 words, estimated 59 secs reading time)

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Three Filipino students have bested some 2,000 entries from 150 countries in the recently-concluded World Bank 2009 International Essay Competition, with this year’s topic focusing on “How does climate change affect you? How do you tackle climate change through youth-led solutions?”

Victor Marco Emmanuel Ferriols from the University of the Philippines-Visayas won third place in the video essay category with his piece, “Losing shores, losing more,” while Jernalyn Gayon from the Western Mindanao State University, Zamboanga City won third place in the photograph category.  Read more... (245 words, estimated 59 secs reading time)

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CEBU, Philippines (AFP) – – Tourists flocked to a Philippine jail Saturday to watch about 1,500 inmates perform a special Michael Jackson dance tribute in honour of the dead star, officials said.

The jailbirds spawned a worldwide Internet hit two years ago with their morning exercise routine using synchronised movements based on the groundbreaking 1982 “Thriller” video.

An unusual number of visitors were signing in at the Cebu city provincial jail Saturday to watch the prisoners perform at 3:00 pm (0700 GMT) following the death of Jackson, 50, in Los Angeles on Thursday.  Read more... (214 words, estimated 51 secs reading time)

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