A Southern California school teacher has been arrested for allegedly teaching while drunk. Toro Canyon Middle School teacher Tonya Neff was taken to the Indio jail Tuesday afternoon and booked for investigation of felony child endangerment. Administrators at Thermal's Toro Canyon Middle School told the Riverside County Sheriff's Department that the 47-year-old teacher was apparently intoxicated on campus. Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Tapp says Neff...

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Birthday cake awaited suicide bomber

CIA officers in Afghanistan were so eager to meet the spy they believed would help them crack al-Qaida's leadership they planned a birthday celebration for his visit in December, current and former U.S. officials said. A birthday cake was waiting. But before they could even begin to question their golden source, he detonated a powerful bomb, killing himself and seven CIA employees in one of the deadliest attacks in the agency's history. ...

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Heigl Out

Katherine Heigl (HY'-guhl) is done with "Grey's Anatomy" after six seasons. ABC said Wednesday that Heigl's final appearance in the medical drama aired Jan. 21, four months before the show's season finale in May. Her departure was first reported online by Entertainment Weekly. ABC Studios said Heigl was ending her run as Dr. Izzie Stevens by "mutual agreement." Heigl told Entertainment Weekly that she asked to be let out of her contract...

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Bright Sky

On Thursday night, March 25, many people may look up at the sky and ask the question, "What's that bright star next to the moon?" The answer for Thursday night is Mars, but that answer changes night by night as the moon travels along the ecliptic, the path the sun, moon and planets follow across the sky. If you ask the question again on Monday night, March 29, the answer will be the ringed planet Saturn. Such conjunctions of the moon and planets are regular reminders of how rapidly the moon...

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Car Bomb in Colombia

A car bomb exploded in the Colombian port town of Buenaventura on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and wounding dozens more in an attack authorities blamed on FARC guerrillas or cocaine traffickers. The blast destroyed part of the local office of the attorney general in Buenaventura, the country's largest port which handles half the country's coffee exports but is also a major drug trafficking route to the Pacific coast. Local television images from the city showed wrecked taxis and destroyed store...

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James Cameron latest Innovation

Avatar" director James Cameron sees misguided thriftiness in Hollywood studios' latest craze to convert big movie projects from 2-D to 3-D, but the pace of such conversions shows no signs of letting up. Cameron believes studios are rushing to take advantage of the public's appetite for 3-D films. But using computers to convert standard 2-D movies to 3-D, instead of filming in 3-D, gives audiences a cheaper-looking film and could do more harm than good if audiences get turned...

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American Idol 2nd Casualty

 The 24-year-old preschool teacher from Houston was the second finalist eliminated from the ninth season of the Fox singing competition Wednesday. Miles, who warbled through her rendition of Mariah Carey's "Against All Odds" on Tuesday's performance show, received the fewest viewer votes and was not rescued by the show's judges at the last minute. "I lost myself in the song," Miles confessed earlier in the show. Joining her in the bottom three were 20-year-old college...

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Texas Man Claims Innocent

The U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday stopped the execution of condemned prisoner Hank Skinner about an hour before he could have been taken to the Texas death chamber. Skinner asked the court and Gov. Rick Perry for the delay for DNA testing that he insisted could clear him in a triple slaying. The brief order grants him the delay but does not ensure he will get such testing. Perry had not decided on the delay. Skinner, 47, faced lethal injection...

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North Korea's Trespasser

A U.S. citizen who North Korea will put on trial for illegal entry crossed the border in support of a fellow American Christian missionary who was released last month after a similar transgression, an activist said. North Korea said on Monday it will put 30-year-old Aijalon Mahli Gomes, from Boston, on trial for illegally entering the country. He crossed in January, about a month after Robert Park entered the state with a letter calling on leader Kim Jong-il...

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El Salvador Head Ask for Apology

El Salvador's first leftist president publicly apologized on behalf of the state Wednesday for the assassination of a Roman Catholic archbishop 30 years ago at the outset of the country's civil war. Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero, a human rights proponent who spoke out against repression by the Salvadoran army, was gunned down March 24, 1980, as he celebrated Mass in a hospital chapel. Shortly before, Romero challenged soldiers from the pulpit to stop their...

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Lady Gaga's Music Ads Video?

Is Lady Gaga for sale? Her nine-minute video for "Telephone" has fans and critics going crazy, but what they don't know is that it is one big advertisement. The babes-behind-bars clip features a bounty of product placement. You can see the video HERE (warning: PG-13 content). And here are the products it's pushing: Virgin Mobile - A phone is snatched from a butch prison yard toughie's waistband (2:07) Diet Coke - Cans are used as rollers in Lady Gaga's hair (2:22) Wonder Bread...

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Bank of America Starts to Reduce

Bank of America Corp. is giving some of its most troubled mortgage borrowers relief from the threat of foreclosure. The bank, the largest mortgage servicer in the country, said Wednesday it will forgive up to 30 percent of some customers' total mortgage balances. The homeowners must have missed at least two months of mortgage payments and owe at least 20 percent more than their home is currently worth. The plan is the newest provision of an agreement the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank reached 18 months ago with...

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NBA Reports

n the midst of this dreadful season, the one tiny, minuscule speck of hope for the Washington Wizards has been the play of Andray Blatche(notes) over the past month. Following the trade of Antawn Jamison, Blatche hasn't had a game with fewer than 12 points or 27 minutes. Basically, he's made being a Wizards fan at least OK for the time being. But Tuesday night, he joined the cavalcade of disasters that has defined this season's Wizards with a childish reason for sitting on the...

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Armed men burn heavy equipment at NIA site in Agusan Sur

 An undetermined number of armed men torched heavy equipment owned by Mark Built Corporation last Tuesday evening in Sta. Josefa town in Agusan del Sur, a police report said Wednesday. A Regional Police Office 13 (Caraga) press statement said the incident occurred at 8 p.m. in Sitio Baclesi in Barangay (village) Angas, where the construction firm was working on an irrigation project of the National Irrigation Administration (NIA). Damaged in the torching were three backhoes and one bulldozer, the statement said. Caraga police suspect...

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Renewable Energy in America

American Indian tribes have huge potential to develop renewable energy resources on their lands but first must overcome a number of challenges, namely financial, according to a report released Tuesday. Tribal lands make up about 5 percent of the United States and hold an estimated 10 percent of the country's renewable resources. Projects to harness the sun's energy, particularly in the Southwest, and to use wind power in the Great Plains and Alaska's coastal Native villages are the most...

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Saudi Arrest Suspected Al-Quida

Saudi Arabia has arrested 113 suspected al-Qaida members accused of planning attacks on oil facilities inside the kingdom, the Interior Ministry said Wednesday. Many of those arrested had come to Saudi Arabia on visas to visit holy sites or by sneaking across its borders, but wanted to join and organize attacks with al-Qaida. Saudi Arabia has aggressively pursued militants since a series of attacks inside the country that began in May 2003. The country is the birthplace of al-Qaida leader...

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20 house burn in Iligan fire

A fire believed caused by unattended gas stove razed at least 20 houses in Iligan City Tuesday night. Radio dzXL reported early Wednesday the fire started at about 9 p.m. at Purok Silangan in Barangay Ubaldo Laya in Iligan City. The fire spread quickly to nearby houses made of light materials, as firefighters had a hard time getting to the scene because of the narrow streets. Firefighters eventually placed the fire under control after one hour. No one was initially reported injured in the fire but the families who lost their houses were...

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Stop talking of Failure - COMELEC

Commission on Elections (Comelec) chairman Jose Melo on Wednesday appealed to the public to put a stop to circulating talk about the possibility of failure of elections in May. "Wag na kayo magsalita (Stop talking) about failure of elections. There will be elections nationwide," Melo told reporters in an interview. Earlier, Comelec Commissioner Rene Sarmiento said that there has never been a nationwide failure of elections in the history of the Philippines. Melo said that in the past, only isolated areas had failure of elections for reasons...

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NPA Rebel, Biggest Election Threat

 Communist rebels remain to be the biggest threat in the conduct of peaceful elections in May, ranking police and military officials said Wednesday. Deputy Director General Edgardo Acuna, deputy chief for operations of the Philippine National Police (PNP), said the New People’s Army (NPA) has been the leading security threat during polls ever since it started extorting money from candidates through it “permit-to-campaign" policy. “The permit-to-campaign disturbs the entry and exit of candidates in their so-called controlled areas,"...

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3 Pinoy Seaman, detained

Three of the 12 Filipino seafarers virtually detained for over eight months in a Panama-flagged ship arrived in Manila Tuesday, bringing with them hopes not only for the payment of their back wages, but also for the speedy repatriation of their compatriots still in Greece. Fifty-year-old Primo Fernandinco, who worked as a cook in the cargo carrier MV Aetea Sierra, expressed concern for the welfare of the nine other Filipinos still aboard the ship, which has been grounded in Greece since July last year. “Tipid na lang kami sa pagkain para...

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Comelec to Ban Pres Bets on Overtime Airtime

 Don't look now, but a presidential candidate with substantial television advertisements may end up being disqualified. That is, if the government's poll body will be able to strictly implement Republic Act 9006 or the Fair Election Act, which imposes limits on allowed TV airtime for campaign ads. The Commission on Elections (Comelec) disclosed on Wednesday one presidential bet has already exceeded the 120-minute TV airtime limit allowed for candidates for the country's highest position. However, the commission refused to divulge...

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Dizon Marries Pilot BF

Sunshine Dizon tied the knot with her pilot boyfriend Timothy Tan in an intimate ceremony held last Saturday, March 20, at Valle Verde 6 clubhouse in Pasig City. This was confirmed by Sunshine's mother, Dorothy Laforteza, in her interview with entertainment columnist Abu Tilamzik published in Abante Tonite on Wednesday (March 24). According to Mommy Dorothy, only close friends were invited to the wedding, which was officiated by a priest. Sunshine's mom said she only attended the wedding...

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Authenticity of Ballots

Ultraviolet (UV) lamps will be used on election day to check whether ballots are true and genuine, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said on Wednesday. The poll body will use UV lamps to manually verify each ballot through its UV markings, after it reportedly decided to turn off one of the functions of the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines. The machines are originally expected not just to count and check the votes as marked on the ballots, but also to verify genuine ballots and reject counterfeit ones. The commission was...

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Gordon's Campaign Style

At the start of the campaign period, presidential aspirant Richard Gordon made one thing clear: "I sing but I don't dance." One month after, the Bagumbayan standard bearer seemed to have reconsidered his statement. Who would have thought that it would only take two popular Filipino Youtube celebrities—Moymoy Palaboy and Roadfill—to change his mind? In a lip-synched video released on Moymoy’s Youtube site, the 60-year-old senator made a surprise appearance as he danced and sang to the...

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Google and Yahoo Cries foul on Australian Internet Filter

Internet giants Google and Yahoo have criticized Australia's proposal for a mandatory Internet filter calling it a heavy-handed measure that could restrict access to legal information. Their statements were among 174 submissions to the Department of Communications related to the filtering policy. Communications Minister Stephen Conroy, who made the submissions public Tuesday, has explained the filter would block access to sites that include child pornography, sexual violence and detailed...

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Legarda on Roxas

How about a basic classroom lesson on climate change after an acrimonious debate Sunday night? Vice presidential candidate Loren Legarda told reporters here that she was willing to “educate” her rival, Sen. Manuel “Mar” Roxas II, on climate change issues, after the latter apparently belittled her environmental advocacy during the ABS-CBN “Harapan” vice presidential debate. Legarda quipped that Roxas might have been taking a snack or could have left the Senate session hall early, during...

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Pinoy Director Honored

Filipino filmmaker Adolfo Alix Jr. has been listed by The Hollywood Reporter (THR) among 20 young entertainment personalities dubbed “Next Generation Asia 2010.” Alix told the Inquirer that Tommaso Campione, executive international director of THR, informed him of his inclusion on the list, which includes Hong Kong actor Daniel Wu (of “Bishonen”), Thai filmmaker Chookiat Sakveerakul (“The Love of Siam”) and Korean actress Kim Ok-vin (“Thirst”). All the honorees were profiled in the March...

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PBA UPDATE

Coca-Cola coach Bo Perasol figured out Sammy Monroe pretty quickly, and the Tigers made Barako Coffee play like the whipping team of old. Throwing a suffocating defensive blanket on Monroe, the Tigers led from start to finish in a 97-74 victory Wednesday night that sent the Coffee Masters crashing back to earth in the Fiesta Conference at the Araneta Coliseum in Cubao, Quezon City. James Penny was the imposing presence on both ends for the Tigers, finishing with 27 points, 13 rebounds and...

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