Janela Lelis: Batang babae, isinalba ang watawat ng Pilipinas mula sa baha.

Si Janela Lelis habang sinusuong ang baha sa Albay bitbit ang watawat ng bansa sa larawan kuha ni Francisco Pena Lozano.

List of world's fastest-growing airports: Istanbul #1

Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport is the world's fastest growing airport, according to a new report released by Airports Council International (ACI) August 1.

The World Airport Traffic Report 2010, which analyzed the performance of over 1,300 airports in 157 countries around the world last year, suggests that traffic at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, completed in 2009, jumped by 75 percent last year.

That puts it considerably ahead of Campinas in Brazil, the world's second-fastest growing airport, and Rio de Janeiro, the third.

Charleroi in Belgium and Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport rounded off the top five list.

Overall, traffic through the world's airports grew by 6.6 percent in 2010, the report shows, a total of 5.04 billion passengers -- the first time global air travel has passed the 5 billion mark.

The fastest growth was observed in Latin America and the Caribbean (13.2 percent), ACI said, followed by the Middle East (12 percent), Asia-Pacific (11.3 percent) Africa (9.5 percent), Europe (4.3 percent) and North America (2.5 percent).

Preliminary statistics show that for the first six months of this year, global passenger traffic is up by six percent again.

The busiest airports in the world overall were Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson in the US, Beijing, Chicago in the US, London Heathrow and Tokyo Haneda.

However, stripping out domestic passengers to include just international travel, London Heathrow holds the top spot, followed by Paris Charles de Gaulle, Hong Kong International, Dubai International in the United Arab Emirates and Frankfurt in Germany.

The world's fastest-growing airports

1. Istanbul Sabiha Gökçen Airport, Turkey

2. Viracopos-Campinas, Brazil

3. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

4. Charleroi, Belgium

5. Moscow Sheremetyevo, Russia

6. Belo Horizonte, Brazil

7. Bogota, Colombia

8. Phuket, Thailand

9. Shanghai Pudong, China

10. Muscat, Oman

11. Ankara, Turkey

12. St Petersburg, Russia

13. Medan, Indonesia

14. Shanghai Hongqiao, China

15. Milwaukee, WI, USA

Senator Zubiri resigning from post?

Unconfirmed reports abound that Senator Juan Miguel "Migz" Zubiri will be resigning from his post Wednesday.

Reports say Zubiri will announce his resignation in a privilege speech, 3 pm.

This, amid fresh revelations by Maguindanao election supervisor Lintang Bedol of alleged fraud in the 2007 elections.

An administration bet, Zubiri landed the 12th and last spot for the Senate, narrowly defeating opposition bet, lawyer Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III.

Pimentel has since contested Zubiri's win and sought but failed to get the high court's restraining order on Zubiri's proclamation.

Zubiri was proclaimed Senator on July 2007 with 11,001,730 votes, a little over Pimentel's 10,983,358.

In a telephone interview, former Senator Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel Jr. said he is also waiting for Zubiri's announcement.

"I will wait until it happens," Pimentel told Yahoo! Southeast Asia.

Pimentel said should Zubiri abandon his post, he is hoping his son Koko could soon get the post.

"We are hoping it will happen sooner or later," he said, noting that Koko still have less than two years to work in the Senate.

Malaysian envoy’s wife denies tweeting Rizal's an 'infidel'

The wife of the Malaysian ambassador to the Philippines denied the claim by newspaper columnist Jarius Bondoc that she had maligned Jose Rizal on Twitter, insisting that she was being set up by the Malaysian opposition.

Dato Zainab, wife of Malaysian envoy to Manila Dr. Ibrahim Saad, on Monday tweeted: “pls read twt in full. twt was from Bikmama2U & she tagged me. that is a false account set up by the MAL opposition. Contacting Phl S".

Earlier Monday, the Philippine Star columnist wrote about a tweet that “caused a stir in Kuala Lumpur political circles last week" because it had “sullied the Philippine national hero Jose Rizal."

“@BikMama2U: @datozainab Biasala tu, @anwaribrahim mmg pro-Kristian, pemuja Jose Rizal si Melayu kafir tu! Oh ya, jgn lupa..."

(“@BikMama2U: @datozainab... That’s usual. Anwar Ibrahim is clearly pro-Christian, an admirer of Jose Rizal the infidel Malay! Oh yes, don’t forget...")

Bondoc explained in his column that the offensive tweet spoke of former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who now leads Malaysia’s Opposition. Anwar is coming to Manila this Friday to lecture at the University of the Philippines on Jose Rizal's influence on ASEAN leadership as part of celebrations of the national hero's 150th birth anniversary.

Bondoc had written that “[c]alling Rizal an ‘infidel Malay’ is insolent, to say the least. …If true that a diplomat’s wife is defiling the memory of Rizal as ‘infidel,’ then it not only drives a fanatical religionist wedge in Southeast Asian ties. It also derides global peace efforts through interfaith dialogue." — Marlon Anthony Tonson/VS, GMA News

Tattoo, epic spelling fail!

This tattoo of the Bible verse made famous by Samuel L. Jackson in "Pulp Fiction," has at least 10 spelling mistakes. Can you find them all?

Photo by: yourtattoosucks.com