Cebu Pacific with a growth rate of 13 percent has maintained its status as the country’s largest airline.

Philippines’ Civil Aeronautics Board showed that the airlines flew a total of 4,088,493 domestic passengers, a 1.2 million more than that of flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL), and a 48.75 percent of the market’s share.

Cebu Pacific, owned by Chinese-Filipino tycoon Gokongwei,  operates with 21 Airbus and 8 ATR 72-500, also flies to Brunei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, Osaka, Seoul (Incheon), Jakarta, Singapore, Ho Chi Minh, Taipei, Macau, Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur. The airline’s Beijing service will be launched on September 5.

 The company aims to fly 10 million passengers this year, an official said.

In Los Angeles California, commercial painter Rick Norsigian learned that photos he bought at a garage sale in year 2000 for $45 dollars now worths more than $200 million.

Norsigian kept the two boxes he bought at a garage sale under his pool table for four years before realizing that it may be valuable.

"When I heard that $200 million, I got a little weak," Nosigian said.

Art forensics experts that teamed up, concluded that the 65 glass plates were photographic negatives created more than 80 years ago by the iconic American photographer Ansel Adams.

The approach used by the team to authenticate the negatives was "to put these negatives on trial," according to Arnold Peter who led the group.

He also added that after six months of study, experts, including a former FBI agent and a US attorney, came in conclusion that the evidence showed conclusive facts that those were the long-lost images of Ansel Adams.

The photographs were said to be taken during the early career of Adams, wherein it was a period that was not well documented since a 1937 fire destroyed 5,000 of his plates.

The photographs were taken mostly around Yosemite and California between 1919 and the early 1930s.

The plates which were individually wrapped in newspaper inside deteriorating manila envelopes contained notations by Virginia Adams, the photographer’s wife. Using the samples provided by the Adams’ grandson, handwriting expert Michael Nattenberg and Marcel Matley confirmed that it was indeed Virginia’s handwriting.

The photos will be exhibited in universities and museums starting October at Fresno State University.

After four months at sea, the boat made from plastic bottles completed its four-month voyage that sailed to Sydney Harbour from San Francisco.

The boat named Plastiki was assembled using 12,500 plastic bottles.

The Plastiki started its voyage on March from the coast of San Francisco US, following the route that crosses the Pacific and then travelling via Western Samoa and New Caledonia before reaching its final destination in Australia.

It passed through via the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is a sea of waste around five times the size of UK that is located between California and Hawaii.

Carrying a crew of six, the 15,000 km voyage was set to raise awareness on the dangers of plastic waste to the environment.

"It has been an extraordinary adventure," said David de Rothschild, expedition leader and environmentalist. "We want to raise awareness on the damage caused to ocean by the disposal of plastic waste. We have this addiction to single-use, throwaway plastic, which is choking up the ecosystem."

The boat is a catamaran with which the plastic bottles are attached using organic glue. The sails and the mast were made from recycled materials.

The Plastiki will be displayed in Sydney’s Maritime Museum.

The name Plastiki was derived from Kon-Tiki, a raft that sailed across the Pacific by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl in 1947. Olav, his grandson, was a member in Plastiki’s crew.

After diverting at least 35 international and domestic flights in the morning, operations at Ninoy Aquino International Airport are now back to normal around 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Manila International Airport Authority released a public advisory that no other flights after 1 p.m. were diverted. The only affected flights were the ones bound for Manila that were diverted to Clark, Cebu and Iloilo airports.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines technical assistant Lito Casaul told reporters that the haze had cleared by mid-morning but because of queue for landing time slots, the diverted flights could not immediately return to NAIA.

Flights that got diverted were those operated by pilots who have not yet been certified for the airport’s new navigation equipment – the Runway Navigation-Global Positioning System (RNAV-GPS) – which helps pilots land even in poor visibility.

"It doesn’t mean they’re not qualified or non-compliant. It’s just that the pilots haven’t yet got their certifications or their aircraft’s settings haven’t yet been adjusted for the RNAV-GPS. In fact, during the haze, at least 20 flights that were certified had been able to land safely," Casaul said.

Warnings were issued following the reported involvement of Filipino nationals in three separate drug trafficking cases.

Consul General Claro Cristobal said that Hong Kong authorities already arrested two Filipino women on separate drug trafficking incidents. The first incident was made on June 2 when the Filipina arrived at the Hong Kong International Airport where 1,040 grams of heroin hidden inside the soles of three pairs of shoes in her suitcase was found by the authorities. The drugs were estimated to be worth HKD930,000.

Another Filipina was arrested by Hong Kong customs police on June 24 and was charged with drug trafficking.  She was brought to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital to extract the drugs from her body cavity.  Doctors managed to extract from her body about 876 grams of heroin with estimated worth of HKD780,000.

The two arrested suspects were brought at the Tai Lam Centre for Women until their case hearing at the Tsuen Wan Magistrate Court.

Meanwhile, Consul General Renato Villapando of the Philippine diplomatic mission in Macau also reported that a Filipina was arrested last June 26 at the Macau International Airport for allegedly smuggling almost one kilo of illegal drugs hidden in rubber shoes in her luggage.

DFA did not name the suspected drug traffickers’ points of origin for undisclosed reasons.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto Romulo assured that the agency is continuously looking at different aspects to further improve its services, particularly passport processing. In a luncheon with the Department of Foreign Affairs Press Corps, Romulo said that DFA is already looking at other strategies to fast-track passport processing.

Some strategies that they are considering is the payment processing for an ePassport, which may be done after securing an appointment instead of paying after having the biometrics taken. This process is already implemented in US embassy, wherein the necessary payment should be settled first at an affiliated bank before an appointment is scheduled.

DFA also said that acquiring an appointment schedule took about two months in the past because there were around 40 percent who secured an appointment but failed to appear on time without canceling their appointed schedule.

However, Romulo said that these plans still needs to be finalized to ensure that it will not bring confusion and would be convenient to those applying for a passport.

Meanwhile, according to DFA-OCA, the Philippine ePassport is still the most affordable in the world at USD60. ePassport fees in the Asia-Pacific region are as follows: Malaysia – 300 Ringgit (around US$92), New Zealand – NZ$150 (US$101), Japan – ¥11,000 (US$120), and Australia – A$172 (US$153). E-passport costs 60 euros (US$77) in France, US$97 in the United States, and £72 (US$107) in the United Kingdom.

Romulo added that waiting time for appointment was shortened from two months to less than a month following measures undertaken by the agency to get rid of fixers who ask huge amount of money in exchange for an earlier appointment schedule.

Applicants may set an appointment by going on line (www.passport.com.ph) or by calling 737-1000.  Travel agents can secure an appointment at www.dfa.gov.ph or email at scheduler@dfa-appointment.net .  They may also call 834-4961, 834-4855 and 834-3707 for other details.

Almost 22 international and domestic flights bound for Manila were diverted on Saturday, due to poor visibility, to other airports in Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark and Cebu International Airport. There were also some flights diverted in iloilo in a statement made by Philippine Air lines.

“The almost zero visibility” at the NAIA was blamed to the thick haze – normally a result of air pollution, that came too close to the ground, about one kilometer, causing the pilots to miss the runway, Lito Casual, technical assistant of CAAP, said in an interview. He also added that airplanes are only allowed to land on airport with a three or four kilometer visibility.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) clarified that the incident had nothing to do with the failure of navigational system that was reported last month.

8 PAL flights, one Royal Brunei flight, 2 Jetstar flights, 2 Air Philippines flights, 4 Zestair flights, one KLM flight, one Sea Air flight, 4 Cebu Pacific flights, 2 China Air flights, and one from Air Micronesia were some of the aircrafts that were diverted in Diosdado International Airport.

Despite the diversion, no flight would be canceled, adding that airport authorities are just waiting for the skies to clear up. For flight inquiries, Manila International Airport Authority can be reached through the following numbers: 854-0015 and 877-1109.

President-elect Benigno Aquino III has no choice but to expect more travels when he assumes the presidency.

In this early stage of time, the Department of Foreign Affairs has already  prepared a list of countries that Aquino has to visit as part of his duty  as the newly-elect leader of the nation.

For his launch in the international community, Foreign Undersecretary Erlinda Basilio recommended that Aquino should attend the opening of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York set on the second Tuesday of September.

Aside from that, there are three other events that Aquino was encouraged to attend—the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Hanoi and the Asia-Europe meeting in Brussels, both in October, and the Asia-Pacific Economic Conference in Japan in November.

When asked how significant  it is for Aquino to continue President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s "economic diplomacy," Basilio replied: "Like President Arroyo, she is the No. 1 drumbeater of the Philippines. The business community sees this and that’s why their interests to invest and have trade relations with us becomes stronger.”

Basilio added that attending these events would be a "good way” for Aquino to let himself be known and "to put forward his views on many international issues discussed in these meetings.”

The recovery of the export sector in Taiwan is a positive news for Filipino workers in terms of job opportunities.

"This is good news for Filipino workers. The resurgence of the export sector in Taiwan ensures the security of jobs there, and this could also create new job opportunities," said Manila Economic and Cultural Office (MECO) chairman Tomas Alcantara.

Giving the current statistics from the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan’s export orders reached an all-time high last March, expanding 43.66 percent from a year earlier to US$34.39 billion, as Asia-Pacific markets demanded for more Taiwan-made panels, computers and handsets.

According to Alcantara, MECO in Taipei will evaluate developments closely, especially on jobs for higher skilled workers, which is the main thrust of MECO’s efforts in Taiwan.

Outlook for relocation are getting better with the recovery of Taiwan’s job market due to a new incentive package of the government and the recovery of the electronics sector.

DFA is sending out a helpful reminder to passport holders to renew your passports 6 months before the expiry date. A passport is given 5 years validity,  but for some airlines and destination countries,  they require a validity of six months prior to the expiry date.

“We urge everyone to check the validity of their passports, and renew them six months before expiry.  This way, they avoid the hassle of rushing at the last minute to secure a passport, especially when they already need to travel overseas,"  DFA Assistant Secretary for Consular Affairs Jaime Victor Ledda said.

Currently,  DFA charges P950 for the regular processing (20 working days) and P1,200 for expedited processing (10 working days).  For those applying in the DFA’s regional consular offices (RCOs),  our more days are added for the passport booklet to be sent from Manila to the RCO,  the department added.

In addition to the said reminder,  DFA also encourages applicants to avail the appointment system to ensure quick and convenient service,  they are discouraging walk-in applicants.

The agency said to be careful against unscrupulous individuals who are charging applicants P200 as fee to secure online appointments.

DFA stressed : “Securing an appointment online is free of charge,"

Applicants can check the passport requirements and secure an appointment at www.passport.com.ph, or by calling hotline (02) 737-1000.

They may also call the DFA helplines at telephone numbers (02) 831-8971, (02) 551-4437, (02) 551-4402, (02) 834-4855 and (02) 834-4424.