Sun Rising from The West

12 Things We'd Tell Our Bosses if We Could

Of course, not all employees feel free to say what they're actually thinking. You know who you are! That's why in today's column, the employees of the world get to speak up. What would you say to your boss if you could say absolutely anything at all? This is your chance, people.

Here are a dozen to get you warmed up:

1. "Give me the tools I need to do a good job." If you're unsure, ask me. But, basically, time, materials, information, maybe even a little authority--these are what I need to succeed.

2. "Admit it when you make a mistake." It shows you're not afraid and is the best way to earn my respect. Whatever you do, don't act as if you never make mistakes. That's just ridiculous.

3. "Don't treat me like a cog on a wheel." I'm an individual. If I screw up, tell me. If someone else in my group screws up, tell him. Don't blame the whole team.

4. "Ask for my opinion from time to time." I might be able to offer some good ideas if you listened to me even half as much as you expect me to listen to you.

5. "I truly need frequent feedback." Please don't wait till the year-end performance review. I can do a better job for you if you let me know what I'm doing wrong, and what I'm doing right, on a regular basis.

6. "Don't leave me hanging out to dry." When things go south I need you to be a leader and back me up. If you are not loyal to me, it is impossible for me to be loyal to you.

7. "I can't hear you when you shout." Maybe someone once told you intimidation is a good management tool. But seriously, yelling at employees just makes you look weak and ineffectual.

8. "Don't make me work with idiots." I realize it's not easy but if there's a problem person in the group it's your job to resolve the situation. Don't let it drag on and on. It poisons the whole workplace.

9. "Have a clear agenda." If you don't know what you want, how do you expect me to? I need you to understand your own goals, and communicate them to me clearly.

10. "Don't lie about deadlines." There is no better way to lose the trust of your people than to set "fake" deadlines. Trust me enough to be honest with me and I'll do a good job for you.

11. "Be predictable." If you behave erratically I will spend more time and energy worrying about what you're going to do next than working.

12. "Mentor me." Ask me my goals. Give me projects that help me develop and grow. I will do a fabulous job for you if you take an interest in me and my career. And that's a win-win.

Karen Burns is the author of the illustrated career advice book The Amazing Adventures of Working Girl: Real-Life Career Advice You Can Actually Use, recently released by Running Press. She blogs at http://www.karenburnsworkinggirl.com/.

10 New Rules for Today's Job Hunt

Here are the 10 biggest differences between then and now:

1. You can no longer depend on a résumé to get an interview. Simply mailing out résumés and then sitting back and waiting for responses was never that effective, and today it just doesn’t cut it. It’s a waste of time, paper, postage, and psychic energy.

2. Your experience matters less than it used to. This is unfair, even counter-intuitive, but people don’t want to hear about everything you did way back when. They want to hear about everything you can do, specifically, to help them today. And tomorrow.

3. You shouldn't expect to hear back. Unfortunately, this little courtesy has gone the way of the vinyl record. Keep on networking, interviewing, and researching right up until the moment you have a firm job offer in your hot little hands. Maybe even a little after.

4. A résumé is no longer a comprehensive summary of your work and education history. Don’t bother to list jobs more than 15 years old. Emphasize recent accomplishments, certifications, and training.

5. More about résumés: You need a digital-friendly one that is easily uploadable, downloadable, and scannable (i.e., no bullets, boxes, boldface, unusual fonts, indenting). It should be rich in the “keywords” that employers in your field are looking for.

6. In fact, overall computer literacy is a must. Get comfortable with applying for jobs online and learn how to research on the Internet. If all this is new to you, your public library is a good place to start. Oh, and have a professional-sounding E-mail address.

7. A good idea is to go one step further and establish a lively Internet presence. Explore LinkedIn (get some stellar endorsements), Twitter, and Facebook. Become active in your field’s social media sites. Consider building your own Web site (with a career-oriented blog, professional photo, and résumé).

8. One of the first things a potential employer will do is Google you. That means you need to find out if there’s anything negative about you online. If there is something bad, try to get it removed. Your best bet may be to “bury” it with more recent, more favorable, links (see No. 7).

9. More than ever it’s about who you know, and who knows you. This is important: Finding employment nowadays is less a matter of applying for existing open positions and more about identifying needs potential employers have and demonstrating to them that you can fill these needs. Fortunately, there are more networking venues (real life and virtual) than ever before.

10. Many interviewers/hiring managers/recruiters may be younger than you. Get used to it. Treat them with respect and learn how to speak their language. Do not say “You remind me of my son/daughter,” or “When I was your age... !"

You can do this. So go forth. And conquer!

S$1,200 RWS Fish Dish Shocker

A 35-year-old diner and four friends feasted on a steamed fish dish at a restaurant in Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). At the end of the meal, upon receiving the bill, his jaw hit the ground.
What seemed like a simple dish ended up costing a whopping S$1,224.
The diner, who only wanted to be known as Mr Liu, took his four friends to RWS’ Feng Shui Inn restaurant on June 12. He had initially asked for marble goby, better known locally as “soon hock”, but was told there was no stock for the fish.
A waiter then recommended the white sultan fish instead. The group agreed, without enquiring about the cost of the dish. But when the bill arrived, the five diners were shocked to find that the single sultan fish, weighing 1.8kg, set them back by a staggering S$1,224.

“(The waiter) didn’t mention the price (of the fish), and we also didn’t think too much about it and just said okay,” Mr Liu told Lianhe Wanbao.

He complained about the price of the fish during payment and the restaurant responded by giving him a 15% discount on the bill as a gesture of goodwill.

“The customer has the right to know and the restaurant should have made clear its price so we could decide whether it was worth it,” Mr Liu said.

In response to the incident, an RWS spokesman claims that the practice of not disclosing menu prices is common in upscale restaurants. “It is not always appropriate to state menu prices to high-end customers who have come to expect a certain discretion when they entertain high-level guests, ” he explains.

RWS conceded that the incident could have been a “lapse of judgement” but it was smoothed over quickly with an on-the-spot discount.

But is S$68 per 100g for a sultan fish a reasonable amount?

A quick comparison with Capital Restaurant, which has been selling sultan fish for 36 years, reveals that the dish can go for as low as S$6 per 100g. This is less than a tenth of Fengshui Inn’s price tag on the fish.

Chef Pung Lu Tin, 50, of Seafood International Market and Restaurant, explained the sultan fish is sought-after because it was not easy to catch. He added that its meat was “very smooth”.

“The flesh is tender and snow white. It’s a wild river fish, so it eats fruits that drops from trees and bears the fragrance of fruit,” Chef Huang Ching Biao, 58, kitchen operations director at Jin Shan restaurant at MBS told The New Paper.

But despite its draw, both chefs added that they have not come across any commanding such a high price. One seafood distributor known only as Mr Lee even described the price of the fish at Fengshui Inn as “outrageous”.

This seafood shocker is reminiscent of an incident that occurred in March last year, where six American tourists were charged S$239 for a mere eight tiger prawns at Newton hawker centre.

The stall involved had its licence suspended for three months by the National Environment Agency (NEA) for breaching licencing conditions.

Incidents like these throw the spotlight on questionable charging practices in Singapore. For a country positioning itself as a tourism hub, these bad dining experiences are sure to leave a bitter after-taste.

Eating Fruit - This Is An Eye Opener

Dr Stephen Mak treats terminal ill cancer patients by "un-orthodox" way and many patients recovered. He explains to me before he is using solar energy to clear the illnesses of his patients. He believes on natural healing in the body against illnesses. See the article below.

It is one of the strategies to heal cancer. As of late, my success rate in curing cancer is about 80%. Cancer patients shouldn't die. The cure for cancer is already found. It is whether you believe it or not. I am sorry for the hundreds of cancer patients who die under the conventional treatments. Thanks and God bless. Dr Stephen Mak.

What is the correct way of eating fruits?

IT MEANS NOT EATING FRUITS AFTER YOUR MEALS! * FRUITS SHOULD BE EATEN ON AN EMPTY STOMACH.

If you eat fruit like that, it will play a major role to detoxify your system, supplying you with a great deal of energy for weight loss and other life activities.

FRUIT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT FOOD. Let's say you eat two slices of bread and then a slice of fruit. The slice of fruit is ready to go straight through the stomach into the intestines, but it is prevented from doing so.

In the meantime the whole meal rots and ferments and turns to acid. The minute the fruit comes into contact with the food in the stomach and digestive juices, the entire mass of food begins to spoil....
So please eat your fruits on an empty stomach or before your meals! You have heard people complaining ― every time I eat watermelon I burp, when I eat durian my stomach bloats up, when I eat a banana I feel like running to the toilet, etc ― actually all this will not arise if you eat the fruit on an empty stomach. The fruit mixes with the putrefying other food and produces gas and hence you will bloat!

Graying hair, balding, nervous outburst, and dark circles under the eyes all these will NOT happen if you take fruits on an empty stomach.

There is no such thing as some fruits, like orange and lemon are acidic, because all fruits become alkaline in our body, according to Dr. Herbert Shelton who did research on this matter. If you have mastered the correct way of eating fruits, you have the Secret of beauty, longevity, health, energy, happiness and normal weight.

When you need to drink fruit juice - drink only fresh fruit juice, NOT from the cans. Don't even drink juice that has been heated up. Don't eat cooked fruits because you don't get the nutrients at all. You only get to taste. Cooking destroys all the vitamins.

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

KIWI: Tiny but mighty. This is a good source of potassium, magnesium, vitamin E & fiber. Its vitamin C content is twice that of an orange.

APPLE: An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Although an apple has a low vitamin C content, it has antioxidants & flavonoids which enhances the activity of vitamin C thereby helping to lower the risks of colon cancer, heart attack & stroke.

STRAWBERRY: Protective Fruit. Strawberries have the highest total antioxidant power among major fruits & protect the body from cancer-causing, blood vessel-clogging free radicals.

ORANGE : Sweetest medicine. Taking 2-4 oranges a day may help keep colds away, lower cholesterol, prevent & dissolve kidney stones as well as lessens the risk of colon cancer.

WATERMELON: Coolest thirst quencher. Composed of 92% water, it is also packed with a giant dose of glutathione, which helps boost our immune system. They are also a key source of lycopene ― the cancer fighting oxidant. Other nutrients found in watermelon are vitamin C & Potassium.

GUAVA & PAPAYA: Top awards for vitamin C. They are the clear winners for their high vitamin C content.. Guava is also rich in fiber, which helps prevent constipation. Papaya is rich in carotene; this is good for your eyes.

Drinking Cold water after a meal = Cancer! Can u believe this?? For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this 'sludge' reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer. It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.

A serious note about heart attacks HEART ATTACK PROCEDURE': (THIS IS NOT A JOKE!) Women should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line. You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. Sixty percent of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let's be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive.

Tay Ping Hui Weds Girlfriend & Bids Singlehood Goodbye.

Dubbed as Mediacorp's 'most eligible bachelor', Tay Ping Hui finally settles down as he marries longtime girlfriend Edna Lim last Friday.
The 39-year-old National University of Singapore lecturer accepted Ping Hui's proposal last year and the lovebirds had originally planned to get married after the General Elections.

"I thought the elections would be held in May but apparently I was wrong. We couldn't wait so we went ahead with the wedding."

Ping Hui's wedding news hardly came as a surprise. He has been saying that he was ready to settle down and even thanked his "future wife and unborn baby" after receiving the award for Top 10 Most Popular male Artiste earlier this year during Star Awards,.

Athough xinmsn has caught wind of Ping Hui's wedding plans long ago, the actor requested to only be interviewed after the wedding.

Earlier this morning in an exclusive phone interview with xinmsn, Ping Hui said that the wedding registration, traditional Chinese wedding customs and the wedding banquet were all done last Friday. The wedding banquet was held at Capella Singapore in Sentosa.

The wedding was a simple one, as the couple only invited close relatives and friends.

"Since everyone knew each other, the atmosphere was really very heartwarming and didn't look like we're putting on a 'show'. As for celebrities, I only invited one table, because I only invite those I'm really close to."

Unlike the newly-weds who shed nary a tear, many guests who were present that evening were touched to tears.

Despite the simple affair, the groom went all out with each guest table costing a hefty S$1,800. Unlike fellow celebrities, Ping Hui turned down all wedding sponsorship offers from corporate sponsors.

However, Ping Hui had good friends who helped 'sponsored' some things.

For example, the wedding tuxedo he was wearing was a wedding gift from famous tuxedo brand, Zegna; the bridal car was a sponsored Mercedes Benz 'S' Class and the in-house wedding photographer was Ping Hui's good friend and former MediaCorp artiste, Ix Shen.

After the wedding on Friday, Ping Hui immediately resumed work on Sunday. Due to their hectic schedules, Ping Hui said that they plan to go for their honeymoon in Europe only at the end of the year, when the climate would be cooler.

The 40-year-old also revealed that they plan to buy a marital home in Sentosa when market prices are lower and they are currently living in a rented old colonial-era building.

Ping Hui expressed preference to take things slowly when quizzed on of his plans to have children.
"Of course we'll have children; in fact, I would like to have five kids, big enough to form a basketball team! But that can happen later; for now we prefer to enjoy each other's company."

When asked if it feels different now that he is a married man, Ping Hui says that nothing has changed but acknowledges that he has one more responsibility to fulfill towards his wife and her family.

"It's the beginning of a new chapter of life now."

Amputee Cat Gets Bionic Legs

LONDON: A cat which lost both back paws after a traumatic accident involving a combine harvester has regained a spring in its step after being fitted with prosthetic limbs.
In a groundbreaking surgery carried out by Noel Fitzpatrick, a Surrey-based veterinary surgeon, the custom-made implants "peg" the ankle to Oscar's foot and mimic the way in which deer antler bone grows through skin.
The prosthetic legs, called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics (Itaps) were developed by a team from University College London, led by Professor Gordon Blunn.
"The real revolution with Oscar is [that] we have put a piece of metal and a flange into which skin grows into an extremely tight bone," Fitzpatrick said of the operation which took place last November.
"We have managed to get the bone and skin to grow into the implant and we have developed an 'exoprosthesis' that allows this implant to work as a see-saw on the bottom of an animal's limbs to give him effectively normal gait," he added.
The veterinary surgical team took three hours to insert the pegs by drilling into one of the cat's ankle bones in each of the back legs.
The Itap technology has already been used to create a prosthetic for a woman who lost her arm in the July 2005 London bombings.

Oscar's recovery will feature as part of a six-part BBC One documentary series, The Bionic Vet, starting later this month.

The Day Orchard Road Turned Into ‘Orchard River’

Singaporeans reacted with shock after seeing photos and videos of Orchard Road being submerged under water by an early morning torrential downpour on Wednesday.

The heavy rain caused major flooding at the Ion Orchard and Scotts Road junction, making the roads impassable to traffic. The rain was especially heavy over the Orchard Road and Rochor Road area, which were submerged in floodwaters of up to half a metre deep. Several shops near Wheelock Place like fast food outlet Wendy’s and luxury retailer Hermes were completely underwater.

Almost 400 Yahoo! Fit-to-Post users reacted with surprise and dismay in the 3 hours since this post was published.
Some like user EHF wondered about the poor drainage facilities along Orchard Road. He said, “Basically, no proper drainage system to go along with rapid buildings being built (sic). Relevant authories need to really look into present drainage system.”
Another FTP user KenluckyL added, “We should not think it is a freak accident but is the concern of the bad reconstruction of road works after building of the new mall — ION. LTA should send its team of specialists and exert to re-inspect the road.”

Yet others like Galleon and Peter questioned if climate change was to blame for the freak heavy downpour.

Besides Orchard Road, other parts of Singapore, including Coronation Road West, Fourth Avenue, Kings Road, Kheam Hock Road and Veerasamy Road were also affected, bringing traffic to a crawl.

The National Environment Agency, in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, said almost 100 mm of rain fell within a two-hour period from about 9 am to 11 am. The Public Utilities Board also said the downpour accounted for over 60% of the total monthly rainfall for June.

IT specialist Ow Yong Hong, who was travelling along Orchard Road on SBS No. 65, witnessed first-hand the severe flooding.
He told Yahoo! Singapore: ”I’ve never seen such flooding along Orchard Road before. Some cars completely broke down at the junction between Lido and Orchard Road. Drivers were stuck inside and were helpless. The water level was so high it even seeped into my bus. Commuters who had to alight had to take off their shoes and roll up their trousers before getting off. People at the bus-stops were standing on the benches to avoid the water.”

Social networking and micro-blogging site Twitter was also awash with flood photos and Singaporeans tweeting about the flash floods.

Well-known blogger Mr Brown tweeted: “Someone call the Minister of Freak Incidents! Orchard Road flooding!” before posting a photo of a Lucky Plaza basement shop that was completely submerged.

Jovenaatheart tweeted:” It’s the Singaporean equivalent of a natural disaster.”

Yahoo! Singapore user Deb Siddiqi also commented, “I wouldn’t expect this to happen in Singapore, at the most famous road in town.”

The PUB has advised the public to exercise caution as flash floods may still occur in the event of heavy storms. The cause of the flood along Orchard Road is still being investigated.

iPhone 4.0 To Be Sold In S’pore By Next Month?

iPhone fans in Singapore will be licking their lips at the announcement that the latest 4.0 version may be available here as early as next month.

In separate announcements that came after Apple’s unveiling of its latest generation smartphone, Starhub and M1 both said they will have the handset on sale “within the next few months”.

The iPhone 4 may be available in Singapore as early as next month.

SingTel too is “in the final stages of discussions with Apple” to bring the iPhone 4.0 to Singapore.

Singapore was listed among the 17 countries that would be receiving shipments next month during a presentation by Apple chief Steve Jobs at the Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday.

While the iPhone 4 is being priced at US$199 (S$280) to US$299 in the United States, local prices have yet to be announced.

Apple’s latest iPhone boasts a front-facing video camera, better video-editing functions, a sleeker look and longer battery life among over 100 new features from the current iPhone 3.

The launch of the new iPhone will enable Apple to be able to fend off Google’s Android-powered smartphones like the the Sprint HTC Evo 4G.
Do you plan to get your hands on the latest iPhone and if so, which newest feature impresses you most?

Artist Louise Bourgeois Dies In New York

NEW YORK: French-American contemporary artist Louise Bourgeois, known for her series of giant metal spiders, died Monday in New York at the age of 98, a spokeswoman said.

"I am very sad to confirm that Louise passed away this morning at Beth Israel Hospital after suffering a heart attack on Saturday night," said Wendy Williams, managing director of the Louise Bourgeois Studio.

Among her most famous pieces are a series of giant spiders presented as symbols of the mother, entitled "Maman," with one standing more than 30 feet (nine meters) high outside the National Gallery of Canada.

"The Destruction of the father," a 1974 installation, depicts her traumatic relationship with her father.

Bourgeois, inspired at the beginning of her career by Max Ernst and Constantin Brancusi, has never classed herself into a particular artistic grouping, preferring instead to pursue her own personal brand of art.

"All my inspiration comes from my childhood, from my education, from France at a certain moment in my life," the artist once said.

The news came as an Italian foundation was preparing an exhibition of her work to open in Venice on Friday featuring little-known works in cloth as well as sketches from between 2002 and 2008.

She had been actively involved in the preparations until two days ago, said foundation president Alfredo Bianchini.

The show at the foundation from June 5 to September 19 also features collages and other assembled works dating from the 1960s created from Bourgeois' own clothes to tell "intimate and symbolic" stories.

The artist would "continue to live through her work", Bianchini said, paying homage to her "great energy" and creative capacity.

Some of Bourgeois' works have fetched over a million dollars at auctions in recent years.

Born in Paris on December 25, 1911, Bourgeois moved to the United States in 1938 where she produced the bulk of her emotionally powerful and provocative art which explored the traumas of her childhood and sexuality.

Her parents owned a studio that restored tapestries. She had a troubled relationship with her father, never forgiving him for his infidelity to her mother.

Bourgeois studied art in Paris and in 1938 married American art historian Robert Goldwater and left for New York.

She became a US citizen in 1951 and had three children before being widowed in 1973.

She is survived by her two sons Alain and Jean-Louis. Her third son Michel died in 1990.

Conceptual artist Jenny Holzer said she "orbited Bourgeois" and that "my artist friends and I are crying today."

Apple Sells 2 Million iPads

PARIS: Apple, now the largest US technology company by value, said Monday it had sold two million of its iPad tablet computers, outdoing even the iconic iPhone on its launch.

Apple said it had sold 1.4 million iPads since it went on sale exclusively in the United States on April 3.

On Friday, the iPad -- a flat, 10-inch (25-centimetre) black tablet computer that Apple claims will revolutionise the industry -- went on sale in Australia, Japan, Canada alongside Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

Demand in the United States was so strong that the company pushed back the global roll-out.

Apple head Steve Jobs said in a statement that clients all over the world were now able to experience the iPad and seemed to like it as much as the company itself.

Apple was very grateful for their patience and was now doing everything in its power to make sure there were enough iPads for everyone, Jobs added.

The iPad goes on sale in nine additional countries in July, including Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Last week, Apple dethroned software giant Microsoft as the largest US technology company in terms of market value.

New Study Sheds Light On Acupuncture

PARIS: Acupuncture eases pain in the limbs because it releases a natural molecule called adenosine, neuroscientists in the United States reported on Sunday.

The mechanism was discovered through experiments in lab mice, which were given an injection of an inflammation-inducing chemical in their right paw.

The researchers inserted fine needles below the midline of the mice's knee, at a well-known acupuncture location called the Zusanli point.

They rotated the needle gently every five minutes for 30 minutes, mimicking a standard acupuncture treatment.

During and just after this operation, levels of adenosine in the tissues surrounding the needle surged 24-fold. The mouse's discomfort -- measurable by the rodents' response time to touch and heat -- was reduced by two-thirds, they found.

The same test was carried out on mice that had been genetically engineered to lack adenosine. The acupuncture failed to have any effect, and the mice reacted in discomfort, as before.

The team then experimented with an adenosine booster. They gave mice a leukaemia drug called deoxycoformycin, which makes it harder for tissues to remove adenosine.

As a result, levels of adenosine accumulated in the muscles, nearly tripling the duration of the acupuncture's effectiveness.

"Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained skeptical," said Maiken Nedergaard of the University of Rochester Medical Center in New York, who headed the research.

Previous work has focussed on acupuncture's effectiveness on the central nervous system -- the trunk of nerves in the spinal cord and brain -- rather than the peripheral nervous system.

In the central nervous system, acupuncture creates signals that cause the brain to produce powerful anti-pain chemicals called endorphins.

The paper is published by the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Central America Reels From Tropical Storm Agatha

GUATEMALA CITY: Central America reeled on Tuesday after the first eastern Pacific tropical storm of the season, Agatha, hammered the region with heavy rains that killed 179 people and washed away thousands of homes.

Hardest hit was Guatemala, with 152 people killed, dozens injured and at least 100 people missing following the floods and mudslides that swept away ramshackle homes along hills and destroyed bridges and roads, complicating rescue efforts.

President Alvaro Colom released a photograph of a sinkhole in the capital that swallowed up an entire three-story building.

In countries on the mountainous and mostly poor isthmus linking North and South America, the poorest people often build their humble homes near rivers so they have access to water, only to have their homes endangered in the rainy season by swollen rivers and mudslides.

Tropical Storm Agatha, which dumped heavy rain on the isthmus just ahead of Tuesday's first day of the Atlantic hurricane season, left as many as 22,000 dwellings destroyed in Guatemala and 155,000 people forced from their homes, about half of whom remained in shelters, officials said.

Seventeen people were killed in Honduras and 10 people died in El Salvador as a result of the storm, according to official figures.

With millions of dollars in damages and the impoverished population particularly hard hit, the United States pledged 112,500 dollars and sent a plane carrying relief supplies Tuesday; the European Union pledged 3.6 million dollars in humanitarian aid.

Giant sinkhole creates chilling sight

A US airplane carrying helicopters and supplies was due in Guatemala City from its base in Honduras with four choppers from which emergency aid can be delivered to the Guatemalan Air Force, at Colom's request.

Guatemala City's response was hampered by a separate emergency: the eruption of nearby Pacaya volcano whose ash forced the closure of the capital's Aurora international airport since last week, when two people were also killed and three went missing. That left thousands of travelers stranded.

But Guatemala City's international airport, closed since Thursday, was reopened on Tuesday to commercial and freight flights, said civil aviation spokeswoman Monica Monge.

The World Bank said it was finalizing with Guatemala an 85 million dollar loan to help it cope with the two disasters.

Egypt Unearths Tomb Of Pharaonic Army Chief

CAIRO: Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a vast tomb belonging to a pharaonic army commander who oversaw the ancient kingdom's treasury, the Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Sunday.

The tomb of Betah Mes, who was also a royal scribe and in charge of the state granaries, dates back to the 19th dynasty, which ruled Egypt between 1320 and 1200 BC.

Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told AFP that the 70-metre-long (yard) tomb, discovered in the Saqarra necropolis, south of Cairo, branched off into passages and prayer rooms.

Workers unearthed reliefs depicting offerings to deities and the deceased and his family worshipping a trinity of gods, Amun, his wife Mut and their son Khonsu, said Ola el-Ugaizi, who headed the expedition.

The tomb also contains reliefs of Mes and his family hunting and fishing in the Nile river, and Ushtabi figurines which ancient Egyptians believed would serve the deceased in the afterlife.

But the expedition's spokeswoman Heba Mostapha said the tomb had been looted and its pillars used to build churches.

"Part of the destruction we found in the grave was because its pillars were used to build churches in the Christian period and it was looted in the 19th century in the period of Mohammed Ali Pasha," she said.

The team was continuing its search for the tomb's main chamber, where they believed they would find Mes's mummy and perhaps that of his wife.