Authorities on Monday confirmed they have found the bodies of 36 remaining workers trapped inside the burned NCCC Mall here.

Mayor Sara Duterte said the bodies of the victims have been recovered and were being processed by police forensics for proper identification.

Senior Supt. Wilberto Rico Neil Kwan Tiu, director of the Bureau of Fire Protection in Southern Mindanao, provided additional details during a Mass held near the ill-fated mall on Monday.

Most of the relatives sobbed and wept as Kwan Tiu relayed the sad news. He said they did what they could to save the trapped  workers of the American firm, Research Now SSI.

“We drilled holes on the walls, used ladders to reach the upper floors but the toxic, thick smoke and extreme heat of up to 700 degrees Celsius turned the responders back and prevented us from immediately reaching the inner portions of the building,” Kwan Tiu said.

He said the firefighters’ protective equipment could not withstand the searing heat. They had to conduct fire suppression first before they could get inside further.

The regional fire chief said at least 33 firetrucks from various fire stations and volunteer fire brigades throughout Davao region responded to the general alarm, and the closest firefighters arrived on the scene in minutes.

Addressing tens of thousands of worshippers gathered at the Vatican to hear the pontiff’s fifth “Urbi et Orbi” (To the City and The World) message, Francis called for “peace for Jerusalem and for all the Holy Land.

“We see Jesus in the children of the Middle East who continue to suffer because of growing tensions between Israelis and Palestinians,” he said.

“Let us pray that the will to resume dialogue may prevail between the parties and that a negotiated solution can finally be reached, one that would allow the peaceful coexistence of two states within mutually agreed and internationally recognised borders.”

The pontiff’s plea came as fresh tensions simmered in the West Bank following President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Following Trump’s lead, Guatemala’s President Jimmy Morales said Sunday his country would move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Trump’s announcement on December 6 unleashed demonstrators and clashes, including in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank where Christians marked the birth of Jesus at a midnight mass.

“May the Lord also sustain the efforts of all those in the international community inspired by good will to help that afflicted land to find, despite grave obstacles the harmony, justice and security that it has long awaited,” the pope said.

The pontiff also mentioned other global flashpoints such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen, South Sudan and Venezuela, after stressing that the “winds of war are blowing in our world”.

“Let us pray that confrontation may be overcome on the Korean peninsula and that mutual trust may increase in the interest of the world as a whole,” the 81-year-old said.

– Fewer tourists in Bethlehem –

Earlier, celebrating midnight mass in the ancient town, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, used his homily to lambast the wars that “the Herods of today fight every day to become greater, to occupy more space”.

Criticising Trump’s announcement, Pizzaballa insisted “Jerusalem is a city of peace, there is not peace if someone is excluded. Jerusalem should include, not exclude,” stressing the principle that Jerusalem is a city for both peoples and the three Abrahamic faiths.

Hundreds had gathered in the cold on Bethlehem’s Manger Square to watch the annual scout parade towards the Church of the Nativity, built over the spot where tradition says Mary gave birth to Jesus.

But the square was noticeably quieter following the violence between Palestinian protesters and the Israeli army in the past weeks.

Twelve Palestinians have been killed since Trump’s declaration, including a 19-year-old who died of his wounds on Sunday nine days after he was shot during a Gaza protest.

Israel seized east Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and later annexed it, in moves never recognised by the international community.

Palestinians view east Jerusalem as the capital of their future state, and interpreted Trump’s statement as rejecting their right to a capital in east Jerusalem, although the Americans deny this.

– First Xmas in Homs in years –

Christmas decorations have meanwhile become more visible in Christian areas of Syria’s capital Damascus this year.

In the central Syrian city of Homs, Christians will celebrate Christmas with great fanfare for the first time in years after the end of battles between regime and rebel forces — with processions, shows for children and even decorations among the ruins.

In Iraq too, this year marks a positive turning point for the Christian community in the northern city of Mosul.

Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II was meanwhile due to pay tribute to the cities of London and Manchester which suffered terror attacks this year.

“This Christmas, I think of London and Manchester, whose powerful identities shone through over the past 12 months in the face of appalling attacks,” the 91-year-old monarch was to say in the pre-recorded televised message.

London suffered two deadly terror attacks, while 22 people — including children — were killed during an attack at Manchester Arena following a performance by US singer Ariana Grande.

Meanwhile a tragic Christmas weekend in the Philippines was compounded Monday by the deaths of 20 people killed in a bus collision while travelling to mass.

Dozens of people were feared killed in a fire Saturday in the southern city of Davao. Thousands were displaced by floods and landslides from a storm that also killed more than 200 others on Friday.//AFP

The man was injured in the failed attempt and taken to hospital. He had gas cartridges in the car and jerrycans containing petrol.

He had also laid out a bag with inflammable material in front of another building — the headquarters of the CDU party of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The police were alerted by the building’s caretaker, who found the bag. Berlin police are investigating the incident.//AFP

The man, who was arrested in Karachi, Pakistan, for allegedly attempting to smuggle firearms out, appeared to be a regular student with no signs of being radicalised. His father is said to be a former businessman who lived in a rather large house.

However, the business failed and his parents were then divorced. The mother was forced to work as a ge­­neral worker in a school canteen.

When that failed, it became a kitchen for a chicken rice seller.

A neighbour in Kuching, who wanted to remain anonymous, said Muhd Alfie has also never been abroad, and the farthest he has tra­velled was to Kuala Lumpur.

“I was shocked to learn about his arrest. He seemed like a good kid, always greeting us,” he told The Star yesterday.

He said Muhd Alfie also did not appear to be involved in any religious group as he was often attending classes at a private college here, where he was reading law.

According to one of Muhd Alfie’s uncles, who only wanted to be identified as Nizam, the young man quit his law studies because of financial problems.

Nizam said he was shocked to learn of the arrest.

He described Muhd Alfie as a quiet person who did not get into any trouble.

“He must have been used by someone else. Look at the pictures of his arrest. He looks calm and not guilty,” he said.

Nizam said the youth’s father and mother were both too stunned for words after they heard of their son’s arrest.

“The mother has just gone blank. She simply does not know what to say,” he said.

Suspected to be an Islamic State member, Muhd Alfie was arrested at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi while attempting to board Thai Airways Flight TG342 to Bangkok recently.

It was reported that Pakistan authorities seized four pistols, eight ammunition magazines and 70 bullets hidden in his bag and shoes.

It is believed that Muhd Alfie is now being questioned by intelligence agencies over his alleged links to Islamic State and as to why he concealed pistols and ammunition in his luggage and shoes.

Clad in a robe and skullcap du­ring the arrest, Muhd Alfie reportedly went to Pakistan on a 14-day social visitor’s pass.

According to the neighbour, he must have gone after attending a wedding reception in the housing area on Dec 10, the date he was last seen.

“I don’t think anything was amiss. He showed up in a white baju me­layu. I’ve never seen him wear a robe before,” he said.

He said that although Muhd Alfie was friendly, he appeared to be reserved.

“His parents are divorced and he was living with the father here with a younger brother. The mother lives not far away with another younger brother while his elder sister lives in Kuala Lumpur,” he said.

He also said Muhd Alfie’s father has not been seen since the police visited the house on Saturday evening.

A Malaysian intelligence source said there was a possibility that Muhd Alfie entered Pakistan with the intention to get arms and smuggle them into Malaysia with specific intentions, including terrorism.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre announced the inquiry as the government raised the toll from Saturday’s NCCC mall fire in the southern city of Davao to one dead and 38 missing.

The fire compounded the Christmas misery in the south of the mainly Catholic nation where tens of thousands were also displaced by floods and landslides from a storm that also killed more than 200 others on Friday.

“By punishing those responsible, we can set an example to others so that, hopefully, there will be no repetition of those tragedies,” Aguirre said in a statement.

Deadly blazes occur regularly in the Philippines, particularly in slum areas where there are virtually no fire safety standards.

US-based market research company SSI confirmed on its website late Sunday that 37 of its 500 employees were “lost” from its Davao unit, which leased the four-storey building’s top floor.

– ‘Terrible tragedy’ –

“This terrible tragedy has left us with heavy hearts. We offer our condolences and prayers to the families and loved ones of the victims,” chief executive Gary Laben said in the statement.

The company said it has arranged for counselling for its employees, and will support funeral arrangements and set up a fund to assist the bereaved.

Local authorities on Sunday said no-one trapped in the fire would have survived and firemen have only managed to retrieve one unidentified body so far.

Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, a daughter of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, raised the toll from the tragedy on Monday, saying 38 other people apart from the recovered body found were missing — two more than previously listed.

The city’s fire marshal had described the shopping mall as “an enclosed space with no ventilation”, though the authorities said they had yet to determine the cause of the blaze.

The building’s administrators on Sunday denied allegations from survivors that there were inadequate emergency fire exits and that some of them were locked.

“There is no truth to that allegation. In fact as per accounts of those who got out, they were able get out thru the fire exit,” Thea Padua, the mall’s public relations officer, told AFP by text message.

– Slow recovery –

Some relatives of those missing criticised rescuers for what they felt was the slow pace of recovery efforts.

“They seem so relaxed,” said Jolita Basalan, weeping as she waited for news of her missing 29-year-old son Jonas who worked at the call centre.

“They are not pained because they don’t have a child there. They told us to come here but no one is moving,” she told AFP.

Corruption and exploitation mean supposedly strict fire standards are often not enforced in the Philippines.

In 2015, a fire tore through a footwear factory in Manila, killing 72. Survivors of that blaze blamed barred windows and other sweatshop conditions for trapping people inside the factory.

In the deadliest fire in the Philippines in recent times, 162 people were killed in a huge blaze that gutted a Manila disco in 1996.

With low wages but strong English language skills, the Asian nation is a popular destination for international companies to set up customer call centres in its big cities including Davao, 900-plus kilometres (more than 500 miles) south of Manila.//AFP

Four pistols, eight magazines and some bullets were found from the suspect’s possession. —Photo courtesy ASF

The 20-year-old Khairul Mohammad had arrived in Karachi a week ago, following which he travelled to Peshawar where he reportedly bought four pistols, eight magazines and bullets before having them concealed in a microwave oven and his shoes to avoid detection at the airport.

However, his stash was detected when his luggage was passed through scanners while he tried boarding a Thai Airways flight.

According to ASF sources, the suspect was handed over to intelligence agencies as they suspect he may have been abetted by facilitators in both Karachi and Peshawar.

Officials did not specify which organisation the suspect belonged to.

The announcement came after Fujimori’s son Kenji split the opposition vote in parliament, allowing Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski to avoid impeachment and sparking speculation about a pardon as political payback.

“The president of the republic… has decided to grant a humanitarian pardon to Mr Alberto Fujimori and seven other people in similar condition,” the presidency said in a statement that did not name the other pardon recipients.

A medical team “determined that Mr Fujimori suffers from a progressive, degenerative and incurable illness and that prison conditions represent a grave risk to his life,” the statement said.

Kenji Fujimori hailed the decision.

“On behalf of the Fujimori family, I would like to thank President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski for the noble and magnanimous gesture of giving my father Alberto the humanitarian pardon,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

Alberto Fujimori was transferred from his cell to a clinic Saturday suffering from low blood pressure and an irregular heartbeat. The 79-year-old had a “sudden drop of pressure with marked arrhythmia,” doctors said.

“He is making adequate progress in the intensive care unit,” said his physician Alejandro Aguinaga. “He will remain hospitalized for as long as necessary, until he has stabilized.”

Fujimori, in office from 1990 to 2000 and imprisoned since 2005, was admitted amid rumors that he could be pardoned this Christmas.

– Quid pro quo? –

He has been hospitalized on several previous occasions, the last time in September, and has had heart, back and stomach trouble as well as several operations to remove cancerous growths from his tongue.

Despite his conviction for human rights abuses, Fujimori retains a level of popularity in Peru for having defeated guerillas and for stabilizing the economy after a period of crisis.

Under him and his hardline security chief Vladimiro Montesinos, state forces virtually wiped out the leftist Shining Path and Tupac Amaru rebels.

Fujimori also clamped down hard on his political rivals. In 1992, he staged an internal coup, dissolving the legislature with the knowledge of only Montesinos and military chiefs.

Speculation about a pardon arose after Kenji Fujimori broke ranks on Thursday with the ex-president’s daughter Keiko, who leads the Peruvian opposition and was pushing to impeach Kuczynski.

Kenji, whose more moderate line has set him at odds with his sister recently, was followed by other deputies from the party whose votes were crucial to securing the impeachment.

That allowed Kuczynski — who was accused of lying to cover up $5 million in payments received from disgraced Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht — to survive the vote.

“Kenji is a sort of Santa Claus who appeared with his Christmas sleigh bringing 10 congressional votes,” said political analyst Luis Benavente.

Keiko lost to Kuczynski in last year’s presidential election and is herself facing questioning linked to the sprawling Odebrecht graft investigation.//AFP

Last week, the government-run Employment Service Centre, in collaboration with the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LNCCI), co-hosted a workshop to introduce the newly established website, http://www.lmi.molsw.gov.la, to business operators.

The website, to be officially launched in 2018, will provide better access to information that will meet the demands of the public and employers in public and private business units.

It will provide a free service for job seekers who can apply for jobs online via the website.

Deputy Director of the Employment Service Centre, Mr Bounkham Sihalath, told Vientiane Times on Friday that the centre is a bridge between employers and employees.

“On behalf of the government, we are responsible for the management and service of job conscription as well as for providing information about opportunities domestically and internationally,” he said.

He said the website would be a tool for applying for jobs online and provide information related to demand and supply in the labour markets of Laos.

“Currently, we are working on website assessment to find out how many individuals are interested in accessing the labour market via the website. But personally, I’m confident that it will help both employers and job seekers to access the required information online in a much easier way,” Mr Bounkham said.

Deputy Secretary General of the LNCCI, Ms Daovading Phiraxayphithak, said this is part of the government’s efforts to promote access to information. Business operators had raised questions at the recent Lao Business Forum about the difficulty in accessing accurate data on labour markets.

“This workshop on the dissemination of labour market information through the website is a timely response to the demands of employers. Of course, discussions and friendly conversations are fully encouraged in this platform to ensure a clear understanding by the business sector prior to the Lao Business Forum in 2018,” she added.

Businesses face limitations in accessing both finance and information about the job market.

The Employment Service Centre works as a secretariat division of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to facilitate and legalise domestic workers in foreign countries and to manage foreign workers in Laos.

President Rodrigo Duterte, himself a Davao native, visited distraught relatives outside the burning building overnight but told them there was “zero” chance their loved ones had survived, witnesses told AFP.

Firemen found one body as the blaze was finally extinguished Sunday, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte — the president’s daughter — told reporters.

Firemen have concluded that all those trapped in the building are dead, she said, adding: “They assessed that no one would survive in that heat and with that thick, black smoke.”

The deadly fire adds fresh misery for the mainly Catholic Philippines at Christmas as the death toll from a tropical storm that hit the south of the country Friday crossed 200 and with tens of thousands displaced by severe flooding and landslides.

The blaze started at the four-storey NCCC Mall Saturday morning, sending thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky over Davao.

With low wages but strong English language skills, the Philippines is a popular destination for international companies to set up customer call centres.

The building’s top floor housed a 24-hour call centre for the US-based market research company SSI.

Jimmy Quimsing, a retired seaman, was one of the relatives desperately waiting for news.

His 25-year-old son Jim Benedict worked at the call centre and had not been in contact since the fire broke out.

Quimsing said he spoke to President Duterte and had been told to prepare for the worst.

“He told us … no one would survive under these circumstances,” he told AFP.

Duterte’s special assistant Christopher Go confirmed the bulk of the president’s comments to AFP.

Paolo Duterte, the president’s son and the vice mayor of Davao, also wrote on Facebook that fire officials had told him there was “zero” chance of anyone trapped surviving the blaze.

– ‘No ventilation’ –

In a statement on its local Facebook page, SSI said it would set up a “command centre” for the relatives of those missing.

“Please continue to pray for everyone’s safety,” the firm added.

Davao fire marshal Honeyfritz Alagano said the blaze may have started by a spark on the third floor of the mall, which had a furniture section.

“One of our firemen here has a kid who is (a call centre) agent in there. He told us some of them went to collect their stuff at their lockers and were trapped,” Alagano told AFP.

“The mall is an enclosed space with no ventilation. When our firemen tried to enter they were pushed back by smoke and fire.”

Mayor Duterte said she told the fire-fighters to retrieve all the dead, stressing: “you do not stop until you find 37.”

She also said the circumstances surrounding the fire would be investigated but added that it was too early to say who was at fault.

Deadly blazes occur regularly in the Philippines, particularly in slum areas where there are virtually no fire safety standards.

“It’s possible that while they were working, they did not immediately notice the fire spreading,” Davao police officer Ralph Canoy told AFP, referring to the call centre workers.

Davao, with a population of about 1.5 million people, is the biggest city in the southern Philippines. It is about 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) south of Manila, the nation’s capital.

President Duterte served as mayor of the city for more than two decades and continues to visit on weekends.

His daughter succeeded him when he ran for president, with one of his sons winning the vice mayoralty post.

Most of those killed by the recent tropical storm were also in the southern region of Mindanao.

There have also been horrific fires in bigger buildings and factories, where corruption and exploitation mean supposedly strict standards are often not enforced.

In 2015, a fire tore through a footwear factory in Manila, killing 72. Survivors of that blaze blamed barred windows and other sweatshop conditions for trapping people inside the factory.

In the deadliest fire in the Philippines in recent times, 162 people were killed in a huge blaze that gutted a Manila disco in 1996.//AFP