According to a statement from the TV network, Cielo’s mother, Mildred, went into her son’s room in their house in Antipolo City to wake him up at around 10 a.m.

When Cielo (Mark Angelo Cadaweng Cielo in real life) did not respond, Mildred rushed him to the nearby Antipolo Doctor’s Hospital where the actor was declared dead on arrival, the statement added.

While it appeared that Cielo died in his sleep, as of this posting, the cause of Cielo’s death was unknown as his family was still waiting for his medical records to be released.

“The family is experiencing tremendous pain because of Marky’s death and is requesting for your prayers. It is also their wish that this matter remain private for now,” the GMA statement said.

In what's called a planetary conjunction, the two planets —the brightest in the night sky — will appear extremely close, separated by only the width of a finger held at arm's length. They won't be this close together and well-placed for evening viewing again until May 2013.

In fact, some astronomers think a similar alignment of the planets on June 17 in the year 2 BC is behind biblical accounts of the Star of Bethlehem present during Christ's birth. The bright planets would have appeared so close together they could have been taken as a single shining star.

Though the three celestial objects will appear to be close together Monday night, they lie at drastically different distances from Earth. While the moon is only 252,000 miles away, Venus is 370 times farther away, at 94 million miles. And distant Jupiter lies nearly six times farther away than Venus, at around 540 million miles.

The tables are turned when we think about the heavenly objects' relative size. While the moon appears as the largest of the three, it is really a tiny speck in space compared to the vast bulk of Venus, which is again dwarfed by Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. Jupiter's diameter is 40 times that of the moon.

Though Jupiter is much larger than Venus, it appears dimmer to us, because the latter planet is so much closer to Earth. Plus, Jupiter is much farther away from the sun than Venus, so the light bouncing off it is much less intense than the light bouncing off Venus, which hasn't had to travel so far.

Thai protesters opened fire on government supporters today as the six-month campaign to unseat the elected administration intensified.

The fighting began when government supporters began throwing rocks at a truck carrying members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (Pad) on its return from Bangkok's old airport where the group had been holding a rally.

Television footage from the public broadcaster TPBS showed Pad protesters responding with handguns and slingshots.

The anti-government protesters had already formed a blockade on the road leading to Don Muang airport, north of the city, where ministers have been running the country since Pad members invaded Government House in August.

The protesters on the truck appeared to be among the so-called alliance guards, who have earned a reputation for aggressive behaviour.

They hoisted a portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand's revered monarch, whose interests they claim to be working for.

The Narenthorn medical centre said four people were admitted after the clash.

Other television footage showed anti-government supporters surrounding a motorcycle taxi driver and putting a knife to his throat. After the driver fled, the protesters hit several motorbikes with steel rods and set fire to another one.

Government supporters, distinguished by their red shirts from the anti-government demonstrators' yellow, were seen fleeing from Pad members.

During the brief skirmish, neither police nor other security forces intervened.

The second day of protests saw demonstrators blocking all but one lane on the expressway to Thailand's main international airport, Suvarnabhumi, used by 13 million tourists every year.

The prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, has rejected Pad demands to stand down.

Activists accuse him of being a puppet of his brother-in-law and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was accused of corruption and abuse of power and deposed in a military coup in September 2006. Thaksin is due to return from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru tomorrow.

"It is time to make a clear-cut choice between good and evil, between those who are loyal and traitors," Pad leader Somsak Kosaisuk told 10,000 yellow-shirted supporters waving hand clappers and shouting anti-government slogans.

Members of Pad, which consists of royalist businessmen and academics, see this week's action as the final battle in their attempt to overthrow the elected government.

But analysts believe the latest protests are unlikely to deliver a knock-out blow to the People Power Party (PPP) government. Opinion polls show waning public support for Pad.

Experts think many of the group's powerful backers in Bangkok are getting cold feet about the damage the long-running political crisis is having on the economy. The export-driven country is already struggling to cope with the global financial crisis.

Despite his ties to Thaksin, Somchai's bland, inoffensive personality has proved a hard target for Pad.

Police are eager to avoid a repeat of October 7 when two protesters were killed and hundreds injured in street battles, the worst violence in Bangkok since the army opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1992.

Bloodshed could trigger another coup only two years after the army removed Thaksin. However, it is unlikely another putsch could heal the fundamental political rift.

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