Tomorrow's _Manila Standard_ reports that the Philippines Department of Trade and Industry is considering adopting DST this June when the rainy season begins. See <http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics02_april26_2006>. That article also reports that DST was in effect "for a month during the tenure of then President Corazon Aquino to conserve energy. Under the scheme, the official work-time in government and private sector is adjusted an hour or two earlier to fully take advantage of daylight and reduce energy use." We have no record of this, but from the article's wording it's not clear whether official time was moved, or whether state and private employers were simply asked to change work schedules. ----- The Kyodo news service reported today that Islamic scholars and scientists are wrestling with the problem of what time zone to use in outer space. Malaysia is preparing for its first astronaut next year (part of a scientific mission on the International Space Station), and 3 of 4 candidates are Muslims. Muslims must pray five times daily. But as Zainal Abidin Abdul Rashid of Malaysia National University pointed out at the seminar, the space station circles the Earth 16 times in 24 hours, with a sunrise and sunset occurring about every 90 minutes. "Does this mean we have to perform 80 prayers a day," he said in his seminar paper. He proposed that Earth time, especially the time zone in Mecca, be used as the reference point to determine the prayer schedule. <http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/-malaysia-mulls-prayer-guidelines-muslim-astro...> It looks like their computers will use TZ='Asia/Riyadh' while in space, unless they get tricky and want to use the more-traditional solar time.