January 9, 2014 Edition

Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Tagle challenged devotees of the Black Nazarene on Thursday, January 9, to remember victims of disasters like Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda). This is part of living their faith in the Black Nazarene, he said, pointing out that those who remember God remember their neighbor. During his homily addressed to devotees who gathered at the Quirino Grandstand for the fiesta Mass, Tagle also urged devotees to denounce wrongdoing and corruption in government. “We’ve not been ashamed of stealing! That’s what we should be shameful of,” he said in Filipino. Every year, devotees of the 400-year-old image of the suffering Christ pray before him, hoping for miracles.

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On Thursday, January 9, the feast of the Black Nazarene, a group of devout followers breached security barriers, rushed to the stage, and took the reportedly miraculous image before the Mass ended. It happened minutes before Communion, the part of the Mass in which Catholics receive round wafers believed to be the real body of Christ – himself the Black Nazarene. This forced Tagle to retreat to a room for priests and their guests, and there, finish the Mass, which Catholics consider the highest form of worship. The parish priest of Quiapo Church told Rappler it was the first time devotees did this.

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While part of North America is suffering through a record freeze, northern Europe is enjoying unusually balmy temperatures that are disturbing wildlife, traffic and the winter sports season. The month of December was one of the mildest in a century in the Nordic countries, according to meteorologists, with temperatures exceeding their normal seasonal average by 4ºC to 5ºC (24ºF to 30ºF) in Norway and Finland. Oslo experienced its warmest Christmas since records began in 1937, while in Helsinki and southern Finland the second half of December was the mildest in 30 years. In Koege outside Copenhagen the mercury reached 11.6ºC (52.9ºF) on Christmas Eve. The mild weather is caused by the same low-pressure area that has plunged large parts of the US and Canada into an unprecedented freeze.

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Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda said that temporary shelters built for survivors of Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) “don’t necessarily have to follow the international standards.” Government standards of safety and livable space were sufficient because the bunkhouses were temporary anyway and are better than tents or tarpaulins, he added. This was in reaction to criticism that government standards were not in accordance with the international standards spelled out in the Sphere Handbook, which sets as acceptable only in the short-term, 3.5 square meters per person. Following this, the 8.64-square-meter unit that government had originally set falls short of the more ideal 16.45-square meters for a typical family of 5. Government has adjusted living spaces to 17.28 square meters. Haiyan left an estimated 4.4 million people homeless.

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Without refrigerator vans needed for disaster victim identification (DVI) operations in areas badly hit by Super Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda), the next best option for unprocessed bodies in an advanced state of decomposition is a temporary burial. Dr Wildredo Tierra, officer-in-charge of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Medico-Legal Division, said the decomposing bodies will be buried in shallow graves and exhumed later on for processing. An average of only 40 bodies, compared to the normal 150 a day, are processed by a team that consists of forensic doctors, photographers and chemists from the NBI forensic chemistry division. Less than ideal conditions in the work site are hampering DVI operations.

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Ruling by a majority of 8 to 2, an inquest jury decided that police lawfully shot suspected gang member Mark Duggan in 2011. His killing sparked nationwide riots back then. Police stopped the cab where the 29-year-old father of 6 was travelling in last August 2011. Unarmed when he was shot by a police marksman in the arm and chest, the jury however also concluded that he had a gun with him in the taxi and threw it over a nearby fence seconds before he was shot. Duggan’s family vowed they will fight for justice.

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More details are available on the BBC.

The White House fought back against former Pentagon chief Robert Gates’ blunt criticism of President Barack Obama’s war leadership and damning of Vice President Joe Biden. Gates, who served 6 presidents in senior national security jobs, sent political shockwaves through Washington with his unsparing assessments of the administration in his new book. Among other accusations, the Republican accused Biden of being wrong about every big foreign policy issue for decades and alleged Obama lost faith in his own troop surge strategy for the Afghan war. The Gates bombshell was remarkable because of the pedigree of the former defense secretary and CIA chief, his long experience as a confidant of presidents, and his reputation of unruffled integrity.

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The US$100-billion International Space Station will be extended by 4 years, or until at least 2024, allowing for more global research and scientific collaboration, NASA said Wednesday, January 8. The orbiting outpost, the largest space lab ever built, was launched to fanfare in 1998 and had been expected to remain in operation until 2020. Partnering agencies are NASA, the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).

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Floyd Mayweather Jr took aim at Manny Pacquiao’s tax woes and back-to-back losses in 2012 in an interview with Ben Thompson of FightHype.com. Mayweather asserts that Pacquiao is begging for a fight with him so that he can rise out of debt with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in the US and Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) in the Philippines. “He’s got 68 million problems and he wants me to solve them,” said Mayweather, referring to the reported $50 million Pacquiao owes in the Philippines and $18 million owed in the US. Coincidentally, it was the IRS that compelled Mayweather to break a 21-month retirement in 2009. Two months before his September 2009 bout with Juan Manuel Marquez, the AP reported that Mayweather owed the IRS $6.4 million in taxes.

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Former US professional basketball star Dennis Rodman sang “Happy birthday” to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un in a jampacked stadium in Pyongyang Wednesday, January 8. Wearing a basketball jersey and dark sunglasses, he gestured to the crowd that came to watch an exhibition game participated in by North Korean players and retired NBA teammates. It was Rodman’s 4th trip to North Korea in 12 months. Kim, who is believed to have turned 31 this week, watched the exhibition match with his wife Ri Sol-Ju, and other officials. Rodman has been criticized for failing to raise human rights issues or the case of jailed American Kenneth Bae during his visits. The US government has kept a distance from Rodman’s approach.

Read the full story on Rappler.