December 8, 2014 Edition

Typhoon Ruby, international name Hagupit, weakened Monday morning, as it makes a 3rd landfall over the northern part of Mindoro island. State weather bureau PAGASA said in its 5 am bulletin that Ruby packs maximum sustained winds of 120 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 150 km/h. Still, Ruby poses a serious threat. PAGASA warned the typhoon will unleash its wrath on Metro Manila from 8 to 10 pm Monday. Metro Manila is home to around 11.9 million people, or 13% of the Philippines’ population of 92.3 million. The mega-city has seen the worst floods in the Philippines even without typhoons. Late Monday morning, Ruby has been downgraded to a tropical storm.

Read the full story on Rappler here and here.

Samar bears the brunt of Typhoon Ruby’s first salvo – with flooded streets, fallen trees, and failing calls. Pia Ranada reported on the ground about a landslide that’s blocking a critical route in the town of Jiabong that leads to places like Tacloban, Dolores, Borongan and other provinces. The engineers from the department of public works rushed to clear the debris from choke points to allow relief goods and army trucks to pass.

Watch the full story on Rappler.

Oriental Mindoro forcibly evacuated its residents from danger areas before Ruby made its 3rd and last landfall over Oriental Mindoro Monday morning. Governor Alfonso Umali Jr. said he ordered town mayors, the police, and the military to arrest stubborn residents who refuse to evacuate ahead of the storm. In Catarman, about 1,000 houses were destroyed at the height of the typhoon, but there were no casualties due to the early evacuation of residents.

The full story on Catarman on Rappler.

The full story on Or. Mindoro on Rappler.

Veteran newscaster Korina Sanchez incites the anger of Philippine social media after making a comment about Typhoon Ruby (international name: Hagupit) on air. In the December 3 newscast of ABS-CBN’s TV Patrol, Sanchez said she hoped Ruby would hit Japan instead of the Philippines. Filipinos online called Sanchez out for her “very irresponsible, unreflective, insensitive” comments. Online commenter Raul de Vera Jr said, “No one has the right to wish ill of another…no matter how better or worse their situation is.”

Read the full story on Rappler.

Ever wondered what a typhoon as violent as Hagupit looked like from space? On Saturday, December 6, the International Space Station passed above the Philippines to capture the weather through its live Earth Viewing stream. YouTube user Earthspace101 took this short clip of the live stream. Even from space, the size of the storm is massive. The video’s description says, ”The enormous size of the eyewall & outer rainbands is visible through the partial flyover; just east of the Philippines.” NASA astronaut Terry Virts also took a photo from the International Space Station. Metro Manila is in the foreground.

Read the full story on Rappler.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio believes the United States is confronting “centuries of racism,” after a week of protests that shook major cities across the country. America’s largest city has become the center point of the demonstrations demanding justice for a black man who died at the hands of a white policeman. De Blasio, who is white and married to a black woman with whom he has mixed-race children said he feared for his son’s safety in dealing with the police.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Prince William and wife Kate flew to New York Sunday for a visit that will mix diplomacy and advocacy. William will meet US President Barack Obama in the White House on Monday for talks about illegal wildlife trading, an issue close to the prince’s heart. William, second in line to the throne after his father Prince Charles, is starting to do more of the long-haul work for the British monarchy as Queen Elizabeth II approaches her nineties.

Read the full story on Rappler.

A security researcher calls the recent cyber attack on Sony Pictures “Sony-pocalypse.” CNN reports the hack could prove extremely costly to Sony. Aside from lost ticket sales from leaked movies, the hack has also produced some embarrassing internal communications, including memos that show employees criticizing “boring, unimaginative movies Sony keeps putting out.” Hackers also exposed personal data, not to mention celebrities exposed by the hack. Sony is about to release the movie “The Interview” on Christmas day in the US, starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as two journalists recruited by the CIA to assassinate Kim Jong Un. The movie has infuriated Pyongyang, which earlier warned of “merciless retaliation” against what it called a “wanton act of terror”. North Korea denied involvement in the attack as it praised it as a “righteous deed.”

Read the full story on CNN.

Read more on celebrities affected by Sony hack here.

Read N. Korea’s denial here.

Ilocos Sur capital Vigan has been selected as one of the New 7 Wonders cities. Joining Vigan are Beirut, Lebanon; Doha, Qatar; Durban, South Africa; Havana, Cuba; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; and La Paz, Bolivia. During the voting period, the whole province of Ilocos Sur campaigned via text, web, and postcard voting. Vigan made it to the final 14 in October from a long list of 77 cities.

Read the full story on Rappler.

Rappler’s sports editor Ryan Songalia walked in on a commotion at the Market Market mall in Taguig Saturday evening, December 6. A security guard pointed an M-16 rifle at patrons in an attempt to break up a fight before shifting to a baseball bat. Another guard attempted to take Songalia’s cellphone as he recorded the incident. His report prompted the mall’s management to relieve the two guards from their posts.

Read the full story on Rappler.