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- Grace Poe files petitions to Supreme Court to save presidential bid
Senator Grace Poe filed petitions before the Supreme Court (SC) on Monday, December 28, to stop the Commission on Elections (Comelec) from cancelling her certificate of candidacy (COC) for the 2016 presidential elections. In two petitions for certiorari, Poe is requesting two temporary restraining orders (TROs) from the SC to stop the Comelec from implementing its ruling. This comes 5 days after the Comelec decided on December 23 to bar her presidential bid.
Read the full story on Rappler.
- Negrenses urged to wear masks, stay home following Mount Kanlaon ash eruption
The public was urged to wear masks and stay at home following an ash eruption at Mount Kanlaon in the neighboring province of Negros Oriental on Sunday, December 27. Zeaphard Caelian, chief of the Negros Occidental Provincial Disaster Management Program Division, said the ash fall from the volcano affected some localities in Negros Occidental, causing some residents to panic. According to an advisory issued by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), the ash eruption from the active crater of Mount Kanlaon occurred at 1:29 pm and lasted for 5 minutes.
Read the full story on Rappler.
- China adopts counter-terrorism law
China adopted its first counter-terrorism law Sunday, December 27, after early drafts of the bill attracted strong criticism for provisions that may tighten media controls and threaten the intellectual property of foreign firms. The legislation comes as Beijing wages a hard-hitting campaign to stamp out ethnic violence in its Xinjiang region and tries to tighten control over political dissent online and on the ground. Details of the bill, which was approved by the standing committee of the rubber-stamp legislature the National People’s Congress, were not immediately available.
Read the full story on Rappler.
- Philippine youth camp out on disputed island
Almost 50 young Filipinos are camping on a remote Philippine-held island in the South China Sea (West Philippine Sea) in a symbolic stand against China’s claim to most of the waterway, officials said Sunday, December 27. The government had opposed the landing, initiated by a former navy officer. But President Benigno Aquino III’s communications secretary, Herminio Coloma Jr, said Sunday it understood the group’s intentions.
Read the full story on Rappler.
- Palace urges Filipinos to use noisemakers instead of firecrackers
With 5 days to go before the New Year kicks in, Malacañang asked Filipinos to use noisemakers instead of firecrackers in their celebrations. In line with the health department’s anti-firecrackers campaign, Palace Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr encouraged street parties and the use of the following noisemakers: torotot (horn), musika (music), and kaldero (pots).
Read the full story on Rappler. - Over 160,000 evacuated due to Latin America floods
More than 160,000 people have been driven from their homes in Paraguay, Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay in some of the worst floods in decades, which have left at least 6 people dead, authorities said Saturday, December 26. The intense rain storms, caused by an unusually strong “El Nino” pattern, have forced 130,000 Paraguayans from their homes, authorities said.
Read the full story on Rappler.
- China ends one-child policy
As it attempts to cope with an ageing population and shrinking workforce, China officially ended its one child policy on Sunday, December 27, with the signing into law of a bill allowing all married couples to have a second child. The change, which was announced in October by the ruling Communist Party, takes effect from January 1, the Xinhua news agency reported.
Read the full story on Rappler.
- Iran president: Muslim states should fix Islam’s public image
Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday, December 27, said that Muslim countries should strive to improve the world’s opinion of Islam. “We must remove Islam’s negative image from today’s cyber and real space,” he said in Tehran at an international conference on “The Islamic World’s Current Crisis.” Most “violence, terror and massacres, unfortunately, take place in the Islamic world,” he said. “I invite all Islamic countries in this region and beyond – even those who until today have bombed and launched missiles on their neighbors – for all of us to stop this and choose the right path,” he said.
Read the full story on Rappler. - Iran official calls for opposition to ‘discriminatory’ US visa rules
A top Iranian parliamentary official has written to his counterparts in Europe, China and Russia calling on them to oppose “discriminatory” new US visa regulations. A bill passed by Congress this month bars citizens from 38 mainly European countries from traveling to the United States without a visa if they have previously visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan since 2011. It also requires a visa for citizens of those countries if they are dual nationals of any of the 4 target nations. Tehran says the new regulations fly in the face of its landmark nuclear deal struck with major powers, including the United States, in July.
Read the full story on Rappler. - 2015’s Metro Manila Film Festival rake in money, court controversy
As the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) movies earn more than P271 million, controversy brewed at the Festival’s awards following the disqualification of Honor Thy Father from best picture honors. Erik Matti, director of Honor Thy Father did not attend the awards night, issuing a statement read by a representative during the awarding ceremonies after winning Best Director.
Read about the earnings of the MMFF on Rappler.
Read about the disqualification of Honor Thy Father on Rappler.
Read the clarification regarding the MMFF 2015 disqualification on Rappler.
Learn more about Erik Matti’s statement on Rappler.
Read the full list of winners of the Metro Manila Film Festival here.
See photos of the MMFF 2015 here.
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