Daily News Highlights – February 14, 2016 Edition

Darker ovals on ballots, voting receipts, and faster voting processes were just some of the suggestions to the Commission on Election (Comelec) after the mock elections were conducted Saturday, February 13. 

Observers anticipate more suggestions by Monday, February 15, as the Comelec evaluates the mock elections. The mock elections came after the Comelec fixed glitches in the voting system, among these the rejection of 1%-2% of ballot papers in a recent test.

Read more on Rappler.

Justice Antonin Scalia, a towering conservative voice on the US Supreme Court, has died at the age of 79, setting up a showdown over his succession in the run-up to the US election.

His death after 3 decades on the Supreme Court bench, coming 11 months before a new American president takes office, could potentially tip the balance of the highest court in the land from its current 5-4 conservative majority to a liberal one.

Agence France-Presse reports.

Lauro Vizconde, the anti-crime crusader who came to the fore after the brutal murder of his family in 1991, died Saturday, February 13. He was 77. The Vizconde family said in a statement that Vizconde’s heart attack was triggered by diabetic and pulmonary complications.

He founded the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption (VACC) after his wife and daughters were brutally murdered in their Parañaque home in 1991, a tragedy known as the “Vizconde massacre.”

Rappler has the details.

Pope Francis and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill called in a historic meeting Friday, February 12. Their meeting was driven by rising violence in recent years in the Middle East, where Christian communities have suffered violence at the hands of extremists.

It was the first meeting between the heads of the Eastern and Western churches since the great schism of 1054 when the churches split apart, with the Eastern church rejecting the authority of Rome.

Read Agence France-Presse’s dispatch from Havana.

The remains of 13 Filipinos who died in a hotel fire in Erbil in the Kurdistan region of Iraq arrived home on Saturday, February 13. The overseas Filipino workers were employees of the 4-star Capitol Hotel, which caught fire on February 5 due to an electrical problem, based on an initial investigation.

The flight carrying their remains landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Manila at around 6 pm, reported radio dzBB.

Read more on Rappler.

Ground controllers said Friday, February 12, they would stop sending commands to comet probe Philae, announcing it was “time to say goodbye” to the robot lab resting after a captivating science mission.

“There is indeed little hope to still get a signal from the lander,” said Philae project manager Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Center DLR.

Read more on Rappler.

With Asia posting some of the highest numbers of deaths due to road accidents, a new safety campaign aims to help arrest the alarming figures of what experts say is a preventable global health issue.

Starting Saturday, February 13, educational videos and public service announcements started airing in 24 countries across Asia – reaching an estimated 80 million households – with the launch of the Safe Steps road safety campaign.

Read more about the campaign on Rappler.

There are many ways to heal from heartbreak, from crying your heart out to eating to your heart’s content. But one of the best ways to do it? Travel, says writer Rhea Claire Madarang. “The act of traveling in itself, especially to a new place, can be an effective balm to a broken heart,” she writes.

Here are some trips you can do to help your heart recover.

In the next 10 days, around 1,100 athletes from 71 countries will compete for medals in 7 sports events and 15 disciplines at the second edition of the Winter Youth Olympics, which officially kicked off on Friday, February 12.

 The Philippines has no representative in the games. Two Southeast Asian countries – Malaysia and East Timor – are making their debut in the winter youth event.

Watch this vlog on Rappler.

It’s Valentine’s Day, and Rappler prepared something to warm your hearts. 

We talked to couples and asked them what made their marriage and relationships tick. What did they love about each other? We gathered their answers and put them together in a heartwarming video, which you can watch here.