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Hello, Rappler readers!
It’s two days before Christmas! Preparations are in full swing in Bethlehem, the site of Jesus’ birthplace, with shops, hotels and church officials expecting more visitors than in 2015. But back home, many Filipinos will have a wet Christmas, as Severe Tropical Storm Nock-ten (Nina) entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Friday morning. In Australia, police foiled what it described as an ISIS-inspired Christmas Day terror plot.
President Rodrigo Duterte, too, had another full day Thursday – signing the national budget, threatening central bank officials in one speech and, in another, asking for charter changes to make declaring martial law easier.
Here are the rest of the top stories for you today.
An Islamic State-inspired Christmas Day terror plot targeting central Melbourne has been foiled after a series of arrests in raids across the city, Australian police said Friday. Those detained planned to use explosives, knives and guns to attack busy locations including Melbourne’s Flinders Street train station, Federation Square and St Paul’s Cathedral.
President Duterte on December 22 signed into law Republic Act 10924 or the 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA) amounting to P3.35 trillion, the biggest for any Philippine administration thus far. It is 11.6% higher than the 2016 budget of the previous Aquino government and represents 21% of the projected gross domestic product for 2017.
Pope Francis told Vatican officials to start appointing women and lay people to top jobs in the Curia, the Holy See bureaucracy that he is seeking to shake up. He also showed dissatisfaction with the pace of the reform process he launched in 2013, criticizing it as mostly “cosmetic.”
Severe Tropical Storm Nock-ten (local name: Nina) entered the Philippine Area of Responsibility at 3 am on Friday, with maximum winds of up to 95 km/h and gustiness of up to 120 km/h. The weather bureau said light to moderate rain and thunderstorms are expected in the regions of Eastern Visayas, Caraga, and Davao on Friday.
In a speech in Pampanga on December 22, President Duterte said he wants the Constitution amended to make it easier for any president to declare martial law. Earlier in the day, the President threatened to “whack” central bank officials, saying they’re corrupt.
The United States on December 21 put a division of the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba back on a blacklist of “notorious markets” known for selling counterfeit goods and violating intellectual property rights. The office of the United States Trade Representative included the company’s online platform Taobao in its latest release, saying it is not doing enough to curb sales of fake and pirated goods.
At Manger Square next to the Church of the Nativity, built on the site where Christians believe Jesus was born, the annual giant Christmas tree covered in gold ornaments is in place. Crowds will file into the Palestinian city on Saturday for Christmas Eve, when celebrations culminate with midnight mass at the Church of the Nativity – with the grotto where Jesus is believed to have been born underneath.
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