Rappler Newscast | December 6, 2013

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Anti-aparheid icon Nelson Mandela dies. Seven Filipinos are killed in an attack in Yemen. Sen Santiago hits proposals to strike off her speech against Enrile

Today on Rappler.

  • Nelson Mandela, the hero of anti-apartheid and a global peace icon, dies.
  • Seven Filipinos are killed in an attack on the defense ministry in Yemen.
  • Sen Santiago hits proposals to strike off her privilege speech against Sen Enrile.

Story 1: ANTI-APARTHEID HERO NELSON MANDELA DIES

Nelson Mandela, the revered icon of the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa and one of the towering political figures of the 20th century, died Friday.
He was 95.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner died following complications from a lung infection, after months in critical state.
Once considered a terrorist by the United States and Britain for his support of violence against the apartheid regime, Mandela was an unimpeachable moral icon at the time of his death.
Josh Villanueva reports.

The first black South African President, Nobel Peace Prize laureate…There are many ways to remember Nelson Mandela.
But the world will remember him most as the man who ended apartheid, a system of racial segregation enforced by the South African government from 1948 to 1994, the system that brought about white supremacy and curtailed the rights of the predominantly black citizenry.
Mandela called it a disease whose mark cannot be removed.

NELSON MANDELA, FORMER SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: It will forever remain an indelible blight on human history that the apartheid crime ever occurred. It will forever remain an accusation and a challenge to all men and  women of conscience that it took as long as it has before all of us stood up to say ‘enough is enough.’

Today the world said goodbye to Mandela, after the respected statesman lost a long-time battle with lung-infection.
He turned 95, July 18.
His “long walk to freedom” saw him jailed for 27 years, a prisoner of the system he put an end to in 1994, the same year he was elected president.
After his term ended in 1999, Mandela took on the role of elder statesman and fought to end poverty and HIV/AIDS.
Mandela retired from public life in 2004 and has not been seen in public since the football World Cup finals in South Africa in 2010.
His legacy lives on, forever.
Michael Josh Villanueva, Rappler.

Story 2: WORLD BOWS IN RESPECT TO MANDELA
World leaders, activists, writers, and business leaders join the outpouring of tribute for South Africa’s revered Nelson Mandela.
Leaders cite the dignity the late icon displayed during his long imprisonment by South Africa’s former racist regime, and then later, when he led his country to majority rule.
US President Barack Obama says, “He no longer belongs to us; he belongs to the ages… We will not likely see the likes of Nelson Mandela again.”
Philippine President Benigno Aquino says Mandela “achieved closure through justice, banishing recrimination and hate.”
Aquino also recalls Mandela’s words during his visit to the Philippines in March 1997.
Mandela praised the restoration of democracy in the country and told Aquino, “You chose your parents well.”
The foreign affairs department also says the Philippines, whose struggle for freedom was shown in the 1986 People Power Revolution, stood in solidarity with South Africa.
Sports personalities also pay their respects to the late freedom icon.
Boxing great Muhammad Ali says Mandela “taught us forgiveness on a grand scale.”
Football star David Beckham adds, “In death as in life, he will always be a shining beacon of inspiration to all freedom-loving peoples.”

Story 3: 7 FILIPINOS DEAD IN YEMEN ATTACK
The Philippines confirms 7 Filipino health workers died in a Thursday attack on the defense ministry in Yemen.
Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez says the attack also injured 11 other Filipinos.
They sustained minor injuries but were –quote– “shaken and traumatized.”
In a media briefing, Hernandez says, “We condemn this senseless and barbaric act, and we call on the Yemeni government to bring the masterminds to justice.”
Al Jazeera reports 52 doctors and nurses were killed after a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-packed car into the defense ministry.
State television airs gory footage of torn up bodies, charred vehicles and immense destruction in the hospital.
Terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula claims responsibility for the attack.
The attack follows a spate of hit-and-run strikes on military personnel and officials, as Yemen goes through a difficult political transition.

Story 4: MIRIAM: WHY DIDN’T SENATORS STRIKE OUT ENRILE SPEECH?
Sen Miriam Santiago hits her colleagues’ proposals to strike off her scathing privilege speech against Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile.
Santiago says she would not have delivered her response against Enrile if her colleagues had moved to strike Enrile’s speech off the record.
On Thursday, Sen Serge Osmena calls Santiago’s speech “way out of line,” after she launched personal attacks against her fierce rival.
Santiago’s fiery address on Wednesday came after last week’s speech by Enrile, where he called her a –quote– “inane, obsessive hater” for naming him the pork barrel scam mastermind.
Osmena wants to strike the whole or parts of the speeches of the two senators, saying it’s about time a Senate member puts a stop to the word war.
He adds, “That is totally unparliamentary, and that should not be accepted as part of the records of the Senate.”
Osmena also took to task Senate President Franklin Drilon for tolerating the catfight.
Osmena says, “I would have banged the gavel already if I was the Senate President. I would say, ‘This is out of order.’”
But in a radio interview, Drilon says he cannot stop what senators will say.
Drilon adds, “That is part of our parliamentary tradition that lawmakers have the freedom to express their thoughts.”

Story 5: LEVISTE, 34 OTHERS GRANTED PAROLE
Former Batangas Gov Jose Antonio Leviste and 34 other prisoners are granted parole by the government.
In an interview with ANC, a prisons official says Leviste already served his minimum jail term.
The head of the Parole and Probation Administration clarifies parole means “temporary liberty.”
In 2009, a Makati court found Leviste guilty of homicide for killing his longtime employee in 2007.

Story 6: ERC TO DELIBERATE ON MERALCO RATE HIKE
Energy regulators will deliberate on the planned increase in power rates this month by the Manila Electric Company or Meralco.
Meralco says it will hike the generation charge by over P3 per kilowatt-hour in December because of the shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas platform and the outage of other plants.
Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla says he is in talks with the power distributor to implement the hike on staggered basis.
The Energy Regulatory Commission says it will think of ways to minimize the rate hike’s impact on consumers.
A P3 per kilowatt-hour increase in generation charge will amount to a P600 increase in electricity bills of consumers using an average of 200 kilowatt-hours per month.

Story 7: THE wRap: YOUR WORLD IN ONE READ
At number 7, The cast and crew of the “Fast and Furious” franchise honors one of their lead stars, Paul Walker, in a video tribute posted Wednesday.
Walker died in a car accident in California on November 30 after the car he and his friend were riding slammed into a tree and caught fire.
The video is a montage of clips from the “Fast & Furious” film franchise, some dating back to the first installment in 2001.
The video also thanks the public for their support and urges them to donate to Walker’s charity Reach Out Worldwide, which is raising money for Typhoon Haiyan victims.

At number 9, Twitter names Marjorie Scardino its first female director, ending criticisms the social network lacked women in its top executive positions.
The 66-year-old is a former CEO of media and education conglomerate Pearson.
Her appointment comes after Twitter was criticized because of a lack of women in top jobs.
A report on board diversity released this week shows nearly 40% of the tech companies in the S&P Composite 1500 index do not have women on their boards.

And at number 10, Critics are divided over Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’  unveiling of a plan to use drones to deliver packages.
The Guardian’s James Ball calls the plan –quote– “hot air and baloney” and “an old PR tactic.”
Ball cites potential problems, like the possibility of the packages being stolen before they get delivered to the right recipient.
But Wall Street Journal’s Farhad Manjoo praises Bezos for proposing new, friendlier uses for drones.
He says unmanned aerial vehicles don’t deserve the bad reputation after being identified with military surveillance.


– Rappler.com

Newscast Production Staff

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER / WRITER Lilibeth Frondoso
DIRECTOR Rupert Ambil
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER / PUBLISHER Rodneil Quiteles
  Dindin Reyes
HEAD WRITER / PROMPTER Katerina Francisco
MASTER EDITOR / PLAYBACK Vicente Roxas
  Exxon Ruebe
  Jom Tolentino
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / CAMERAMAN Charlie Salazar
  Adrian Portugal
  Francis Lopez
  Naoki Mengua
GRAPHICS Jessica Lazaro
  Matthew Hebrona
3D GRAPHICS Sten Bautista


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