North Korea finally answered South Korea's proposal for talks. The two sides will meet next Tuesday to discuss issues on sending North Korean delegation to PyeongChang and issues related to improving inter-Korean ties.
The North agreed to hold talks on January 9th at the Peace House located in the shared border village.
Pyongyang said the high-level talks will be focused on sending the North Korean delegation to 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and other matters related to improving ties. They also said practical details will be discussed through exchanging documents at the communication room at Panmunjeom.
The fax was sent by the name of Ri Son-gwon who is the chair of North Korea's committee for inter-Korean affairs. There is a high possibility that ministerial talks will be held next Tuesday. It will be the first high-level talks since 2012.
- Thousands of martial law victims faced another setback as the Court of Appeals junked their motion for reconsideration on their $2-billion claim. The former 12th Division of the CA on January 3 junked the appeal filed by human rights claimants against Marcos estate. They had asked the appellate court to enforce the Feb. 3, 1995 decision of a Hawaii court awarding $1.964 billion to the martial law victims.
- Sanofi, the pharmaceutical company behind the controversial Dengvaxia vaccine, clarified that the suspension of the sale of its controversial vaccine was due to an alleged failure to comply with post-marketing requirements. In their statement, they made it clear that the one-year suspension of Dengvaxia’s certificate of product registration imposed by the Food and Drug Administration is not connected to the safety and efficacy of the vaccine, which triggered a panic last year.
- Former DILG officer-in-charge Catalino Cuy was named by President Rodrigo Duterte as the new Dangerous Drugs Board chief. Former Armed Forces of the Philippines chief of staff Eduardo Año has also been officially named the officer-in-charge of DILG.
- French president Emmanuel Macron is heading to China to boost economic ties.
- Meanwhile, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan is heading to Paris to further strengthen ties with Europe.
- Former Catalan Vice President Oriol Junqueras has committed to obey the law, speaking to a panel of judges that are reviewing an appeal against his provisional jailing, according to his lawyers.
- Iguanas are falling out of trees in Florida due to extremely cold weather caused by the so-called bomb cyclone.
- Big plans for Volkswagen this 2018 so what's in store for them?
- New Pokemon Sun and Moon toys from Takara Tomy on the radar! New to the toy range is the new Poke Del-Z, a new way to play with your favorite Moncolle EX toys as when players throw the Poke Del-Z, winner goes to the player with the highest battle point. The first batch, coming this February, features a Ho-oh vs. Lugia set, a Poke Del-Z Pikachu and a Poke Del-Z Charizard. Meanwhile, the sticky Ultra Beast Poipole is joining the Pokemon plush range this February starting at 1,800 Yen plus tax. Lastly, the Moncolle EX range is expanded with the addition of Buzzwole, Jangmo-o, Magikarp, Stufful, Sandygast, and Alolan Dugtrio, all coming this February.
- A new Tiger & Bunny TV anime show is in the works.
- The Kumamoto Prefecture is making a TV show about their mascot, Kumamon.
The recent episode of Amazon Prime's The Grand Tour gets round and dirty as they try out their most dirtiest tricks with the dirtiest cars on the planet.
The Grand Tour S2E05
It begins with Richard Hammond in Dubai, sampling the dirtiest machines in the planet, starting with the hardcore Sandrail offroader and a military vehicle called the Ripsaw, which was made famous from The Fate of the Furious. There's even the part where he and the Ripsaw wreck havoc throughout the streets of Dubai, especially the shopping mall!
Then, James May heads to the Eboladrome to try out the smallest hot hatch in the market, the up! GTi. When handed to The Grand Tour's nameless driver, it lapped round the track in 1:39.7 under foggy conditions, which is the slowest.
Dominic Cooper and Bill Bailey are competing each other for who is the fastest celebrity with failed band career in Celebrity Face Off. In that segment, Bill Bailey did it in 1:25.1 while Dominic Cooper did it in 1:23.6, making him the winner of this week's Celebrity Face Off.
And this episode ends with Jeremy Clarkson goes a la Ken Block by making his own version of Gymkhana using a second-hand Subaru WRX in his little video called Farmkhana. And then some behind the scenes footage about Jeremy's Farmkhana. Of course, some sheep are killed in the making of that clip.
Reopening the hotline between the two Koreas, North Korea has resumed direct contact the South through a military hotline. The first contact, ordered by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, did not however mention anything on future talks or the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Games.
The chairman of North Korea's committee on inter-Korean Affairs announced on Wednesday through state media.
Lee Son-gwon, Chairman of North Korea's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification said "North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has ordered the restoration of the South-North hotline starting 3 p.m." which is 3:30PM South Korea time.
He said through this channel "we will discuss matters related to sending a delegation to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics and the proposed talks.:
The committee's chair emphasized that on the orders of their leader, North Korean officials will cooperate with the South Korean counterparts, and he once again expressed hope for the success of the upcoming 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
The chairman went on to say that the North's leader welcomed the decision by the South Korean presidential office to offer talks, calling it a positive move.
However, it is unknown whether the two sides will talk only about sending North Korean athletes to the Games or whether they'll cover other issues such as inter-Korean family reunion and resuming civilian exchanges.
South Korea's presidential office Cheong Wa Dae welcomed the North's reopening of the inter-Korean communication channel saying it's a move toward making communication possible at all times.
- President Rodrigo Duterte has sacked Maritime Industry Authority administrator Marcial Quirico Amaro III due to excessive foreign trips taken in past years. Amaro's firing comes less than a month after Presidential Commission on Urban Poor chairman Terry Ridon and his fellow commissioners were terminated for going on junkets and for not meeting regularly.
- According to the Department of Justice, the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army have engaged terrorist acts in various provinces all over the country. Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Peter Ong, head of the panel tasked to move for the declaration of CPP-NPA as a terrorist group, said the government has gathered documents and evidence showing offensives committed by the communist group that could be classified as terrorist acts under Republic Act No. 9372.
- The Commission of Elections believe that the imminent shift to federalism should not affect right to vote. Since yesterday, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez warned of a possible cancellation of the 2019 midterm elections as a transition government would needed if the shift to federalism would be approved by May this year. Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, however, said that the May 2019 elections would have to push through unless the 1987 Constitution is amended.
- A powerful winter storm dealt a chilly blow to the Southeastern United States on Wednesday as Floridians marveled at the rare sight of snow and officials warned of icy roads and dangerously low temperatures. Known as "bomb cyclone" because of sudden drop in atmospheric pressure, it prompted flight cancellations up and down the East Coast and forced dozens of school districts to cancel or delay classes along the path of the storm, including New York City schools.
- US President Donald Trump has disbanded the commission targeting against voter frauds, citing the multiple lawsuits against it. The commission was criticized for crafting evidence for the President's false claim that there were "millions who voted illegally" in the 2016 election. Led by Kris Kobach and stacked with partisan ideologues, the commission was posed to pave the way for new nationwide restrictions on the Americans' right to vote. That commission, luckily, was stopped.
- Two Democratic senators, Alabama's Doug Jones and Minnesota's Tina Smith, have been sworn into office in the United States, reducing the number of Republican majority. The ceremony in Washington, DC, came as the US Senate began its 2018 session with the minority Democrats picking up a surprise seat from Alabama and shrinking the Republicans' majority to a narrow 51-49.
- Nissan will showcase their Brain-to-Vehicle Technology at this month's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
- The Fisker Emotion was uncovered ahead of its CES premere. It is a fully autonomous luxury car featuring a 9-minute ultra-fast charge and 640km of EV range.
Fisker Emotion
- Peugeot unveiled their entry for the World Touring Car Cup (WTCR) with their 308 TCR.
The GTi emblem has been the hallmark of the Volkswagen history since the Golf GTi, the forefather of the hot hatch hierarchy, and as hot hatches get even faster, the GTi legend continues to evolve into new and exciting ways. From the people behind the hot versions of the Golf and Polo, here comes the smallest addition to the GTi family.
2018 Volkswagen up! GTi
2018 Volkswagen up! GTi interior
This is the new Volkswagen up! GTi and starting at just 16,975 Euros (1.02 million PHP), it's surprisingly the most affordable hot hatch you can buy in case you don't have enough funds to buy the Golf GTi or the Polo GTi. What that is is a GTi for everyone who want to taste hot hatch heaven and hell in such a reasonable budget.
So, what do you get in a car as reasonably priced as a family car? Well, for starters, you'd get a choice of three or five doors, some basic GTi identity implanted on the up!'s compact looks as well as the interior styled to look like those American Eagle polo shirts you bought at the mall, and the powertrain that is classic hot hatch mantra.
The GTi version is powered by a very small 1.0L turbocharged three-cylinder engine that is as smaller as a box of a toy robot big enough to your toddler to play with. It produces about 115PS of power and 200Nm of torque and it is mated exclusively with a 6-speed manual gearbox, which is great news for speedo boys. Of course, it may not be as powerful as its GTi brothers or even its chief opponent, the Corsa OPC/VXR, but lack of power aside, the up! GTi is surprisingly accessible in the dynamics stakes, meaning that such handling will be popular among first timers.
It does 0-100kph in less than nine seconds and it will keep going up to 196kph. I know this is very irrelevant for a hot hatchback like this because speed is not measured when it comes to discover what is a hot hatch and the only way to measure how a hot hatch works is its dynamics.
Like it said, the up! GTi is surprisingly accessible in the dynamics stakes, meaning that such handling will be popular among first timers. Thanks to the dynamics heavily inspired from its big brothers, the VW up! GTi really handles like its big brothers but in a more convincing way that will leave drivers happy on the road and on the track. With all that spark in the up! GTi's life, there are some drawbacks to consider and being a hot hatch, it can a lot harsher to drive on normal traffic conditions and being front-wheel drive, there is a tendency to understeer, which is bad for people with arthritis and muscular pains.
Behind the drawbacks, the up! GTi really is fun and just by looking at the 16,975 Euro compact, you have the tendency to say that you are feeling jealous because you would definitely want to drive this car someday and I couldn't agree more. For a price like this, this up! GTi will make people scream "shut up and take my money" to the dealership to try one and that's the magic of making a hot hatch that draws inspiration from the original Golf GTi. There's nothing exciting or harsh about it but it is great for rookies who want to experience the GTi magic first hand.
