THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Working-level, high-level officials from two Koreas will commence next week

With two weeks to go before the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, South Korea's presidential office has confirmed another meeting betwee working-level officials from the two Koreas will take place early next week.

They will continue negotiating the details on protocol, security, communication, and media coverage for the April 2018 summit. A senior Blue House official relayed the information this morning, but didn't disclose the exact date of the meeting.

He also confirmed high-level delegations from the two Koreas will have another meeting next week, which is expect to take place on Wednesday.

Regarding the denuclearization roadmap being negotiated between the US and North Korea, the same official said the South Korean government has its own solution.

Source: Arirang News

Let's Do The News! (April 13, 2018)

- Former Health Secretary Janette Garin questioned the motives of Sen. Richard Gordon in coming out with a report on the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee’s investigation into the Dengvaxia controversy even when it was still a draft and had not yet been reviewed by other members of the panel.

- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte publicly apologize for the 2010 bus hostage incident in Manila that killed eight Hong Kong tourists, which his predecessor had declined to make. Speaking before a large crowd of Filipino workers in Hong Kong, the firebrand leader addressed his apology to the Chinese government and its people and vowed it would never happen under his watch.

- CIA Director and Trump nominee for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised he would be willing to break from President Donald Trump if necessary, saying he would take a tough line with Russia and that he wanted to “fix” the Iran nuclear deal. Pompeo blamed tensions between Moscow and Washington on Russia’s “bad behaviour” and said he would support more U.S. sanctions against Russia.

- British PM Theresa May won backing from her senior ministers to take unspecified action with the the United States and France to deter further use of chemical weapons by Syria after a suspected poison gas attack on civilians. After warning Russia on Wednesday of imminent military action, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he was holding meetings on Syria and expected to make decisions “fairly soon.”

- Fans of Britain's royal family eagerly awaiting Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's royal wedding next month can read about their romance in a comic book.

- Volkswagen Group CEO Matthias Muller has resigned from his position and his post will be field by Herbert Diess, chairman of the board at the Volkswagen brand.

- Ford will not sell and make the fourth-generation Focus to Thailand citing poor sales.

- Keiko Kubota will leave the singing unit Kalafina as remaining members Wakana Ootaki and Hikaru Masai continue their musical activities.

- Actor Sacha Baron Cohen will play the role of a real-life Israeli spy who operated in Syria in the early 1960's in a Netflix original series, The Spy

- Sherlock Jr.'s Ruru Madrid agrees to the Duterte administration's decision to temporary close Boracay for over half a year.

TTFN!!!

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: North Korea's rubber stamp parliament convenes in leader's absence

North Korea'a Supreme People's Assembly took over where state finanxes weee discussed while leader Kim Jong Un appeared to be absent from the proceedings.

An empty sear presumed to be the leader's could be seem in photographs distributed by North Korea's central news agency and there was no mention of his attendance in the state media reports.

This rubber-stamp parliament holda these meetings once or twice a year to approve decisions on issues such as governing structures and budgets that have been created by the Workers' Party, members of which form the vast majority of the assembly.

Source: Reuters

Let's Do The News! (April 12, 2018)

- Senator JV Ejercito, chairman of the Senate Committe on Health, agrees with Senator Richard Gordon's decision that the procurement of Dengvaxia was done hastily. However, Ejercito doubts that former president Benigno Aquino III was involved in the issue of corruption regarding the controversial anti-dengue vaccine.

- Fliptop artist Zaito was arrested for allegedly possessing illegal drugs. Authorities had a search warrant against Zaito in his residence in Brgy. Toclong, Kawit, Cavite.

- US House Speaker Paul Ryan announced that he will not seek re-election and will leave his post starting next year, delivering a blow to the Trump administration ahead of mid-term elections.

- US President Donald Trump warned Russia of imminent military action on Syria over a suspected poison gas attack, declaring that missiles "will be coming" and lambasting Moscow for supporting Syrian leadet Bashar al-Assad.

- Ahead of this weekend's Rome e-prix, Pope Francis suprisingly blesses a Formula E car at a ceremony.

- Level 5 CEO Akihiro Hino confirmed that all of their main titles will have a Switch version as the company is moving on from releasing its main titles on Nintendo 3DS. They're also planning a new work to commemorate Level 5's 20th anniversary this year.

- The upcoming Coachella music festival will showcase holograms of late X JAPAN members Hide and Taiji for their performances on the 14th and 21st of April.

- Homeland actor Damian Lewis will play the role of former Toronto mayor Rob Ford in the film Run This Town.

- Actress Ryza Cenon is now part of ABS-CBN.

- Baste Duterte, the son of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, says no to politics.

TTFN!!!

Torchwood: The Death of Captain Jack

Captain John Hart (played by James Marsters), a wild ex-time agent who lives by his own rules, lives to tell the tale on the final moments of Captain Jack Harkness (played by John Barrowman) in the first of the Torchwood audio drama CDs rolling out for the year 2018 and expect madness in store for this latest mission full of dark humor.

Torchwood: The Death of Captain Jack

Written by David Llewellyn and directed by Scott Handcock, this latest Torchwood mission not only brings back the ones mentioned about but also familiar faces such as Eve Myles as Gwen Cooper, Gareth David-Lloyd as Ianto Jones, Kai Owen as Rhys Williams, and Tom Price as Sgt. Andy Davidson, among many others. In this mission, the death kneel of Captain Jack is nigh and in his deathbed comes a wild ex-time agent to tell the tale about something he should have had.

This is all about the madness Captain John Hart unleashed throughout the pages of history and and in typical Torchwood fashion, you can really feel the madness plunging through the atmosphere as you follow along with this deranged by unique storytelling only Captain John could ever imagined and while this is downright crazy and downright vile, it fits right perfectly to one of our favorite villains ever mentioned from the Torchwood archives.

Fans of the Doctor Who spinoff series are very pleased about the return of Captain John Hart ever since his madness spills from the first and the last episode of the second series and with this audio drama, his madness forever plagues through the hearts of many because fans surely missed that wild attitude of his. This is a must-listen for every Torchwood fan, even if they are on a mood to listen to some of the forgotten archives from the history of Torchwood and looks like we have to give the hardworking folks from Big Finish a paralyzing kiss. Literally. Like Captain John does.

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: President Moon to attend 5th Inter-Korean Summit

With two weeks left before the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, Seoul's summit preparation committee briefed South Korean leader Moon Jae-in on their progress so far.

It was the inter-agency committee's fifth meeting since being launched in mid-March. The briefing focused on last week's inter-Korean working level talks on security, protocol, and media coverage.

Later in the afternoon, the South Korean leader is scheduled to meet with Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono who is on a visit to Seoul.

Topics expected to be discussed: Japan's position in the rapidly changing regional dynamics with the inter-Korean summit and North Korea-US summit fast approaching and the meeting between Seoul, Beijing, and Tokyo.

Source: Arirang News

Let's Do The News! (April 11, 2018)

- A lawyer described the recent statements of President Rodrigo Duterte against Supreme Court Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as "a flagrant violation" of the Philippines' constitutional process. Few days ago, the President announced that he will "egg" Solicitor General Jose Calida in the quo warranto petition that seeks to remove Sereno from her position as the head magistrate of the Supreme Court.

- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg navigated through the first of two US Congressional hearings without making further promises to support new legislation or change how the social network does business. During almost five hours of questioning, Zuckerberg repeated apologies he previously made for a range of problems that have beset Facebook, from a lack of data protection to Russian agents using Facebook to influence U.S. elections.

- US President Donald Trump cancels his South American visit, triggering mixed reactions from a region he lambasted over immigration, narcotics, and trade. Trump wants to focus on his response to a suspected chemical weapons attack in Syria, and will send his Vice President Mike Pence to the Summit of the Americas in Lima, Peru, in his place, the White House said. The announcement comes as Trump rails against a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on the offices and home of his personal lawyer.

- Russia and the United States got tangled at the United Nations over the use of chemical weapons in Syria as Washington and its allies considered whether to strike at President Bashar al-Assad’s forces over a suspected poison gas attack last weekend.

- Hungarian PM Viktor Orban said his landslide re-election gave him a powerful mandate to restrict migrant rights and push for a European Union of independent nations. The nationalist leader whose resounding victory on Sunday dismayed opposition parties, also said he planned to revamp his government, “in large part with new people and a new structure”, but that he would not seek a presidential system.

- The European Commission raided the offices of numerous companies involved in sports broadcasting rights, including FOX as part of an investigation into a possible cartel. Sports broadcasting is a huge business in Europe, with networks spending billions of pounds to secure exclusive rights to show games in top-flight leagues to attract viewers.

- As sales of crossovers in the United States continue to rise, some car companies are taking drastic measures. Chevrolet is reportedly axing the Sonic compacts while Ford plans to remove the Fiesta and the Taurus from the US market. Meanwhile, Ford unveiled the fourth-generation Focus that will go on sale in Europe and China late this year to be followed by North America in the second half od 2019.

- The new Audi A6 now has an Avant variant with bigger boot space than its predecessor.

2019 Audi A6 Avant

- The Porsche 919's farewell tour kicked off with their de-restricted 919 Hybrid Evo touring around the globe to break lap times and now, it managed to lap Spa-Francorchamps faster than Lewis Hamilton's best lap time last year in 1:41.770.

- Actor Derek Ramsay has left TV5 after six years.

TTFN!!!