THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Historic Trump-Kim summit set on June 12 in Singapore

US President Donald Trump announced that his historic summit with Kim Jong Un — the first-ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader — will take place in Singapore on June 12.

The location and date of the landmark meeting were announced in a presidential tweet just hours after Trump welcomed to the United States three American prisoners released by Pyongyang.

“We will both try to make it a very special moment for World Peace!” Trump wrote.

The talks, which are expected to last one day, are set to focus on North Korea’s rapidly advancing nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

“I think it will be a big success,” Trump said as he boarded Air Force One, on his way to a political rally in Indiana.

US officials said the release of Americans Kim Hak-song, Tony Kim, and Kim Dong-chul removed a major obstacle to the summit, providing Trump with some tangible evidence that his twin-track policy of engagement and “maximum pressure” was working.

“We’re not under any illusions about who these people are. We know who we are dealing with here,” said Victoria Coates, of the National Security Council.

“But we got, up front, our people home.”

Source: AFP

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

- Voting 8-6, the Supreme Court rules to disqualify and oust Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno as head of the judiciary. The SC, after its full-court session, granted Solicitor General Jose C. Calida’s quo warranto petition against Sereno. Minutes after the oust, Sereno made a defiant speech.

- President Rodrigo Duterte issued Executive Order #54 increasing employees’ compensation benefits in the private sector and carer’s allowance in the public sector. Under the order signed last May 8, the President approved a P1,150 across-the-board increase in EC monthly disability pension of all permanent disability pensioners and qualified beneficiaries in the private sector. Then, the President named Virginia Orogo as acting Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and Eliseo Rio Jr. as acting Secretary of the Department of Information and Communications Technology.

- ICYMI: Senate Republicans confirmed US President Donald Trump's nominee to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals Michael Brennan over the objection of one of his home-state senators while the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Republican Chuck Grassley, held a hearing for Ryan Bounds, whose blue slip was withheld by both of his home-state senators, something that has never happened in US history.

- A group of migrants at the US-Mexican border staged colorful anti-Trump protests.

- Thousands of Facebook and Instagram advertisements taken out by a Russian internet group were released in a database that illustrate how a concerted effort was made to foment anger and split US society around the 2016 election. Democrats of the House Intelligence Community released records of more than 3,000 ads from 2015-2017 that were allegedly placed by the Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency, a Saint Petersburg operation that allegedly spreads disinformation and political propaganda across the internet and social media in Russia and in countries where Moscow wants to influence politics.

- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Iran had crossed a “red line” by firing rockets at Israeli forces from Syria, leading to major Israeli air strikes on Thursday in the neighboring country. Following the strike, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Iran does not want "new tensions" in the Middle East.

- The first Rolls-Royce SUV, the Cullinan, was unveiled.

2019 Rolls-Royce Cullinan

- Set for this year's Worthersee event, Volkswagen unwrapped the Golf GTi TCR Concept, featuring an improved 2.0L turbo engine producing 290PS of power and when mated to a 7-speed DSG and with the limiter off, it has a 264kph top speed. It's set to be launched at the end of 2018.

Volkswagen Golf GTi TCR Concept

- Seiyuu Yuichiro Umehara was hospitalized due to autoimmune disease.

- Former actress Michelle Madrigal is diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease.

TTFN!!!

THE IDOLM@STER SideM WORLD TRE@SURE 01

Inspired from a limited-time event in THE IDOLM@STER SideM app game, the new WORLD TRE@SURE CD range sees our favorite 315 STARS portraying as different nations of the world which reminded us of something we are familiar with and for their first offering, we're going to FRANCE!

THE IDOLM@STER SideM WORLD TRE@SURE 01

For 315 STARS' trip to France, the star idols of this installment are Teru Tendo (Shugo Nakamura), Hideo Akuno (Kentaro Kumagai), Suzaku Akai (Takeaki Masuyama), and Amehiko Kuzunoha (Jun Kasama) and focusing on the destination at hand, they are performing a highlight song of this installment titled 永遠(とわ)なる四銃士 and then top of with their version of the WORLD TRE@SURE anthem, MEET THE WORLD!

With France is our first stop, which place should the 315 STARS go next? Find out next time on this new WORLD TRE@SURE range and be sure to keep playing SideM for more.

01.永遠(とわ)なる四銃士

02.MEET THE WORLD!(FRANCE Ver.)

03.永遠(とわ)なる四銃士(off vocal)

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: North Korea responded to Pompeo's visit

North Korea has responded to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's visit to Pyongyang on Wednesday. North Korea's state run media reported on Thursday that Kim Jong-un met Pompeo and the tow reached a "satisfactory concensus" on the upcoming Pyongyang-Washington summit.

The reports said Kim highly appreciated Trump's message that he wanted to settle the situation on the Korean Peninsula through dialogue, and that Kim said the summit will be a "historic first meeting in starting off optimistic developments on the Korean peninsula and building a gret future."

The media also mentioned that Kim accepted the official request from the US to release American detainees and that Pompeo thanked Kim for the talks.

Source: Arirang News

Let's Do The News! (May 10, 2018)

- The Philippines and Kuwait are now expected to sign the agreement on the welfare of OFWs in the gulf state, 11 days after President Duterte said that he will get all Filipinos there.

- President Rodrigo Duterte is ranked 69th in Forbes magazine's 100 most powerful people in the world following TIME magazine's labeling of him as a "strongman". Chinese leader Xi Jinping ended Russian leader Vladimir Putin's reign as number one on the list for four consecutive years and also on the list; US President Donald Trump, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, French President Emmanuel Macron, North Korean President Kim Jong-un, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

- The number of casualties related to the upcoming Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan Elections has risen to 22, according to the Philippine National Police.

- The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines slammed President Duterte's EO No. 51 as "disrespectful of labor." “President Duterte’s signing of EO 51 is a sign of disrespect to workers, thus he betrays workers’ trust,” the National Secretariat for Social Action Justice and Peace said in a statement dated May 8.

- Next week, the US Senate will have a vote whether to scrap the FCC's last year decision to scrap down the Obama-era net neutrality rules. With 50 senators supporting a bipartisan effort to keep net neutrality, it needed one more.

- In the aftermath of the US pullout from the Iran nuclear deal, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis promises that the United States will keep cooperating with allies to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

- The United States lodged a complaint against India over indications the country has underreported its price support for grains.

- CIA director nominee, Gina Haspel, pledges she won't restart the controversial interrogation program and disregard President Trump's orders to carry out other questionable activities if confirmed to lead the agency. But Haspel resisted senators' efforts to make her say whether she believed it had been morally wrong at the time for the agency to use "enhanced" interrogation techniques on terrorist suspects, including waterboarding, which many have said is a form of torture. She emphasized repeatedly that the techniques had been authorized by the U.S. government's highest legal authorities and by President George W. Bush.

- Former Doctor Who Peter Capaldi is now part of the cast of the upcoming David Copperfield film.

- A third installment of the Sherlock Holmes films starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law is now underway, according to reports.

TTFN!!!

Aston Martin New Vantage

Back in the fall of 2015, moviegoers went to the movies to watch the recent 007 film, SPECTRE, to witness Daniel Craig driving a one-off Aston Martin made for that film. That Bond car in question, as it turned out, is a preview of the next baby Aston and now, here we are, the Bond car from 007: SPECTRE film comes to life as the all-new Aston Martin Vantage.

2019 Aston Martin Vantage

2019 Aston Martin Vantage

Of all the people should know, the all-new Aston Martin Vantage really is all-new from the ground up and one look of this new Vantage will make everyone jealous to drive one someday, including me. Jealousy aside, the new Vantage promises to be one of the most attractive GT cars ever built because the design is like a Bond car with the Vulcan front on it for better cooling and on the inside, this is different than we hoped for because it's a tad too ordinary just like the DB11's and because of the Anglo-German quagmire we're facing with, you'll see some Mercedes bits and bobs on it including the sat-nav. Although the interior is somewhat average to look at, there's no need to worry about it because the exterior just overshadows it from every point of view.

Anglo-German quagmire aside, the Vantage is powered by a 4.0L V8 BiTurbo engine, the same one used on the utterly wonderful Mercedes-AMG GT sports car, producing 503HP of power and 685Nm of torque. Unlike the Mercedes-AMG GT, the Vantage sports an 8-speed AT, which propels it to a 0-60mph time of fewer than four seconds and onwards to 195mph. Although as close as the AMG GT, here's something that the AMG GT couldn't have; a 7-speed manual gearbox, making the Vantage a more enjoyable GT car to drive in case the AMG GT is not your kind of car for the weekend drive and what a car it is. We can expect to live the Bond car moment with this one if you know what I mean.

There's a quick saying that all good Astons are made for the comfortable driving mind rather than attacking it on the racetrack but thanks to its short dimensions that make it shorter than the Porsche 911, its aluminum bodywork, and its crafty dynamics, the Vantage really feels like it works at both road and track, meaning this car is all serious work and serious play, like a lone wolf performer broadening horizons in a gothic getup for a concert with her mates. Couple that with numerous features such as the Dynamic Stability Control and Dynamic Torque Vectoring and the result is a no-nonsense sportscar that feels great to drive wherever you may be and that's just the cherry on the top of the strawberry shortcake.

The price of the new Vantage begins at £120,900, which is too much for a car like this and although I have a fair say that while the Vantage disappoints in price and interior, its exterior design, performance, and dynamics are something to wish for in the hopes to demand every producer to step away from their all-oldies nonsense and make them sample the power of the new Vantage, wherever they're sitting at. That's jealousy for you and because the new Vantage is a rather impressive baby Aston that is redefined for today's drivers, we are growing desperate to get our hands on this new one. Come on, boys, we're waiting.

Photo: Aston Martin.

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: South Korea ex-president Park leaves jail for medical care

Ousted South Korean leader Park Geun-hye briefly left prison to receive medical care at a hospital in Seoul on Wednesday, a spokesman for the medical facility said.

Park was convicted of corruption and jailed for 24 years last month, completing a dramatic fall from grace for the country’s first female leader who became a figure of public fury and ridicule.

The 66-year-old has been allowed out of prison several times for treatment for ailments including a toe injury and backache and for dental care since her arrest in March last year.

Park arrived at the civilian hospital Seoul St. Mary’s accompanied by prison authorities, the spokesman said.

He declined to give further details but Yonhap news agency said she will be treated for her chronic back pain.

Source: AFP