THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Trump cancels summit with Kim over broken promises

US President Donald Trump on Thursday called off his planned June summit with Kim Jong Un, blaming “open hostility” from the North Korean regime and warning Pyongyang against committing any “foolish or reckless acts.”

In a letter to Kim, Trump announced he would not go ahead with the high-stakes meeting set for June 12 in Singapore, following what the White House called a “trail of broken promises” by the North.

Just before Trump announced the cancellation of the talks, North Korea declared it had “completely” dismantled its nuclear test site, in a carefully choreographed move portrayed as a goodwill gesture ahead of the summit.

But the chances of success for the unprecedented face-to-face had recently been thrown into doubt.

Trump’s announcement, in which he vowed to pursue Washington’s campaign of “maximum pressure” through sanctions, came a day after Pyongyang hardened its rhetoric by attacking Vice President Mike Pence as “ignorant and stupid.”

“Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting,” read Trump’s letter to Kim, which was dictated word for word by the US leader, according to a senior White House official.

“The world, and North Korea in particular, has lost a great opportunity for lasting peace and great prosperity and wealth. This missed opportunity is a truly sad moment in history,” Trump said.

The Pentagon indicated it was braced to respond to possible “provocative actions” on Pyongyang’s part.

But the Republican president also held out hope that a meeting with Kim could still take place, saying: “It’s possible that the existing summit could take place, or a summit at some later date. Nobody should be anxious. We have to get it right.”

“If and when Kim Jong Un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, I am waiting,” he added.

Foreign leaders reacted with dismay to the summit collapse, with South Korean President Moon Jae-in expressing “deep regret” and summoning top security aides for emergency talks.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged the parties to keep talking, as did host Singapore, while Russia’s President Vladimir Putin held out hope that dialogue would resume and the talks would eventually take place.

Source: AFP

Let's Do The News! (May 25, 2018)

- President Rodrigo Duterte is set to fire another government official supposedly for corruption next week. The President made the statement in a speech during the inauguration of the Davao River Bridge Widening Project in Davao City last night.

- The Department of Social Welfare and Development has allocated 77 million pesos for the implementation of a cash-for-work program for workers and residents affected by the temporary closure of Boracay.

- Senator Loren Legarda lauded the approval by the Senate on the second reading of a bill that seeks to grant Ombudsman lawyers and prosecutors a comparable set of retirement benefits similarly granted by law to their counterparts in the judiciary and the prosecution service of the Department of Justice.

- The General Data Protection Regulation is in place, giving  EU citizens more rights over how their data is used. Companies working in the EU must get express consent to collect personal information or face hefty fines. In the UK, which is due to leave the EU next year, a new Data Protection Act incorporates GDPR provisions but with minor changes.

- US President Donald Trump signed into law the first major rollback of the post-crisis banking regulations after Congress approved the legislation this week. Community banks and credit unions “shouldn’t be regulated the same way as the large, complex financial institutions and that’s what happened and they were being put out of business one by one,” Trump said at the White House just before signing the law.

- A gunman stormed a restaurant at Oklahoma City, hurting two customers before being killed by a civilian in the parking lot, according to police.

- Toyota recalled most units of their Alphard and Vellfire luxury minivans due to problems with the electric parking brake

'- Honda surprised the crowd with their Civic Type R Pick-up Truck concept during the SMMT Test Day event.

Honda Civic Type R Pick-up Truck Concept

- Hamburg will be the first German city to ban older diesel vehicles from selected urban areas from net week, according to reports.

- A man got arrested for allegedly sending death threats to Nogizaka46 member Mai Shiraishi.

- Idris Elba is set to play Quasimodo in the movie adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, according to reports.

- The 25th Bond film, starring Daniel Craig, will be directed by Danny Boyle from an original screenplay by John Hodge. Shooting begins this December and will be distributed by Universal Pictures.

TTFN

PERSONA3 Dancing Moon Night & PERSONA5 Dancing Star Night

A few years ago, ATLUS' Persona RPG franchise went to a different side of the moon with PERSONA4 Dancing All Night where the Investigation Team went to a new kind of Persona adventure and it involves dancing their way to the greatest hits and remixes as heard from the world of P4. So, the question now is with the Investigation Team had their fun, are the S.E.E.S. and The Phantom Thieves joining the fun as well? Yes, they can!

PERSONA3 Dancing Moon Night (PS4)

PERSONA5 Dancing Star Night (PS4)

Drop your weapons and step into your dancing shoes because two new additions to the Persona Dance spinoffs have arrived and like you experienced with P4D, you can dance with your favorite P3 and P5 characters through the greatest hits from the games, including remixes. Time to get KING CRAZY once again with these new installments!

Like the last one, both P3D and P5D are basically rhythm-based games and as rhythm-based games, players need to mash the corresponding buttons as shown in the screen and complete the song as the crow flies. Simple as that. Some go for the score challenge, others go for the combo challenge, but few are rising up to the challenge by going FULL COMBO in all of the in-game tracklists at all difficulty settings, which is very Herculean by rhythm-based game standards but it sure is addicting more than beating up dark shadows.

In P3D, you can dance as your favorite characters from the PERSONA3 games such as the main character (Makoto Yuki), Junpei Iori, Yukari Takeba, Aegis, Mitsuru Kirijou, Akihiko Sanada, Fuka Yamagishi, and Ken Amada, among many others. In P5D, meanwhile, you can dance as the main character (Ren Amamiya), Ryuji Sakamoto, Anne Takamaki, Morgana, Yusuke Kitagawa, Makoto Nijima, Futaba Sakura, and Haru Okumura, among many others. There are other characters coming soon in the game via DLC, most are playable only in Free Dance mode.

Throughout the game, if a player finishes a song, regardless of clear results, they'll get cash to purchase costumes for their favorite characters, spicing things up on your next gameplay. Heck, they can even progress their way to get new and exciting rewards for bragging rights as well. As they clear certain conditions, they can progress through the Communication part of the game, where you get to meet your favorite characters through talking but choose your words well because it's hard to predict the outcome from your favorites. If you have a PlayStationVR, you can even get a glimpse to the sights and sounds from the world of P3 and P5.

So, with P3D and P5D, the Persona dance craze just got even more crazier than ever. You can purchase them separately or go all-out attack with the Persona Dancing All Star Triple Pack which includes not just both games but also a digital copy of PERSONA4 Dancing All Night on the Playstaton4. Not only that, it even comes with a four-disc original soundtrack as well! Yours for 16,880 Yen plus tax and delivery.

For the PSVita versions, there's the Dancing Deluxe Twin Pack featuring not just both games and the four-disc soundtrack but also costumes straight from ATULS' hit games. Yours for 15,780 Yen plus tax and delivery.

From the Tartarus to the Mementos, enjoy dancing with your favorite S.E.E.S. members or Phantom Thieves tonight!

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Russia’s top diplomat planning North Korea visit

Russia said its foreign minister was planning a trip to North Korea, after a media outlet said Wednesday Sergei Lavrov could visit the reclusive state next week.

Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said concrete dates would be announced separately, declining to comment further.

Earlier on Wednesday, business media outlet RBC reported that Lavrov would visit North Korea on May 31, citing the Russian foreign ministry’s press department.

Last month North Korea’s foreign minister Ri Yong Ho held rare talks with Lavrov in Moscow as Pyongyang moves to improve strained ties with global powers.

“Russia is as inclined as ever to develop good neighbourly relations with North Korea,” Lavrov said at the time.

North Korea prepares this week to demolish a nuclear test site, which has been the staging ground for all six of the North’s nuclear tests.

The North has portrayed the move as a goodwill gesture ahead of a planned June 12 summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in Singapore.

But doubts have since been cast by both sides on whether that historic meeting will take place.

Source: AFP

Let's Do The News! (May 24, 2018)

- Australian missionary, Patricia Fox, appeals for expulsion order despite the Bureau of Immigration denied her motion. “While the Order stated that it is final and executory, Sister Pat is not precluded from filing an appeal to the Secretary of the Department of Justice,” the camp of Fox said in a statement.

- The National Citizens' Movement for Free Elections (NAMFREL) expressed confidence in the capability of Sheriff Abas in heading COMELEC. The poll watchdog group cited Abas’ collaborative style of leadership which they witnessed as a reason for this.

- The Trump administration considers slapping tariffs on auto imports over national security reasons. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross announced he initiated a so-called Section 232 investigation on auto trade — which would provide the legal basis to impose tariffs, if his department finds imports threaten US national security — after speaking with Donald Trump on the matter.

- Milwaukee police chief apologized for the tasing and arrest of a professional basketball player over a parking violation. Chief Alfonso Morales said disciplinary action had been taken against the officers involved in the January arrest of Sterling Brown, a member of the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks.

- A post-Brexit plan to replace Britain's customs union with the EU will not happen until late 2020, according to tax chief John Thompson. The “maximum facilitation” proposal favoured by Brexit supporters, which would use trusted-trader arrangements and technology to avoid border checks, could take three years to fully implement, HMRC chief Jon Thompson told the Brexit Select Committee, its chairman said.

- In preparation for next month's FIFA World Cup, Russia's Central Bank released a football-themed 100 ruble bills.

- Jeff Gordon, Jack Roush, Roger Penske, Davey Allison, and Alan Kulwicki are listed as nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame 2019 while the late Jim Hunter is honored with a Landmark Award for outstanding contributions to NASCAR.

- Ferrari made another one-off from their Special Projects portfolio, this time a 488-based SP38 made for a very special client. The 488-based machine draws inspiration from the legendary F40.

Ferrari SP38

- Stranger Things' Mille Bobby Brown and Noah Schnapps hint at what to expect on the next season of the hit Netflix series.

- A certain student copied Spider-Man's upside down scene just to get his girlfriend to dance with him for the prom.

- McLaren reimagined the legendary pole position lap time set by Ayrton Senna during the 1988 Monaco GP with a little help from game developer Codemasters and voiceover by Murray Walker.

TTFN!!!

AIKATSU SCRAPBOOK SP

The Aikatsu! Photo on Stage! app game will end its service on July 2018, and while some of you are feeling very sad to see your favorite Aikatsu app game nearing its end, the folks from Lantis provided one last hurrah before saying goodbye to Photokatsu for good in the finale of the AIKATSU SCRAPBOOK CD range.

AIKATSU SCRAPBOOK SP

Titled AIKATSU SCRAPBOOK SP, the girls from STAR☆ANIS and AIKATSU☆STARS! are giving it all to say goodbye to Photokatsu with their last songs from the app game, one of them has a special guest awaiting listeners but you get the point after spending several hours playing Photokatsu while preparing for its imminent demise this summer.

It's a shame that the fans of the Aikatsu franchise will wave goodbye to the official app game that brings most of the characters from the franchise, although it's hard why they want to end it without welcoming the Aikatsu Friends content with open arms. Nobody knows either but anyway, this SCRAPBOOK installment makes the perfect parting gift from the girls of STAR☆ANIS and AIKATSU☆STARS! and even though Photokatsu ends, their memories will always be there forever.

Thank you, Photokatsu!

TRACK LISTINGS:

1．トキメキアンテナ

2．Sunny Day Little Sunday

3．禁断 Hide & Seek

4．コズミック・ストレンジャー

5．月夜のラグタイム

6．We are STARS!!!!!

7．トキメキアンテナ（off vocal）

8．Sunny Day Little Sunday（off vocal）

9．禁断 Hide & Seek（off vocal）

10．コズミック・ストレンジャー（off vocal）

11．月夜のラグタイム（off vocal）

12．We are STARS!!!!!（off vocal）

THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS STARLIGHT MASTER 17 Nothing but You

Here comes the newest installment of the STARLIGHT MASTER CD range, inspired by THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS Starlight Stage app game, and this latest installment is like having a step to the future because it really is futuristic.

THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS
STARLIGHT MASTER 17 Nothing but You

The 17th installment of the STARLIGHT MASTER range is titled Nothing but You and the star performers of this highlight song are Anastasia (CV: Sumire Uesaka), Nao Kamiya (CV: Eriko Matsui), Yuka Nakano (CV: Shino Shimoji), Miku Maekawa (CV: Natsumi Takamori), and Syoko Hoshi (CV: Satsumi Matsuda). 

Players who mastered this song from DEBUT to MASTER will get what they deserved with the full M@STER VERSION of this song and if they're fully satisfy with this highlight song, they can listen to two new songs in this installment such as みなぎれ！ボボボンバー by Akane Hino (CV: Chinatsu Akasaki) and PROUST EFFECT by Shiki Ichinose (CV: Kotomi Aihara). Now that's futuristic to your ears.

This futuristic installment makes a nice addition to the STARLIGHT MASTER playlist so if you haven't got one, be sure to collect them all right now from the start to the latest and be sure to keep playing THE IDOLM@STER CINDERELLA GIRLS Starlight Stage app game for more!

TRACK LISTINGS:

01 Nothing but You (M@STER VERSION)

02 みなぎれ!ボボボンバー

03 PROUST EFFECT

04 Nothing but You (M@STER VERSION) オリジナル・カラオケ

05 みなぎれ!ボボボンバー オリジナル・カラオケ

06 PROUST EFFECT オリジナル・カラオケ

07 Nothing but You (GAME VERSION)