Let's Do The News! (September 17, 2018)

- The death toll from last weekend's Typhoon Ompong has risen to 65.

- Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte ordered transport authorities to acquire additional x-ray security machines as reserve in the country’s airports in case of breakdown of existing ones. The President made the proposal to prevent manual inspection of luggage and other goods that could create an “aberration” in the airports.

- Retired Army Major General Jovito Palparan, Lieutenant Colonel Felipe Anotado, and Staff Sergeant Edgardo Osorio were found by Malolos Regional Trial Court Branch 15 guilty of kidnapping and serious illegal detention in the 2006 disappearance of University of the Philippines students Karen Empeno and Sherlyn Cadapan.

- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki signed a peace agreement in Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the second peace deal reached since July between the once warring African countries.

- Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa began a three-day visit to China on Sunday, Pakistan’s military said, days after a Pakistani minister stirred unease about Chinese Silk Road projects in the South Asian nation.

- Most construction workers who were detained after protests over labor conditions at Istanbul’s new airport were released on Sunday, according to the city's governor, but a union leader said hundreds were still held and more protests were likely.

- Lamborghini upgrades the Huracan GT3 racecar with the new EVO machine, set for its debut appearance at next year's Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO Racecar

- BMW showcases their Vision iNEXT Concept for next month's Paris Motor Show, showcasing its autonomous future.

BMW Vision iNEXT Concept

- Announced at last weekend's event, the Is the order a rabbit? TV series gets a third season in 2020.

- The Pop Team Epic TV show gets a special episode this April 1st.

- A rematch between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather Jr. is possible this year.

TTFN!!!

SUPER GT 2018 Round 6 SUGO

After a summer of disasters pummeled Japan from strong typhoons to earthquakes, the Land of the Rising Sun rises again and this sixth round of the 2018 Autobacs Super GT Championship at Sportsland Sugo shows how passionate this motorsport is to the Japanese public reeling from a summer of disasters. Of course, with autumn now around them, this race really starts the autumn season with some action-packed thrills at Sugo.

The irony is this race packs some numerous upsets from off-track troubles to crashes while the race nearing its end. This race has some unpredictable moments no one saw it coming but despite upsets plunging this Sugo race, the #100 RAYBRIG NSX-GT driven by Naoki Yamamoto and Jenson Button wins GT500 class of the sixth round of the Super GT 2018 season with the #8 ARTA NSX-GT driven by Tomoki Nojiri and Takuya Izawa placed 2nd, and the #12 CALSONIC IMPUL GT-R driven by Daiki Sasaki and Jann Mardenborough placed 3rd. In the GT300 class meanwhile, it's a flawless victory for the #61 SUBARU BRZ R&D SPORT driven by Takuto Iguchi and Hideki Yamauchi while 2nd place goes to the #10 GAINER TANAX triple a GT-R driven by Kazuki Hoshino and Hiroki Yoshida and 3rd place goes to the otaku favorite, the #0 GOODSMILE HATSUNE MIKU AMG driven by Nobuteru Taniguchi and Tatsuya Kataoka.

Highlights:



With only two venues left this season, the next race of the 2018 Autobacs Super GT Championship will be at Autopolis on the 21st of October.

F1 2018: Singapore GP

The streets of Marina Bay, Singapore, never felt so alive in nighttime as the Singapore Grand Prix of the F1 2018 season delivers some epic nighttime thrills in one of the busiest places in Southeast Asia while delivering some surprising results that will keep this season guessing who will keep on fighting until the end of the season.

Mercedes's Lewis Hamilton has extended his championship lead by 40 points ahead of Sebastian Vettel, who finished 3rd, after his flawless victory while Red Bull's Max Verstappen, despite his mechanical issues behind Safety Car, managed to finished 2nd.

The Force India Team got involved in an "unacceptable" first lap collision by both Perez and Ocon, leaving the two drivers what might have been after the costly mess they've made.

The next race of the F1 2018 season is at Sochi, Russia, for the Russian GP on the 30th of September.

2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship - RABBLE.club Sandown 500

500 kilometers of endurance racing thriller, this is what best sums up the RABBLE.club Sandown 500 endurance match of the 2018 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship where the best drivers of the Supercars Championship pair up with their co-drivers for a best match made for this endurance race at Sandown.

Leading from start to finish without any issues whatsoever, the #1 Red Bull Holden Racing Team ZB Commodore, driven by Jamie Whincup and Paul Dumbrell, won the Supercars' endurance match in Sandown, 6.8312 seconds ahead of the #97 Red Bull Holden car driven by Shane van Gisbergen and Earl Bamber. This is the third victory for Whincup and Dumbrell together, following their 2013 and 2014 wins, for 15 years since the Triple Eight first entered Supercars. Craig Lowneds and Steven Richards, representing Autobarn Lowndes Racing, completes the podium.

After one heck of an enduro match in Sandown, van Gisbergen still leads at 3054 points while Scott McLaughlin's in 2nd with 2999 points, and Whincup's 3rd with 2718 points.

The next event will be a big one as they are heading to Mount Panorama for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 on the 4th to the 7th of October, 2018.

WRC 2018: Marmaris Rally Turkey

The 2018 World Rally Championship continues at Marmaris, Turkey, for the Marmaris Rally Turkey event and in this event; there are two elements that best sum up this weekend's rally battle; earth and fire. Nothing more.

In Friday's stages, championship leader Thierry Neuville managed to leave 0.3 seconds ahead of title rival Ford's Sebastien Ogier despite his disastrous start. But in Saturday's stages, with disaster struck down Neuville with a few other drivers caught fire, Toyota's Ott Tanak made a shocking lead and that upset made the Estonian winning the Marmaris Rally. He is 22.3 seconds ahead of Jari-Matti Latvala while Hayden Paddon took his first podium finish in 3rd place, 1 minute and 46.3 seconds behind Tanak.

Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoRUo46sB1g&list=PLODyu6T9_emw9NrMKulGFwuxf5VgWgzBC

With only three events left this season, the next event of the WRC 2018 is the Dayinsure Wales Rally on the 4th to the 7th of October.

Bubble Gang - September 14, 2018

On the September 14, 2018 episode of Bubble Gang...

- Aberya sa kalsada gags

- The nagging wife

- Bea Bangenge just ruined your typhoon preparation plans

- Hell's BBQ

- Mas Pinabonggang Sumbong Sumbong Kay Bonggang Bonggang Bongbong takes on people dressed in same clothes, people posting birthday greetings to strangers, and men livestreaming their workouts.

- Celebrity police



- Pamboboso gone wrong

- Girlfriend's greatest nightmare

- Battle of the alibis

- Basa-basa pik!

Let's Do The News! (September 15, 2018)

- Typhoon Ompong has slightly weakened as it heads for Ilocos Norte on Saturday morning, according to PAGASA. “Ompong” was last spotted in the vicinity of Kabugao, Apayao, with maximum sustained winds of 185 km. per hour near the center, and gustiness of up to 305 kph, and moving west at 30 kph, slightly slower from the previous 35 kph.

- President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the NDRRMC to build more evacuation centers to minimize use of classrooms so the flow of students' education will not be disturbed. Duterte, in his meeting with key agencies in preparation for Typhoon Ompong, agreed with Education Secretary Leonor Briones that the education of students are compromised whenever their classrooms are used as shelter for evacuees.

- Volunteers of the Philippine National Red Cross began their emergency and relief work immediately after powerful typhoon ‘’Ompong’’ raked Northern Luzon on Saturday. Sen. Richard J. Gordon, PNRC chairman, said PNRC volunteers hunkered down during the Saturday passage of ‘’Ompong’’ through Northern Luzon provinces but immediately fanned out to the typhoon-hit areas when the strong winds weakened and the volume of heavy rains reduced.

- Pope Francis visits Sicily to pay homage to a priest murdered by the mafia 25 years ago after trying to save youngsters in poor neighborhoods from falling into their hands.

- Israeli soldiers killed three Palestinians, one of them an 11-year-old boy, and wounded at least 248 others taking part on Friday in weekly protests at the fortified Gaza Strip border, according to Palestinian officials.

- Four people were killed as Hurricane Florence wreck havoc in the Carolinas.

TTFN!!!

The Predator

Thermal vision, stealth camouflage, bewitching weaponry, and a reggae hairdo. Wherever you're hiding, when the Predator sees you, you'd be as good as dead as the Predator movies spanning from the original to 2010's Predators show that no one's safe from the universe's most lethal hunter and now, a Predator to end all Predators has landed and looks like the deadly game of hide-and-kill will be the most relentless and chilling you'll ever witnessed.

The Predator

Directed by Shane Black and starring Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, and many others, this fourth installment of the Predator movie franchise warns moviegoers that they'll have to brace themselves for the Predator to end all Predators as hunting season has begun. Question is, are they prepare for this relentless action thriller that shreds the moviegoers away with some edge-of-your-seat thrills?

Set after the events of the original 1987 film, a young boy accidentally unleashed a horde of Predators wrecking havoc in the neighborhood. With the Predators now more deadlier than before, can a group of ex-soldiers and a disgruntled science teacher save the world against a powerful horde of Predators, even when they face off against the Predator that ends all Predators?

After three long decades, fans of the Predator franchise have no place to hide over the sheer level of terror this action thriller possess, delivering classic Predator action to an everyday world similar to those zombie apocalypse films we're familiar with. Since this is a film about humans trying to survive against the universe's most lethal hunters, fans will find themselves difficult to predict the outcome of this film because of the way the Predators are now in this film and as the film progresses, what's going to happen at the end is everyone's guess.

In other words, it's a complex but terrifying film that will leave moviegoers in the dark and when it comes to deliver classic Predator moments to today's generation, no one's safe from this menace.

My rating: 3.9 out of 5

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: South Korea launches first missile-capable sub

South Korea launched its first ever missile-capable attack submarine on Friday, despite a recent diplomatic thaw with the nuclear-armed North.

The $700 million, 3,000-tonne Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine is capable of firing both cruise and ballistic missiles and the first of three planned diesel-electric boats to go into service in the next five years.

It represented a “leap forward in the country’s” defense industry, President Moon Jae-in told a launch ceremony at the Daewoo shipyard where it was designed and built.

“Peace through power is the unwavering security strategy of this government.”

Moon will head to Pyongyang next week for a third summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong Un, as US-led efforts to persuade Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons have stalled.

“We have set off on a grand journey toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula,” Moon said.

“But peace is not given gratuitously,” he added.

The new submarine is fitted with six vertical launch tubes and features indigenous sonar and combat management systems.

Aside from the new vessels, South Korea has an existing fleet of 18 smaller submarines, all built in co-operation with Germany.

According to the defense ministry, the North has 70 aging submarines and submersibles, and Yonhap news agency reported that it has also developed a new 2,500-tonne submarine fitted with a vertical launch system.

Source: AFP

Let's Do The News! (September 14, 2018)

- The number of individuals projected to be affected by Typhoon Ompong has increased to 5.4 million while 2,298 families or 9,107 persons were evacuated in the Ilocos Region; Cagayan Valley (Region 2) and Cordillera Administrative Region as part of preemptive measures, according to the NDRRMC.

- More criminal complaints have been filed at the Department of Justice against former Health Secretary Janette Garin over the deaths of two children who received the anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia.

- The Department of Justice offered a 500,000 Peso bounty against fugitive suspected drug lord Peter Lim.

- Numerous gas explosions killed a teenager, injured at least 10 other people and ignited fires in at least 39 homes in three communities north of Boston, forcing entire neighborhoods to evacuate as crews scrambled to fight the flames and shut off the gas. Authorities said Leonel Rondon, 18, of Lawrence, died Thursday after a chimney toppled by an exploding house crashed into his car. He was rushed to a Boston hospital but pronounced dead there in the evening.

- Japanese PM Shinzo Abe says he will meet again this year for more talks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on the proposal for the two countries to sign a peace treaty and discuss the status of disputed islands.

- The outer edge of Hurricane Florence began buffeting the Carolinas with wind and rain on Thursday as forecasters warned the monster storm would trigger life-threatening flooding as it assaults the US east coast. As Florence churned slowly towards the coasts of North and South Carolina as a Category 2 hurricane, federal and state officials issued final appeals to residents to get out of the path of the “once in a lifetime” weather system.

- DS Automobiles unveiled the DS3 Crossback along with its E-Tense variant.

2019 DS 3 Crossback

- Things we learned from the recent Nintendo Direct announcement; Isabelle from Animal Crossing joins Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a new Animal Crossing game for Switch, Luigi's Mansion 3, a 3DS version of Kirby's Epic Yarn, a Switch verion of New Super Mario Bros., Town RPG by Game Freak, and a Switch version of Katamari Damacy. There's also another update for Splatoon 2, a new Yoshi game, and more.

- The Yo-Kai Watch 5th anniversary celebration continues with the announcement of the new Medal Wars app game.

- Actor Henry Cavill announced that he will step down from his Superman role.

TTFN!!!

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Another round of military-level talks

Another round of working-level military talks between the two Koreas began this morning at the Tongil-gak building on the North Korean side of Panmunjom.

Following up on the progress made during general-level talks in July,... the two sides are expected to discuss disarming the Joint Security Area in the DMZ, the joint excavation of war remains in the DMZ and the withdrawal of troops at guard posts on a trial basis.

The results of today's talks are likely to be included in the military agreement, which is expected to be officially signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the upcoming inter-Korean summit next week.

On a related note, for the first time in history, South and North Korea will be running a joint liaison office together... and it will be within the Kaesong Industrial Complex, a factory park the two Koreas ran together until February 2016.

The grand opening will take place on Friday with 50 to 60 attendees from each side of the border.
South Korea's unification minister and his counterpart will be signing and exchanging an agreement on running the contact office.

Vice-ministerial-level officials from the two Koreas will be heading the office. South Korea will be appointing the vice unification minister Chun Hae-sung as its head and North Korea plans to appoint its vice-head of the reunification committee as Chun's counterpart. They will serve as representatives whenever meetings take place.

The joint liaison office can serve as the foundation for sustainable and institutionalized inter-Korean relations.

Seoul says the two Koreas aim to ultimately set up resident representative offices in each other's capitals.

Moving on, this year's Seoul Defense Dialogue had its official opening ceremony this morning at Westin Chosun Seoul, with hundreds of vice-ministerial officials and experts from over 50 countries.

During the opening ceremony, South Korea's defense minister Song Young-moo stressed that the Korean peninsula is facing a great transformative period, and said current efforts for establishing perpetual peace shouldn't be stopped, so that the past 70 years of conflicts and hostility should never be repeated.

Under the theme of  "Sustainable Peace: from conflict to cooperation," the three-day forum cover diverse security issues, including confidence building in Northeast Asia and maritime security.

Source: Arirang News

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

- Vice President Leni Robredo asked the public to be more prepared on the impact of typhoon Ompong that may bring more rain than Ondoy. Robredo, a former housing chief, said Filipinos in the areas to be affected by Ompong should take the necessary precautionary measures as the weather disturbance could become a super typhoon.

- With disaster preparedness and mitigation efforts switched to the “highest level,” the government has readied P1.7 billion worth of relief assistance for communities that will be affected by a potential super typhoon.

- Two ranking leaders of Congress are supporting President Rodrigo Duterte's call to abolish the National Food Authority Council, the policy-making body of the agency in charge with securing the country’s rice supply.

- German activists living in treehouses to protect an ancient forest from being razed for a nearby coal mine were bracing for a forced eviction by police. Hundreds of police officers descended on the area in the early morning, after local authorities ordered the Hambach Forest in western Germany to be cleared immediately citing fire hazards.

- Former UN secretary general Kofi Annan will be buried in his native Ghana on Thursday after a state funeral attended by world leaders past and present, traditional rulers and global royalty.

- Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi said that two Reuters journalists jailed for investigating a massacre in Rakhine state were not convicted because they were journalists but because they broke the law.

- The Renault Kadjar crossover gets a minor change for 2019.

2019 Renault Kadjar

- Kia unveiled the hatchback version of the K3, called the K3 GT.

2019 Kia K3 GT

- A movie version of Jigoku Shoujo gets greenlit for next autumn with Tina Tamashiro starred as the titular character.

- Nintendo will launch the Switch Online service on the 18th of September.

TTFN!!!