Let's Do The News! (January 22, 2024)

                                                           

Your daily round-up of today's news...

- The Philippines has condemned China's recent harassment of Filipino fishermen off Bajo de Masinloc in Zambales despite an agreement by both parties to lower the tension in the South China Sea.

- PH Vice President Sara Duterte thanked Senator Imee Marcos for her support of the Duterte family amid tensions between the senator and her cousin House Speaker Martin Romualdez.

- The Philippines is projected to remain the world's top rice importer, according to reports. 

- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspends his presidential campaign, saying he's supporting Donald Trump in the Republican leadership contest.

- Storm Isha hits England's southwest. Thousands are left without power as the storm packs wind gusts reaching 90mph in some areas.

- Two adults found dead alongside two children at a house in Norwich died as a result of stab wounds, according to police.

- After almost a week of protests against right-wing extremism in Germany, hundreds of thousands take part in the biggest rallies so far.

- Deliveries of the Tesla Model 3 minor change were halted in Australia over a matter of technical non-compliance with AU rules. Australia Design Rules require that a car comes with a centre-top tether point to secure a child seat that is accessible without tools. The Model 3 minor change has a top tether point welded to the body but the Highland variant has no hole in the parcel shelf to access it.

- Jeep's upcoming Wagoneer S electric SUV will have a 600bhp EV powertrain that propels from 0-63mph in 3.5 seconds.

- Ford announced its participation at the 2025 Dakar Rally with their Ranger Raptor.

- The Blue Archive TV anime series will air on TV Tokyo this April 2024.

- Stanford women's basketball team coach Tara VanDerveer sets new NCAA record for her 1,203rd career victory, passing former Duke men's coach Mike Krzyzewski. Stanford beats Oregon State 65-56.

- TAPE Inc. has requested a temporary restraining order over the Eat Bulaga trademark decision. TAPE contests the court order awarding TVJ the EB trademark. Atty. Maggie Garduque maintains that the court's decision to strip TAPE Inc.'s ownership of Eat Bulaga! trademark was a "blatant violation of the rules and the disrespect of the jurisdiction of the IPO on the pending trademark cases."

TTFN.

My FM Log: The Pagani Huayra R

Having fought through the time-limited Contemporary Tour on Forza Motorsport until the January 31 deadline, I got my hands on the Pagani Huayra R, the track-only climax of the Huayra series.

Now that I got my hands on the Huayra R, let's learn more about this FM prize car.

Essentially the finale for the Huayra hypercar, this track-only version, with only 30 units made and sold, is powered by the naturally-aspirated 6.0L AMG V12 engine producing 850PS of power while mated to a 6-speed sequential gearbox.

Apart from the engine, the Huayra R features Pagani's signature carbo-titanium HP62 monocoque and Carbo-Triax HP62 with front and rear tubular subframes in carbon monocoque alloy steel as well as Brembo carbon-ceramic racing brakes, forged aluminum alloy, independent double wishbone with helical springs and electronically controlled active shock absorbers, and bespoke Pirelli P Zero racing slicks. 

The chosen 30 drivers behind the wheel of the Huayra R have gained access to special events organized by Pagani on four different continents such as the Pagani Raduno, a highly personalized event, and now an established tradition in the history of the Atelier, and Arte In Pista, which gives Huayra R owners a chance to push its limits on various racetracks worldwide.

With the introduction sorted, it's time to push the Huayra R around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and see if the "Arte In Pista" reference means a lot for this track-only finale of the Huayra series. Let's roll the tape.

I did it in 1m58.070s. That's the best I can do with this car but hey, at least the Huayra R's Arte In Pista proved its point as the climax of the Pagani Huayra. Even though its successor is out in the open, I guess a game like Forza Motorsport would stick around with the Huayra for all eternity.

Enjoy your new ride!

THREATS FROM NORTH KOREA: Rare footage shows teens sentenced to hard labour over K-drama

 

Rare footage obtained by BBC Korean shows North Korea publicly sentencing two teenage boys to 12 years of hard labour for watching K-dramas.

The footage, which appears to have been filmed in 2022, shows two 16-year-old boys handcuffed in front of hundreds of students at an outdoor stadium.

It also shows uniformed officers reprimanding the boys for not "deeply reflecting on their mistakes".

South Korean entertainment, including TV, is banned in the North.

Despite that, some are prepared to risk severe punishment to access K-dramas, which have a huge global audience.

Footage such as this is rare, because North Korea forbids photos, videos and other evidence of life in the country from being leaked to the outside world.

This video was provided to the BBC by the South and North Development (Sand), a research institute that works with defectors from the North.

It suggests authorities are coming down harder on such incidents. The clip has reportedly been distributed in North Korea for ideology education and to warn citizens not to watch "decadent recordings".

The video includes a narrator who is repeating state propaganda. "The rotten puppet regime's culture has spread even to teenagers," says the voice, in an apparent reference to South Korea. "They are just 16 years old, but they ruined their own future," it adds.

The boys were also named by officers and had their addresses revealed.

In the past, minors who broke the law in this way would be sent to youth labour camps rather than put behind bars, and the punishment was usually less than five years.

In 2020, however, Pyongyang enacted a law to make watching or distributing South Korean entertainment punishable by death.

A defector previously told the BBC that he was forced to watch a 22-year-old man shot to death. He said the man was accused of listening to South Korean music and had shared films from the South with his friend.

Sand CEO Choi Kyong-hui said Pyongyang sees the spread of K-dramas and K-pop as a danger to its ideology.

"Admiration for South Korean society can soon lead to a weakening of the system... This goes against the monolithic ideology that makes North Koreans revere the Kim family," she said.

North Koreans started getting a taste of South Korean entertainment in the 2000s, during the years of the South's "sunshine policy" which saw it offering unconditional economic and humanitarian aid to the North.

Seoul ended the policy in 2010, saying it found the aid did not reach the ordinary North Koreans it was intended for, and that it had not resulted in any "positive changes" to Pyongyang's behaviour.

But South Korean entertainment continued to reach North Korea through China.

"If you get caught watching an American drama, you can get away with a bribe, but if you watch a Korean drama, you get shot," a North Korean defector told BBC Korean on Thursday.

"For North Korean people, Korean dramas are a 'drug' that helps them forget their difficult reality," the defector said.

"In North Korea, we learn that South Korea lives much worse than us, but when you watch South Korean dramas, it's a completely different world. It seems like the North Korean authorities are wary of that," said another North Korean defector in her 20s.

Source: BBC

Let's Do The News! (January 19, 2024)

                                                          

Your daily round-up of today's news...

- The Sandiganbayan has declared Senator Jinggoy Estrada NOT GUILTY of plunder but GUILTY of one count of direct bribery and 2 counts of indirect bribery. He is sentenced to 8-9 years for direct bribery and 2-3 years for indirect bribery.

- The PH Department of Agriculture has ordered a temporary halt to onion importation until May with the possibility of extending the suspension until July.

- The Armed Forces of the Philippines reactivated its counter-intelligence group amid coup rumors.

- The US Congress speedily backs new government funding before the snowstorm hits the capital.

- Tata Steel is shutting down its Port Talbot blast furnaces in Wales with a large proportion of 3,000 job losses expected by September.

- The US Justice Department says in a sharply critical report that the police response in May 2022's Uvalde school shooting was a failure.

- Ferrari Driver Academy racer Maya Weug joins the 2024 F1 Academy season with PREMA Racing. Weug has full backing from Ferrari.

- Takara Tomy ARTS announced that the Waccha PriMagi! arcade game service will end very soon. The announcement was made on X (formerly Twitter).

【運営より】
アミューズメントゲーム「ワッチャプリマジ！」
稼動終了のお知らせをHPに掲載いたしました。

今まで遊んでいただきましたプリマジスタの皆様に心から御礼申し上げます。
サービス終了までのこり短い期間ですが、… pic.twitter.com/gZXXZ96JEE

— ゲーム「ワッチャプリマジ！スタジオ」公式 (@T_ARTS_PRETTY) January 19, 2024

- C9 Entertainment announced plans for cignature's future activities following one of its members, Belle, joining the UNIS, a girl group product from the SBS girl group survival show Universe Ticket. Due to her participation in Universe Ticket, Belle did not take part in cignature's comeback last August 2023. In the finale, Belle made it to the lineup of the show's project group UNIS, set to be promoted for two and a half years. Therefore, C9 announced that cignature will continue as a six-member group.

- Miss Puerto Rico Ashely Melendez wins Miss Global pageant.

TTFN.

Let's Do The News! (January 18, 2024)

                                                         

Your daily round-up of today's news...

- China and the Philippines have agreed to boost dialogue and conflict handling in the South China Sea.

- The NGCP warns of another possible power outage in Panay.

- PH Senate President Migz Zubiri expressed his preparedness to "risk" his leadership on the push for Charter Change.

- Manila is ranked 1st in the 2023 TomTom Traffic Index's most congested metro areas with 25min30sec 10km travel time, 52% congestion level, and 19kph average rush-hour speed.

- King Charles III and the Princess of Wales are both dealing with medical issues that will force them to delay previously planned public engagements over the coming weeks. The Princess of Wales underwent abdominal surgery at a private hospital in London while the King was undergoing surgery for benign prostate conditions.

- UK PM Rishi Sunak's controversial Rwanda bill passed through the Commons by 320 votes to 276. The bill seeking to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda will next go to the House of Lords which can suggest amendments.

- Pakistan launched retaliatory strikes on Iran, reportedly killing seven people after Iran carried out strikes in Pakistan. Pakistan said its strikes had hit "terrorist hideouts" in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province. The strikes come as tensions in the Middle East are escalating with Gaza and Yemen.

- The US state of Iowa sued TikTok, accusing the video-based social media platform of misleading parents about their children’s access to inappropriate content on the company’s app. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird in a lawsuit filed in a state court in Polk County accused TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance of lying about the prevalence on its platform of content including drugs, nudity, alcohol, and profanity.

- YouTube is laying off 100 jobs in a restructuring of its Content and Creator Teams.

- Former W Series driver Chloe Chambers is handpicked by the Haas F1 team and she will race in the 2024 F1 Academy season for Campos.

- Ford showcased its F-150 Lightning Switchgear concept made in collaboration with RTR.

Ford F-150 Lightning Switchgear Concept

- A movie adaptation of the video game Until Dawn is in the works by David F. Sandberg and Gary Dauberman.

- An original copy of The Amazing Spider-Man comic book issue #1 that was published in 1963 was sold for US$1.38 million at an auction. Bidding for the unrestored copy of the self-titled series of the first outing of the Marvel hero was handled by Dallas-based Heritage Auctions on January 11.

- According to police, they found Colts owner Jim Irsay unresponsive at his home before being transported to a hospital by paramedics last month following a suspected overdose.

- Golden State Warriors assistant coach Dejan Milojevic passed away at the age of 46 due to a heart attack. Milojević died in Salt Lake City, where he was hospitalized Tuesday night after a medical emergency during a private team dinner. The Warriors had been scheduled to play the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night, a game the NBA postponed.

- A court filing by the Atlantic Coast Conference accuses the Florida State University of "serial breaches of critical legal promises and obligations" and questions FSU's right to have leadership in ACC positions.

TTFN.

My FH5 Log: Community Day Classic (PART 2)

The Spirit of Performance and a "Fast and Furious" fan favorite are the highlights of the FM5 Community Choice update's Storm Season Playlist.

First up is the Koenigsegg CCX, which I snagged after hitting the 20-point mark on the Storm Season Playlist. 

The CCX was unveiled at the 2006 Geneva Motor Show and served as the replacement for the CCR. CCX is an acronym for "Competition Coupe X", in fact, the X commemorates the 10th anniversary of the completion and test drive of the first CC vehicle in 1996. It was powered by a 4.7L twin-supercharged V8 engine that claims to go 0-60m in 3.2 seconds and a top speed of over 245mph.

There was a version called the CCXR that was tuned to run on biofuel and produced more power than the standard CCX.

Lastly, the W Motors Lykan Hypersport, which I snagged after hitting the 40-point mark on the Storm Season Playlist.

After spending two years in development, the Lykan Hypersport made its first appearance at the Top Marques Monaco Auto Show. While this is truly Arab's first supercar, the engine is a boxer-six engine sourced from Ruf, developing 780HP of power, and with the seven-speed PDK equipped, it is capable of doing 0-100kph in 2.8 seconds and onwards to 395kph. Apart from its performance, the Lykan Hypersport comes with carbon-fiber bodywork, an active spoiler system, and six-piston aluminum monobloc calipers with ventilated, cross-drilled ceramic composite discs.

This car is limited to seven units, making it one of the rarest cars in the world. Exclusivity aside, the LED headlight in the Lykan is encrusted with 220 diamonds or a combination of any other precious or semi-precious stones chosen by the customer. A Lykan Hypersport owner is entitled to a private concierge provided by Quintessentially Group as well as ownership of a very exclusive Franck Muller Lykan watch.

This car rose to stardom when it appeared in Furious 7, the seventh installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise, where Dom and Brian hijacked one and iconically leaped through a skyscraper, making it one of the most insane car stunt moments in cinematic history and so insane, experts wanted to test this film theory at their own risk.

In the spirit of Community Choice, I've sent the CCX and the Lykan Hypersport their respective EventLab challenges to try out. The CCX speeds through a post-apocalyptic town while the Lykan Hypersport edges the competition in an upside-down world. Mindfreak, huh? Anyway, let's roll the tapes...

Job well done to these two, that's all I can say.

Come Dry Season Playlist, let's sample the Pagani Huayra and the W113 Mercedes 280SL. Get your Pagoda air fresheners ready because these expired goods are going to be fresh.

Let's Do The News! (January 17, 2024)

                                                        

Your daily round-up of today's news...

- Over 2,000 individuals were affected by floods and landslides in the Davao region, according to the NDRRMC. Evacuation and rescue operations were ongoing as the effects of the shear line in the region already impacted 552 families or 2,212 individuals in 14 barangays in Davao de Oro, Davao Occidental, and Davao Oriental.

- The PH Department of Agriculture banned poultry imports from California and Ohio after a recent outbreak of the HPAI. The virus was first detected in the two US areas by the Veterinary Services to the World Organization for Animal Health last November. Other US states may still provide poultry imports to the Philippines.

- The FBI has launched an investigation following a report over former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries's accusations of exploiting men for sex. Jeffries and his British partner also face a civil lawsuit alleging they ran a sex-trafficking operation.

- UK Conservative MP Jane Stevenson resigns from junior government role after defying the UK government in Rwanda vote. Also, Deputy Chairmen Lee Anderson and Brendan Clarke-Smith stepped down to rebel against the Rwanda vote.

- Fujitsu admitted the firm has a "moral obligation" to compensate victims of the Post Office scandal. Fujitsu Europe's boss, Paul Patterson, says "he's truly" sorry for the role in the Post Office prosecutors, adding that the Post Office knew about "bugs and errors" in its Horizon accountancy software early on. The global chief executive of Fujitsu, Takahito Tokita, also apologized.

- The Japan MLIT stripped off Daihatsu's three vehicle type approvals and issued a rectification order for Indonesia-imported models such as the Daihatsu Gran Max, Toyota TownAce, and the Mazda Bongo.

- Iron Dames' Doriane Pin was selected by the Mercedes-AMG F1 junior program and she will compete in the 2024 F1 Academy season for PREMA Racing.

- Production of the Praga Bohema hypercar has officially begun. The Czech-made hypercar is powered by a tuned VR38DETT engine from a Nissan GT-R, producing 700hp power output while mated to a six-speed sequential gearbox. Its all-carbon body weighs less than 1,000kg.

- The second-generation MG3 will debut at the Geneva Motor Show this February 26th.

- Nintendo is offering free repairs in areas hit by the New Year's Day earthquake and also announced donations for those affected by the quakes.

- A Tennessee woman filed a federal lawsuit accusing James Dolan, chairman of Madison Square Garden and governor of the New York Knicks and New York Rangers, of pressuring her into unwanted sex nearly a decade ago while also facilitating an encounter with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who she also claimed sexually assaulted her.

TTFN.